Abstract
Although it is often assumed that Marie Stopes (1880–1958) was put on trial for her promotion of birth control, the cause célèbre which brought her major media attention in 1923 was in fact her own libel suit against the Roman Catholic doctor Halliday Sutherland for his attack against her clinic. This article looks at Stopes performing in the courtroom as a victim of injustice, deserving of remedy, both in this case, and in her earlier case for the annulment of the marriage to her first husband, Reginald Ruggles Gates, on the grounds of his impotence. It is argued that her success in bringing the latter to a successful conclusion led her to an unrealistic assessment of the degree to which she could control the narrative about herself within the context of the courtroom in her libel suit. In both cases, factors external to the courtroom had a significant impact.
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