Law, crime, and English society, 1660-1830

Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Dedication......Page 7
Contents......Page 9
Figures......Page 11
Contributors......Page 12
1 Introduction......Page 15
Law-making and the state......Page 20
The working of the courts......Page 24
Law and society......Page 27
Part 1 Law......Page 31
High court judges and inferior magistrates......Page 33
King’s Bench and lay justices: certiorari and criminal informations......Page 35
Harassing magistrates: certiorari and other annoyances......Page 39
Criminal informations against magistrates for misdemeanour in office......Page 40
Procedural obstacles to prosecuting a magistrate......Page 41
Judicial tenderness towards erring magistrates......Page 42
The incidence of prosecution: Staffordshire......Page 44
Misbehaving magistrates......Page 46
The singular case of John Gough......Page 47
The vulnerability of poor magistrates......Page 55
Conclusion......Page 56
3 The trading justice’s trade......Page 60
Justices represented to the Lord Chancellor......Page 63
Justices who were dinner guests......Page 72
The trading justice’s activities......Page 78
4 Impressment and the law in eighteenth-century Britain......Page 85
Part 2 Crime......Page 109
5 War as a judicial resource. Press gangs and prosecution rates, 1740–1830......Page 111
War, peace and the age structure of offenders......Page 112
The nature and extent of pre-trial enlistment......Page 120
6 Making the ‘bloody code’? Forgery legislation in eighteenth-century England......Page 131
The map of English law......Page 153
Criminal vs. civil......Page 159
Pleas of the crown......Page 167
Public vs. private......Page 170
Part 3 Society......Page 177
The Somerset case......Page 179
Enslavement at Calabar......Page 181
The legal issues......Page 182
Avoiding the issues......Page 186
Interpreting Somerset: the role of the higher courts......Page 190
Interpreting Somerset: the role of the lower courts......Page 193
Abolition, propaganda and mythology......Page 195
9 Religion and the law: evidence, proof and ‘matter of fact’, 1660–1700......Page 199
‘Matters of fact’ and ‘matters of law’......Page 200
Juries and witnesses......Page 201
The norm of impartiality......Page 207
‘Matter of fact’ and the truth of Christianity......Page 209
Natural theology and matter of fact......Page 215
Mosaic accounts of Creation, the origin of mankind and the Deluge......Page 216
Witchcraft, spiritual phenomena and prodigies......Page 218
Conclusion......Page 220
10 The press and public apologies in eighteenth-century London......Page 222
APPENDIX A......Page 243
11 Origins of the factory acts: the Health and Morals of Apprentices Act, 1802......Page 244
ARTICLES......Page 270
Index......Page 272