Sexual slander in nineteenth-century England : defamation in the ecclesiastical courts, 1815-1855

344 Pages·2009·16.265 MB·English

by  Waddams, S. M.

SEXUAL SLANDER IN
NINETEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND
Defamation in the Ecclesiastical Courts, 1815-1855
This page intentionally left blank
S.M. WADDAMS
Sexual Slander in
Nineteenth-Century England
Defamation in the
Ecclesiastical Courts, 1815-1855
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS
Toronto Buffalo London
www.utppublishing.com
© University of Toronto Press Incorporated 2000
Toronto Buffalo London
Printed in Canada
ISBN 0-8020-4750-5
0
Printed on acid-free paper
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Waddams, S.M., 1942-
Sexual slander in nineteenth-century England : defamation in the
ecclesiastical courts, 1815-1855
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8020-4750-5
1. Libel and slander - England - History - 19th century.
2. Ecclesiastical courts - England - History - 19th century. I. Title.
KD1960.W32 2000 346.4203'4 C99-932819-0
University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to its publishing
program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council.
This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Humanities and
Social Sciences Federation of Canada, using funds provided by the Social Sciences
and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial support for its publishing
activities of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry
Development Program (BPIDP).
Every Person or Persons who utter, publish, assert, or report... reproachful,
scandalous, or defamatory Words, to the Hurt and Diminution of the good
Name, Fame, and Reputation of another Person, contrary to good Manners
and the Bond of Charity, are and ought to be admonished, constrained, and
compelled to the reclaiming and retracting of such reproachful, scandalous,
and defamatory Words, and to the restoring of the good Name, Fame, and
Reputation of the Person thereby injured; and that for the future they refrain
from uttering, publishing, or declaring any such reproachful, scandalous,
or defamatory words; and are and ought to be canonically punished and
corrected ...
Extract from a libel for defamation (Hereford, 1826)
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ix
PREFACE xi
ABBREVIATIONS XV
Introduction: 'Grievous and oppressive to the subjects of this realm' 3
Part I: The Law
1 The Common Law 17
2 The Ecclesiastical Law 25
Part II: The Courts
3 The Courts and Their Officers 51
4 Patterns of Litigation 65
5 Evidence 79
6 Costs 103
7 Penance 111
Part HI: The Cases
8 The Parties 123
9 The Injury 130
10 Motives 156
11 Consequences 179
Postscript: 'A barbarous state of our law' 187
viii Contents
TABLES
1 Ecclesiastical court business, 1827-30 193
2 Defamation cases by diocese, 1815-55, with diocesan populations
in 1835 195
3 Defamation cases by five-year periods, 1815-55 196
4 Defamation cases by sex and marital status of parties (Norwich and
York) 197
5 Populations of places of plaintiffs'residence (Norwich) 197
6 Disposition of causes at various stages of litigation (Norwich) 198
7 Sex and literacy of witnesses (Norwich and York) 198
APPENDICES
A Illustrative Cause Papers 199
B Occupations of Parties and Parties' Husbands (Norwich and York) and of
Male Plaintiffs (England and Wales) 221
NOTES 225
BIBLIOGRAPHY 291
TABLE OF CASES 295
INDEX 313
Illustrations follow page 144
List of Illustrations
Illustrations appear between pp. 144 and 145.
1 Recantation signed by Charlotte Jones (1855).
2 Two notices among the papers in Bach v. Engstrom (1822).
3 Love letter from Prudence Payne to Thomas Rowley (1841).
4 The Chester Consistory Court.
5 Court room at Doctors' Commons.
6 Citation in a York defamation case (1820).
7 Libel in a Hereford defamation case (1826).
8 Schedule of penance in a Hereford case (1828).
9 Schedule of penance witnessed by John Keble in Ford v. Freemantle
(1826).
10 Caricature of a gossip (Lord Brougham).
11 Offer of reward in Bate v. Collis (1845).
12 Map of dioceses in 1835.