There is nothing new about the alienation of a child's affections from a parent. Children have been alienated, brainwashed, estranged, kidnapped and manipulated by family members for all of recorded history. The earliest reported case of a child's alienation from his parent began at the turn of the nineteenth century when Leonard Thomas De Manneville literally "snatched his nursing daughter from the breast of his wife. . ." (Wright, 2002). De Manneville was a French emigrant and his wife, Margaret Crompton, a women of means and property. Just after their daughter was born, their marriage soured. Faced with English law at the time making divorce nearly impossible, Mrs. De Manneville complained of abuse and went to live with her mother. Prior to leaving, she made explicit provision for the father to have access to his child. Unhappy with this arrangement Leonard seized the child and threatened to leave England, never to be seen again. Margaret filed an application with the Court of King's Bench for a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of the infant.