# John Law — The Humbugs of the World character guide

> John Law in The Humbugs of the World by P. T. Barnum.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Law

**First appearance:** 0031-xxiv

## Snapshot

The Scottish financier whose Mississippi Company inflated France into a frenzy of paper wealth, then collapsed, leaving a nation ruined and his name a synonym for speculative madness.

## Who they are

Law combined genuine economic insight with the gambler's instinct for grandeur, persuading a desperate French crown to stake its finances on imaginary riches in Louisiana. His system drew dukes and chambermaids alike into the rue Quincampoix, all trading paper fortunes on a promise no one could redeem. Barnum treats him as the archetypal financial humbug — not a petty cheat but a visionary whose confidence was itself the bubble.

## In the story

### [Part III: Trade and Business Impositions](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_humbugs_of_the_world_se/chapters/part-iii-trade-and-business-impositions)

Cited for the Mississippi Scheme fraud.

### [Part IV: Money Manias](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_humbugs_of_the_world_se/chapters/part-iv-money-manias)

Architect of the Mississippi Scheme, a massive speculative bubble.

### [John Bull's Great Money Humbug: The South Sea Bubble in 1720](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_humbugs_of_the_world_se/chapters/xxvi)

His Mississippi Scheme in France is cited as an influence on the South Sea Bubble.

### [XXVII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_humbugs_of_the_world_se/chapters/xxvii)

Scottish financier who conceived and executed the Mississippi Scheme, initially successful but ultimately ruinous.

### [Part VIII: Adventurers](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_humbugs_of_the_world_se/chapters/part-viii-adventurers)

A Scottish economist and adventurer who created the Mississippi Scheme, a massive financial bubble that collapsed and ruined many investors.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_humbugs_of_the_world_se/characters/john_law
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_humbugs_of_the_world_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_humbugs_of_the_world_se/characters