Law.- Conjugal rights with an ex-wife.- Case of the Rev. Pierce Connelly, small broadside, folds, the central horizontal with short split at one end, the odd nick, some creasing, lightly browned, 239 x 193mm., ?Thomas Hatchard, 1853; and a copy of the pamphlet concerning the case mentioned in the broadside, v.s. (2)

⁂ A curious case. In 1831 Pierce Connelly (an Episcopalian clergyman) and his wife Cornelia moved to Natchez, Mississippi, where he was rector of Trinity Church. Later they converted to Catholicism, and in 1840 Pierce announced his intention to enter the priesthood. Accordingly Cornelia agreed to give him the requisite deed of separation, which was granted in 1844, and whereupon she entered a convent in Rome. In 1846 she was chosen to establish an order of teaching nuns in England. Pierce subsequently attempted to gain control of the order through her, and having failed he left the church and instituted civil proceedings for the restitution of his conjugal rights. This action also failed, and for the rest of his life he conducted a public campaign of vilification against her.