1-150-649 - The Cartoon Collector/Heritage-Images

The Monster Slain, 1872. The monster of perjury and injustice lies dead, slain with the trusty sword of truth and justice. This cartoon refers to the Tichborne case, which had begun ten years before in 1862. The proceedings centred around whether or not the Claimant was the eldest son of the deceased Sir James Tichborne. As so often happened, the case wound on and on. Proceedings in Chancery were notoriously difficult to resolve and many people were bankrupted by being joined in proceedings, very often against their will. This was satirised very successfully in Charles Dickens's Bleak House through his description of the evils brought by the Jarndyce case. After a hearing lasting more than 100 days, the Claimant could not prove his case and was instead committed to stand trial on a charge of perjury. From Punch, or the London Charivari, March 16, 1872.