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Travers v. Wilde [1864] Travers v. Wilde [1864]
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The Shadow of 1849 and 1864 on Wilde v. Queensberry [1895] The Shadow of 1849 and 1864 on Wilde v. Queensberry [1895]
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6 Fiat Justitia Ruat Caelum – Revisiting the Wildes on Trial
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Published:October 2022
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Abstract
This chapter provides the context for Oscar Wilde’s encounters with the law in the 1890s. Bringing us back to the mid-nineteenth century, O’Flaherty explores the lesser known legal experiences of Wilde’s parents William and Jane (better known as a poet by her penname, Speranza). As this chapter relates, the first of these legal encounters occurred in 1849 when Jane became embroiled in controversy relating to the publication of her work in The Nation – work that left the paper’s editor Charles Gavin Duffy open to legal jeopardy when he was arrested for sedition. The second of these Wilde family encounters, in 1864, involved both Jane and William in a case of libel amid accusations of sexual misconduct. Locating these cases in the context of their famous son’s infamous trials, the essay reveals the ways in which each legal instance was ‘to some extent instigated by the written word’ with each of the legal proceedings including ‘some form of literary works – published articles, pamphlets, letters, works of poetry, prose, drama – being introduced as evidence by the prosecution and/or defence’. In so doing this chapter demonstrates ‘the manner in which these previous two court cases provide an interesting preface to Wilde’s own disastrous legal action against the Marquess of Queensberry in 1895’.
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