Web watch: Studies in Scarlet: Marriage and Sexuality, 1815-1914

11/03/2009

The Harvard Law School Library has created Studies in Scarlet: Marriage and Sexuality in the US and UK, 1815-1914, a fascinating web site with 420 cases on the "application of the law and the motivations, manners, and mores of another era". It features "sensational trials" from the nineteenth and early twentieth century, such as the adultery trial of Caroline, queen consort of George IV, the sodomy trial of Oscar Wilde and "ordinary men and women thrust into the public eye when their marriages and love affairs went wrong or their relationships did not conform to social standards".

**A word of caution: **occasionally, the site may be slow to load images, and some reports contain a number of blank pages, which does not assist browsing.

For those who may be interested, the Bar Library has a copy of Irish Peacock & Scarlet Marquess : the Real Trial of Oscar Wilde, by Merlin Holland, among its growing history collection.

11 March 2009