Scotch verdict* : Miss Pirie and Miss Woods v. Dame Cumming Gordon
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Title
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Scotch verdict* : Miss Pirie and Miss Woods v. Dame Cumming Gordon
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Description
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A “Scotch Verdict” results in the Scottish legal system if a case is “not proven” or is inconclusive. Using archival documents, historian Lillian Faderman (1940-) explores this outcome in the 1810 case of Edinburgh teachers Jane Pirie and Marianne Woods. The two women were accused by pupil Jane Cumming of having a sexual relationship which led to the removal of all pupils from the school. Having lost their work, Pirie and Woods brought a libel case against Jane’s grandmother, Dame Cumming Gordon, which ended in the titular Scotch Verdict. Unlike many of the ‘Operation Tiger’ titles, this book is still in print. The Pirie and Woods case also inspired Lillian Hellman’s 1934 play ‘The Children’s Hour’ which was later filmed.
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Rights
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