Reading for the Law VV55221166..iinnddbb ii 11//1122//1100 22::5533::0099 PPMM Victorian Literature and Culture Series Jerome J. McGann and Herbert F. Tucker, Editors VV55221166..iinnddbb iiii 11//1122//1100 22::5533::1100 PPMM Reading for the Law British Literary History and Gender Advocacy , , , christine l. krueger University of Virginia Press charlottesville and london VV55221166..iinnddbb iiiiii 11//1122//1100 22::5533::1100 PPMM University of Virginia Press © 2010 by the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper First published 2010 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Krueger, Christine L. Reading for the law : British literary history and gender advocacy / Christine L. Krueger. p. cm. (Victorian literature and culture series) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8139-2893-7 (cloth : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-0-8139-2897-5 (e-book) 1. English literature—History and criticism. 2. Legal stories, English— History and criticism. 3. Law and literature—Great Britain—History. 4. Law in literature. 5. Female offenders in literature. 6. Women—Legal status, laws, etc.—Great Britain—History. 7. Sex discrimination against women—Law and legislation—Great Britain—History. 8. Feminist jurisprudence—Great Britain. I. Title. PR830.L43K78 2010 823.009′3554—dc22 2009032569 VV55221166..iinnddbb iivv 11//1122//1100 22::5533::1100 PPMM For my father, William R. Krueger, and my teacher and friend, Bertrand A. Goldgar VV55221166..iinnddbb vv 11//1122//1100 22::5533::1100 PPMM VV55221166..iinnddbb vvii 11//1122//1100 22::5533::1111 PPMM Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction: Theory, Advocacy, and History 1 part one. Precedent chapter one. Historiographies of Witchcraft for Feminist Advocacy: Historical Justice in Elizabeth Gaskell’s Lois the Witch 25 chapter two. Witchcraft Precedents as Literary History: From The Discoverie of Witchcraft to Sir Matthew Hale 53 chapter three. The Historical Turn in Witchcraft Literature: From Enlightenment Historiography to Historical Realism 76 part two. Agency chapter four. Theories and Histories of Agency: Mary Wollstonecraft’s Narrative of the Reasonable Woman 101 chapter five. Agency, Equity, Publicity: Compos Mentis in Charles Reade’s Hard Cash and Lunacy Commission Reports 126 VV55221166..iinnddbb vviiii 11//1122//1100 22::5533::1111 PPMM viii Contents part three. Testimony chapter six. Gendered Credibility: Testimony in Fiction and Indecent Assault 157 chapter seven. Women’s Legal Literacy and Pro Se Representation: From Griffi th Gaunt to Georgina Weldon 186 part four. The Motives of Advocacy chapter eight. Concealing Women’s Mens Rea: Advocacy for Female Prisoners and Infanticidal Mothers 203 chapter nine. The Secret Agency of Juries: Forging Resistance against Sodomy Prosecution 237 Notes 255 Bibliography 273 Index 291 VV55221166..iinnddbb vviiiiii 11//1122//1100 22::5533::1111 PPMM Acknowledgments A long-term project like this one benefi ts from, and is sustained by, many mentors, colleagues, students, and friends. While I was still work- ing on women preachers, Margaret Anne Doody and Jeffrey Spear turned my mind to crime. Catherine McClenahan, Claudia Johnson, Andrew Elfenbein, and Susan Sage Heinzelman read my early work on women and the law and set me on the right path. I have benefi ted greatly from the support of Martha Nussbaum, Susan Staves, and Richard Stein. My fel- low fellows at the Huntington Library, especially Barbara Donagan, Kevis Goodman, Richard Kaueper, and Jessie Matz, gave me wise and learned advice, and lots of laughs. Wai-Chee Dimock and Judith Resnick offered encouragement and direction at a crucial stage in the project. Alison Booth provided essential publication advice. Conversations with Nancy Snow, Jan-Melissa Schramm, Rohan McWilliam, Simon Petch, William Cohen, Josephine McDonaugh, David Wayne Thomas, Joseph Kestner, George Justice, Devoney Looser, Cliff Spargo, Amelia Zurcher, Krista Ratcliffe, and Mary Catherine Bodden were enlightening and challenging. Sharing a Way Klingler Interdisciplinary Teaching Award with Shirley Wiegand of the Marquette University Law School gave me an opportunity to learn fi rsthand how lawyers teach literature, and to try out my arguments on law students. Mary Jean Corbett and an anonymous reader for the University of Virginia Press went above and beyond the call of duty in their careful reading and insightful suggestions for revisions. Cathie Brettschneider, humanities acquisitions editor at the University of Virginia Press, offered enthusiastic support, sensible advice, and an expeditious editorial process. Book production was gracefully managed by Mark Mones and Morgan ix VV55221166..iinnddbb iixx 11//1122//1100 22::5533::1111 PPMM