Dressing up as an iconic character from a coveted television show, film, or book is a cherished tradition of the internationally celebrated holiday, Halloween. This day brings excitement and joy to not just children, but to grown up law students as well. Halloween has its roots in the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (a Gaelic word pronounced “SAH-win”), a pagan religious celebration to welcome the harvest at the end of summer, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts. The pagan holiday gained its notoriety in the Catholic religious tradition when, in the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a time to honor saints. Over time, All Saints Day came to incorporate some of the traditions of Samhain. From this, the evening before All Saints Day became known as All Hallows Eve, and later, Halloween.

In the realm of law, Halloween has more significance than one may initially assume. At the core of Halloween is the highly anticipated by children—and possibly some of your adult classmates—tradition of trick or treating. One theory believes that trick or treating dates back to the Middle Ages, where during Samhain, Celtic people would leave food out to appease the spirits traveling the Earth at night. Over time, people began to dress as these unearthly beings in exchange for similar offerings of food and drink. This act of mutual exchange between the garbed trick or treater and giver of confectionaries resembles that of a consideration. A consideration is the mutual exchange of promises or obligations between the parties to a contract, and serves as a necessary element to the creation of a valid contract. The validity of this age-old “Halloween contract” has endured to the present day, each year reaffirmed by thousands of candy-for-costume exchanges across neighborhoods and campuses alike.

In the spirit of upholding this timeless contractual tradition, I offer my contribution to the exchange in the form of a few ideas for what an uninspired law student might disguise as this Halloween—costumes inspired by some of the most iconic cases ever to haunt to the pages of our casebooks: 

• Pierson v. Post (1805)

The classic battle between the hunter and the fox. Post was in pursuit of a wild fox when Pierson appeared, killed it, and claimed ownership. Dress as a nineteenth-century hunter with a fox pelt or plush tail in hand. A friend may serve as the elusive fox. 

• Hawkins v. McGee (1929)

Known as the “Hairy Hand” case, this dispute defined expectation damages in contract law. A doctor promised to give a young boy a “hundred percent perfect hand” through skin graft surgery, but the grafted skin grew hair. Attach fake fur to a glove or prosthetic hand. If you’d like to take it to the extreme, you may dress as a werewolf.

• Stambovsky v. Ackley (1991)

The famous “Ghostbusters” case. A New York court held that a house previously advertised as haunted was, in the eyes of the law, haunted. The seller could not later deny what she had once proclaimed to the public. Dress as a haunted homeowner or as a ghost seeking rescission.  

• Byrne v. Boadle (1863)

The case that gave birth to res ipsa loquitur. A pedestrian walked beneath a warehouse when a barrel of flour fell from a window and struck him. The court reasoned that barrels do not fall without negligence; the thing speaks for itself. Wrap a bandage around your head and enter a room as if the accident has just occurred.

• Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad Co. (1928)

A cornerstone of tort law and the defining lesson in foreseeability. Mrs. Palsgraf was injured when railroad guards attempted to help a man board a train, causing him to drop a box of fireworks he was carrying. The ensuing explosion caused scales to fall upon her. Here, you can dress as a young man carrying around a box of fireworks (possibly makeshift).

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Staniel Brutis is a third-year student at BC Law. Contact him at brutis@bc.edu.