William Evans Esq.r. Sheriff of London and Middlesex 1839-40. Committed to the Custody of the Serjeant at Arms, Tuesday Jan.y 21st 1840. Interior of the Room in which Mr Sheriff Evans was confined.
J. Linnell fe.t 1840. On Stone by Weld Taylor. J. Graf, Printer to her Majesty.
London, Published March 6, by Thomas Boys, XI Golden Square, Regent Street.
Lithograph on india, rare. 550 x 375mm (21½ x 14¾"). Damp stain bottom left.
Portrait of William Evans, a City official caught up in a confrontation concerning Parliamentary Privilege. In 1839 John Joseph Stockdale (publisher and some-time blackmailer famed for being told 'Publish and be damned' by the Duke of Wellington) brought a libel case against Hansard, the printer of House of Commons business records, over a book Stockdale published, 'On Diseases of the Generative System', being branded obscene. Stockdale won, on the grounds that the House of Commons enjoyed no privilege as to publications under its authority circulated beyond Members of Parliament. The Queen's Bench court sent sheriffs William Evans and John Wheelton to Parliament to claim the damages but were imprisoned for Contempt of Parliament. However the situation was diffused by the 'Parliamentary Papers Act 1840' which made Parliamentary Privilege absolute and invalidated Stockdale's case.
[Ref: 44088] £280.00
London, Published March 6, by Thomas Boys, XI Golden Square, Regent Street.
Lithograph on india, rare. 550 x 375mm (21½ x 14¾"). Damp stain bottom left.
Portrait of William Evans, a City official caught up in a confrontation concerning Parliamentary Privilege. In 1839 John Joseph Stockdale (publisher and some-time blackmailer famed for being told 'Publish and be damned' by the Duke of Wellington) brought a libel case against Hansard, the printer of House of Commons business records, over a book Stockdale published, 'On Diseases of the Generative System', being branded obscene. Stockdale won, on the grounds that the House of Commons enjoyed no privilege as to publications under its authority circulated beyond Members of Parliament. The Queen's Bench court sent sheriffs William Evans and John Wheelton to Parliament to claim the damages but were imprisoned for Contempt of Parliament. However the situation was diffused by the 'Parliamentary Papers Act 1840' which made Parliamentary Privilege absolute and invalidated Stockdale's case.
[Ref: 44088] £280.00