Early Modern Themes: crime, law and order

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Crime, Law and Disorder

Proceedings of the Old Bailey A major project headed by Tim Hitchcock and Robert Shoemaker, which has produced a 'fully searchable online edition of the largest body of texts detailing the lives of non-elite people ever published, containing accounts of over 100,000 criminal trials held at London's central criminal court' (1674-1834 ultimately; covers 1714-99 at the time of writing). Apart from the amazing database itself (you can view both transcripts and digital versions of the originals), there is a valuable historical background section with well-written articles on a range of topics: policing; types of offence; London; different communities; gender; the Old Bailey; a section on the publishing history of the Proceedings; and a fine bibliography. A magnificent achievement

Early Modern Crime, Law and Order: a bibliography (at this site) a broad-ranging themed bibliography of published (English-language only) secondary sources

Crime and Punishment in Early Modern Europe (Susan Dinan) taught course syllabus, interesting introductory discussion, reading lists and supplementary bibliography

Tyburn Tree excellent resource on execution in early modern England, including a range of useful links, primary documents and images and a bibliography

The Complete Newgate Calendar (University of Texas, Law in Popular Culture collection) complete text of the 1926 edition of this amazing eighteenth-century source (for the development of crime fiction as much as for studying crime itself). Try also Newgate Calendar Stories (Dennis Denisoff)

London's disreputable south bank in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (Jessica Browner) examining Southwark's notorious reputation during the early modern period, a shady world of petty crime, alehouses and prostitution

Crime and the Law in Elizabethan England (Internet Shakespeare Editions) includes sections on the Elizabethan underworld, attitudes to crime, punishment

Female Crime in Renaissance Drama (Matthew Clothier and Leah Edwards) a student project which considers media representations of murderous women, focusing on the play Arden of Faversham (but drawing interesting parallels with the present day)

The duello in Elizabethan England (Maelgwyn Dda) a lively look at the culture of the duel in early modern England

Dartford assizes in the sixteenth century (Dartford Archive) an abstract of criminal cases from Dartford tried at the Assize courts: gives a flavour of the types of offence tried at these important English courts

The Court Structure of Quebec and Lower Canada, 1764-1860 (Donald Fyson) a basic guide to the courts: 'the intention is that researchers knowing only the name of the court whose documents they are consulting can easily determine its position in the judicial hierarchy, its predecessors and successors, and its general competence'

Famous American Trials: Salem Witchcraft Trials (Douglas Linder) as with the next two links, the author selects from a range of materials (and the amount of online material for the Salem trials is huge) relating to famous trials to produce a useful resource

Famous American Trials: John Peter Zenger Trial (Douglas Linder) the 1735 trial of a Boston printer that is regarded as a landmark in the development of a free press

Famous American Trials: Boston Massacre Trial (Douglas Linder) in 1770 a group of British soldiers in Boston fired on a crowd that was pelting them with various objects, killing five of the civilians. Two soldiers were later convicted of manslaughter, and several more acquitted

Lost Women (Mary Elizabeth Perry) extracted from the book Crime and Society in early modern Seville, looks at the women of the Seville 'underworld' and the city authorities' attempts to deal with them as a perceived threat to order

Crime, litigation and the courts in the Isle of Man (Stephen Miller) (htm version) outline of a research project using a rich but neglected set of archives, from a range of courts in the early modern Isle of Man

Wales and the Law (at this site) original sources (printed and archival) on crime and justice in Wales, c.1500-1800. Very small at the moment, but hopefully will expand over the coming months

Clothing, cloth and cloth-theft in Defoe's England (Melissa Johnson) essay looking at clothing, the second-hand clothes trade and theft in the early eighteenth century

Crime and punishment in early modern Germany (Robert Selig)

Violence in early modern Europe (Julius Ruff) extensive bibliographical essay (a longer version of material contained in Ruff's book on violence in early modern Europe): sections on representations of crime; states, arms and armies; justice; interpersonal violence; ritual group violence; violent popular protest; organised crime

Pirates and their Enemies (C R Pennell) materials for a taught course: includes primary documents, bibliography, web links

Outlaws and Highwaymen (Gillian Spraggs) as well as a varied range of texts (including ballads, newspaper reports, fictional stories, memoirs), includes an outline history, bibliography and links

Capital punishment in the Isle of Man (Peter Edge)

Torture in early modern Spain and Latin America (Tamar Herzog) outlining the context, doctrine and practice of early modern legal torture

Making Sense of English Law Enforcement in the 18th Century (David Friedman) essay examining the eighteenth-century English criminal justice system

Last Mile Tours: Capital Punishment in Eighteenth-century England (Margaret Allen, Mandy Taylor, Bonnie Bonifield) a student project making imaginative use of original sources

Forced Labour, Workhouse-prisons and the Early Modern State (Thomas Munck, IHR seminar) examining early developments in institutionalised poor relief, through a case study of Danish workhouses and forced labour schemes

Honour, Reputation and Defamation (at this site) a short bibliography of printed materials relating to defamation and slander, honour and insult

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This page last updated 16 January 2004 by Sharon Howard

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