Testimony and advocacy in Victorian law, literature, and theology / Jan-Melissa Schramm.

Based on the author's thesis.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 225-240) and index.

Print version record.

Cover -- Half-title -- Series-title -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Abbreviations -- Definition of legal terms -- Introduction: justice and the impulse to narrate -- LAW, LITERATURE, AND THE MANIPULATION OF EVIDENCE -- FICTION AND THE REPRESENTATION OF LAW AND RELIGION -- INFERENCE AND NARRATIVE -- CHAPTER 1 Eye-witness testimony and the construction of narrative -- EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY EVIDENTIARY APOLOGETICS -- THE IMPACT OF GERMAN HIGHER CRITICISM ON THE AUTHORITY OF THE EYE-WITNESS -- TOWARDS AN ADVERSARIAL CRIMINAL TRIAL.

EYE-WITNESS TESTIMONY AND CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE -- CHAPTER 2 The origins of the novel and the genesis of the law of evidence -- 'THE CHAPTER OF EVIDENCE IS THE MAIN BUSINESS': FIELDING AND THE SUPERIORITY OF SWORN TESTIMONY -- 'AN HONEST ARTESSNESS IN THE STORY': CLARISSA AND THE GENDERED COMPETITION FOR CREDIBILITY -- 'TRUSTING YOUR VINDICATION TO THE PLAUSIBILITY OF YOUR TALE': CALEB WILLIAMS AND FICTIONS OF SELF-DEFENCE -- SINCERITY AND ROLE OF THE OATH IN THE HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN -- CHAPTER 3 Criminal advocacy and Victorian realism -- THE ENACTMENT OF THE PRISONERS' COUNCEL ACT.

DICKENS AND THE BAR -- 'WORK UNFIT FOR A GENTLEMAN': DICKENS, TROLLOPE, AND 'MANUMISSION OF MURDERERS' -- GEORGE ELIOT AND THE PRESENTATION OF UNSWORN EVIDENCE -- DICKENS, STEPHEN, AND THE EXCLUSION OF EVIDENCE -- REALISM IN THE COURTROOM: TRANSPARENT NARRATION AND THE SUPPRESSION OF EVIDENCE -- CHAPTER 4 The martyr as witness: inspirration and the appeal to intuition -- 'IT SHALL BE GIVEN YOU IN THAT HOUR WHAT TO SPEAK': NEWMAN AND THE TRIALS OF THE FAITHFUL -- 'THE LIGHT I SAW WAS THE TRUE LIGHT': THE CONFESSIONS OF SAVONAROLA -- Conclusion -- IS TESTIMONY A SPECIES OF EVIDENCE?

WHY IS THE EVIDENTIARY STATUS OF TESTIMONY IMPORTANT? LAW, LITERATURE, AND THE COMPETITION TO CONTROL REPRESENTATIONS OF THE -- GUILT, INNOCENCE, AND THE 'GOLDEN THREAD' OF THE ENGLISH COMMON LAW -- Notes -- INTRODUCTION -- 1 EYE-WITNESS TESTIMONY AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF NARRATIVE -- 2 THE ORIGINS OF THE NOVEL AND THE GENESIS OF THE LAW OF EVIDENCE -- 3 CRIMINAL ADVOCACY AND VICTORIAN REALISM -- 4 THE MARTYR AS WITNESS: INSPIRATION AND THE APPEAL TO INTUITION -- CONCLUSION -- Bibliography -- PRIMARY SOURCES -- Books, artical, and newspappers -- Cases -- Statutes -- SECONDARY SOURCES -- Index.

This original and wide-ranging study shows how changing attitudes to evidence, trial and revelation in law and theology had a profound impact on literary narrative in the nineteenth century. Jan-Melissa Schramm, who is both a lawyer and a literary critic, argues that authors of fiction created a style of literary advocacy that both imitated, and reacted against, the example of their story-telling counterparts of the criminal Bar, and traces the ongoing debate over rules of evidence, eye-witness testimony and codes of ethical conduct that helped shape Victorian realism as a narrative form.

English.

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