Kockincoz, or The Pettifogging Lawyer's Plot

Kockincoz, or The Pettifogging Lawyer's Plot is a satirical play by Charles Etienne Boniface.

Subtitled "Pro Causo de Libello. Translated from the Burlosutacrifanpastoistisch-Language. By the Author of Clasius."

The original text

A one act play is about three lawyers who try to trick the legal system and fail miserably and constituted an attack on Mr J.J. de Kock, a friend and colleage from the days of Honi Soit qui Mal y Pense and Vlyt en Kunst with whom he had subsequently quarrelled. The title refers directly to De Kock and his company as well as the French word coquin ("rogue"). "Burlosutacrifanpastoistisch-Language" is a complicated reference to the Cape-Dutch language at the time.

According to F.C.L. Bosman (1928: p. 495), the play is a simple continuation of the style of satire and invective he had utilized for his earlier Afrikaans satires, notably De Nieuwe Ridderorde of De Temperantisten and Clasius, of Het Proces om een Komedie-Lootje.

Written in 1843, it was Boniface's first play in English, and perhaps the first English play written and performed in the Cape. Originally "printed by J.C. Eckley of 43 Plein Street and published at 41 St John Street and at the Victoria Press" in 1843, a copy of which is held by the South African Library in Cape Town. Reprinted in the Willem Hiddingh Reprint Series (No 11) 1956 (University of Cape Town Library.

Sources

F.C.L. Bosman, 1928. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel I: 1652-1855. Pretoria: J.H. de Bussy. [1]: pp. 124, 337, 495-6.

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