1869
by Trial; Saurin vs Star
1869. London, [1869]. London, [1869]. "The Great Convent Trial" [Trial]. Star, Mother Mary Joseph, Defendant. Kennedy, Mary Magdalen, Sister, Defendant. The Trial of Saurin v. Star and Another: In the Court of Queen's Bench, Before the Lord Chief Justice and a Special Jury. An Action by a Sister of Mercy Against Her Superior for an Alleged Conspiracy to Cause her Expulsion. The Report Copied Verbatim from the Times. London: Diprose and Bateman, 1869. [ii], 264 pp. Woodcut portrait frontispiece (of Saurin). Octavo (8-1/2" x 5-1/2"). Later library cloth, red and black calf lettering pieces to spine. Light soiling and shelfwear, a few minor stains, minor edgewear to lettering pieces. Moderate toning to text, minor tears to a few leaves, faint embossed ink and library stamps to title page, brief annotation to verso, frontispiece detached and edgeworn, just touching border of image, title page partially detached. $350. * Only edition. Mary Saurin (Sister Mary Scholastica Joseph) brought a case against her superior and another nun for assault and conspiracy to drive her from her convent and have her expelled from the order. Known as "the great convent trial," it was a sensational case that fueled contemporary prejudices against Catholics, monastic orders and women. These themes are apparent in the Solicitor-General's opening remarks. This case shows "what women were capable of when they shut themselves up from their kind, and did violence to the instincts of their nature, and the great, though mean and petty, cruelty they could wreak upon a sister in the name of a religion of love" (2). The jury found in favor of the defendants on the counts of assault and for the plaintiff on the counts of libel and conspiracy to have her expelled from the convent. OCLC locates 6 copies in law libraries (Harvard, Northwestern, UC-Berkeley, and the Universities of Michigan, Minnesota and Virginia). Catalogue of the Library of the Harvard Law School (1909) II:1182.
(Inventory #: 68463)