A House in Gross Disorder:

Sex, Law and the 2nd Earl

of Castlehaven

by Cynthia B. Herrup

Oxford University Press, 224 pp., $25

On April 25, 1631, an extraordinary trial opened and closed in London: The 2nd Earl of Castlehaven was tried and found guilty of rape and sodomy. He was condemned to death and beheaded three weeks later. Cynthia B. Herrup, a professor of law and history at Duke University, examines this trial in all its ambiguities, revealing the makeup of the 17th-century British aristocracy and hinting at the continued modern fascination with sexual and political scandal. Herrup paints a fascinating picture without venturing into a claim of the Earl’s guilt or innocence. What is at stake in this scholarly study is the interconnection of wealth and privilege with criminal guilt, the scope of 17th-century law, including definitions for “rape” and “buggery” (effectively sodomy), and the human capacity to thrive on public drama long after its day in court.

This article appears in December 3 • 1999.

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