Bathsheba in Court

Copyright Oggbashan September 2019

The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

This is a work of fiction. The events described here are imaginary; the settings and characters are fictitious and are not intended to represent specific places or living persons.

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I am the lord of the manor. At the turn of the eighteenth century into the nineteenth that means, among other things, that I have to run a court to maintain the King's Peace. The court is limited to minor disputes, usually about land use within the manor, proving and enforcing a testator's wishes in his (or her) will, and minor offences such as public drunkenness or failing to maintain a bastard child. The latter is regarded as more serious because the cost of the child might have to be met by the Poor Laws, also covered by the court. We never have enough money to support the unemployed, the aged and the ill.

Deciding affairs in the manorial court is usually a chore and a nuisance but no more than that. Most disputes can be settled by local knowledge and common sense. But today I will need more than that. The local Vicar has brought a case before me which has caused me annoyance. The Reverend Joshua Owens has accused Bathsheba Smith of being a common prostitute. If that is proved, I would have to order her to be whipped when tied to a cart, and fined a substantial amount, which she could barely afford.

I know why the Reverend Owens had brought this case. He found out that his adult son, Adam, had been visiting Bathsheba despite his father's objections. The money paid by Adam had been insignificant given the family's income which was free of all taxes, but his father wanted Bathsheba punished for his son's activities.

If Bathsheba were to be convicted, not only would she suffer, but many men from the Manor would be deprived of her services. She could not take the risk of being convicted again. If she were to be convicted twice, she would be branded on both cheeks and sent to the Bridewell - the local women's prison - for life with hard labour. That would probably kill her with five years of imprisonment.

Yet, despite her profession, Bathsheba behaved as well or better than could be expected. She never plied her trade in the open, never solicited trade openly and never revealed who did or did not visit her. As far as I was concerned as Lord of the Manor, she was almost an ideal member of the local community. She paid her rent on time, she paid her contribution to the poor rates, she even paid her tithes to the Reverend Owens' church although she never took communion as being an unrepentant sinner who would repeat her sin several times a day. She attended the major festivals of the Church but always discreetly at the back of a side aisle.

The Reverend Joshua Owens was a Doctor of Laws as well as of Religion. I would have to be very careful. He was capable of appealing any decision I made to a higher court with professional judges, and was able to represent himself as a lawyer at that level. As for me? I am the local landowner, qualified in Classics and Estate Management but only an amateur of the Law. Bathsheba would have no professional lawyer representing her. Why should she? She couldn't afford one and no lawyer had ever appeared in my Manorial Court.

If I decided the case on my own, the Reverend Owens could make life very difficult and expensive at a higher court. But I had a precedent. For complex cases about property disputes I could use a jury of locals who were aware of local history. If I empanelled a jury for Bathsheba's case her guilt or not would be decided by the jury and any court would be unlikely to overturn a jury's verdict except if that jury had been shockingly misadvised by the judge - me, and I thought I could avoid that. However I would have to give Bathsheba as much leeway as I could because being convicted would be so disastrous for her and the men of the Manor.

I had to consider who might be on the jury very carefully. They had to be people that the Reverend Owens could not object to. I couldn't have Methodists or Roman Catholics. They might be harder on Bathsheba than they needed to be and the Reverend Owens would object to them anyway. So they would have to be from the Reverend Owens' congregation and men of some standing in the community. I sat in my study with a paper listing the possibles. They had to be tolerant and understanding but my list was fairly short. To be a juror they had to have some land either freehold or as a substantial tenant.

Should I choose fathers of sons who might have used Bathsheba themselves, or fathers of daughters who might see Bathsheba as protecting their daughters from unwanted attentions? I had to discount that criterion. There weren't enough eligible jurors for me to choose one or the other. I would have to rely on their tolerance and common sense. Three of them were Church Wardens. Another four were members of the Board of Guardian responsible, with me, for administering the Poor Laws. All of them were probably too old and staid to have used Bathsheba's services but I didn't know who had or hadn't. All of them knew of Bathsheba. There wasn't a man, woman or child who didn't know her, or every other person resident on the Manor.

I slept very badly the night before the trial. I wasn't worried for myself but for Bathsheba, and what her conviction would mean for the younger menfolk of the Manor. If she were to be convicted, I wasn't sure what the effect would be on the Reverend Owens himself. Some parishioners had already started going to the church in the next village because they disapproved of his charge against Bathsheba. If he was successful, he might lose half his congregation or even more.

The next morning the court started with a couple of minor disputes about displaced boundary stones and use of a shared lane. They were easily settled because there had been no malice, just mild disagreements that could have been resolved without me.

But by the time Bathsheba was to appear before me the court was full and overflowing. Virtually every adult from the Manor was present. Bathsheba was dressed very modestly as she took her place in the dock. The Reverend Owens had dressed in his full academic robes as a Doctor of Law. As he was bringing the case, after I had presented the jury, to which he had no objection, I asked him to state his case.

I interrupted his speech almost at once.

He had said "It is common knowledge that Mistress Bathsheba Smith is a prostitute..."

I said: "Common knowledge is not a recognised proof, Doctor Owens. Have you any evidence to put before the jury? A witness? A customer who has paid her for sexual services?"

He looked around the courtroom.

"Almost every man in this room," He said.

"Anyone present who is willing to state that he has paid Mistress Smith for sexual services?" I asked.

As I expected, no one volunteered, not when their wives and girlfriends were present. A few looked embarrassed and shifty, but no one spoke against Bathsheba.

"My son, Adam," the Reverend Owens said.

"And where is he?" I asked.

"He has returned to Oxford," Reverend Owens admitted.

"Therefore he is not here to give evidence," I stated firmly. "Unless there is anything else you can add, Doctor Owens, I will have to direct the jury to declare Mistress Smith innocent since no charge has been substantiated against her. She will not only be innocent but never legally charged with any offence."

"You will regret this day," The Reverend Owens stated, not directly to me but to the assembled crowd.

"If that is a threat, Doctor Jones, it is most improper of you to make it in a court of law. If I see evidence of any act by you that might be in consequence of that threat. I might be forced to consider an action against you and the notional rector of this parish, who I understand is a Canon at the local cathedral, for simony and pluralism and failure to pay the Poor Law precepts because of those crimes."

The Reverend Owens swept out of the court room swearing under his breath.

I formally directed the jury to discharge Mistress Bathsheba Smith as innocent and uncharged of any offence. The foreman responded immediately to cheers from the crowd. Bathsheba was carried out of the court on the shoulders of several men.

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The Reverend Owens moved to another parish church within two years and his son, Adam, joined the East India Company, acquiring a set of local concubines. Bathsheba continued to be an asset to the community until she finally retired and was replaced by another young widow.