The Catholic Lawyer Volume 36 Number 4 Volume 36, Number 4 Article 4 Roman Catholicism on Trial in Victorian England: The Libel Case of John Henry Newman and Dr. Achilli Matthew C. Mirow Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.stjohns.edu/tcl Part of the Catholic Studies Commons This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at St. John's Law Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Catholic Lawyer by an authorized editor of St. John's Law Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. ROMAN CATHOLICISM ON TRIAL IN VICTORIAN ENGLAND: THE LIBEL CASE OF JOHN HENRY NEWMAN AND DR. ACHILLI MATTHEW C. MIROW* JUROR: I beg your Lordship to understand that we did not considerthis case as regards Protestantismand Catholicism. We only looked at it as a matter of fact.1 John Henry Newman (1801-1890) is one of the best known converts to Roman Catholicism in modern times.2 Born in Lon- don and educated in Oxford, he became a leader of the Oxford Movement during the 1830s. Asserting the catholicity of the Anglican Church, the Movement sought to reform Anglicanism . Instructor, Saint Louis University School of Law, St. Louis, Missouri; Visiting Professor, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Derecho, Bogota, Colombia. B.A. 1983, Boston University; J.D. 1986, Cornell University; Ph.D. in law, 1993, Cam- bridge University. I thank Professors Richard Amelung, Kenneth Parker, Thomas Pepper, and Bernard Rudden for their suggestions during the preparation of this article.