Ooo Epicene, I'm So Tired of Being Alone

Law in Jonson's play is something that can be subverted or used by characters for their own benefit. The legal machinations of the three gentlemen effectively obfuscate the individual, the landed relative Morose. Was this scheme a well-known contrivance from jokes, or other plays? Was the law considered something malleable by the trickster figures, or was it seen as a primary tool of such figures?