The Devil's Law Case is a Jacobean era stage play, a tragicomedy written by John Webster, and first published in 1623.
Webster made a similar appeal for support in his dedication of The Duchess of Malfi to George Harding, 8th Baron Berkeley.
The closest connection is between The Devil's Law Case and Lust's Dominion, though the manifold uncertainties of the latter play's date and authorship can provide no certain information about Webster's work.
For Romelio, Contarino is just another wastrel aristocrat who hopes to repair his decayed fortunes by marrying into the wealthy merchant class.
Romelio instead is trying to arrange a marriage between Jolenta and Ercole, a Spanish noble who commands a fleet against the Ottoman Turks (Spain ruled Naples and southern Italy during the Renaissance).
Winifred, however, is sympathetic to the girl, and does just the opposite; in conversation with his intended bride, Contarino learns of Ercole's pursuit of her.
Julio is overspending his allowance on riotous living, wasting "A hundred ducats a month in breaking Venice glasses."
Ariosto, a stern local lawyer, accuses Romelio of exploiting foolish young men like Julio by encouraging them to go into debt and mortgage their inheritances.
Masquerading as a Jew, Romelio goes to see Contarino, and talks his way past the two surgeons who treat the wounded man; but they are suspicious, and surreptitiously keep watch.
The surgeons had despaired of their patient's recovery – but Romelio's intervention has allowed the "congeal'd blood" and "putrefaction" to flow from the infected wound, and Contarino begins to recover.
Jolenta, testing how far her brother will go, tells him that she is pregnant with Contarino's child; Romelio accepts this, and suggests that when the time comes they can claim she's had twins.
Romelio is unfazed; he plots ahead to pack her off to a nunnery after the baby's birth, and to send the two surgeons to the Indies to keep them from blackmailing him.
Winifred supports her mistress's story – which has a fatal flaw: the family friend who is the alleged father of the bastard Romelio is Crispiano.
Romelio must restore Contarino's fortune, and marry the pregnant nun Angiolella; she, Leonora, and Jolenta must build a monastery to express their penitence.
The Devil's Law Case is unusual in that it has no specific clown figure; its comic relief is supplied by various minor characters.