The Dean of St Asaph's trial: libel and politics in the 1780s

In the early 1780s the Society for Constitutional Information poured much time and money into defending a charge of libel against one of its supporters, Jonathan Shipley, dean of St Asaph. This effort has been dismissed by historians as a waste of resources and a reflection of the waning of the campaign for political reform. This article examines the political significance of the Shipley trial in light of recent scholarship that stresses the importance of the courtroom and print culture in reformist agitation.