T. Hitchcock & R. Shoemaker - Tales From The Hanging Court (2nd Hand Paperback)
Synopsis
Tales from the Hanging Court draws on published accounts of Old Bailey trials from 1674-1834, a rich seam of social, political and legal history.
Through these compelling true stories of theft, murder, rape and blackmail, Hitchcock and Shoemaker capture the early history of the judicial system and the colourful, vibrant and sometimes scandalous world of pre-industrial London.
In its heyday the court was a soap opera of intrigue, sensation and murky goings on where authors such as Dickens and Defoe would go for inspiration. Thieves and murderers were often caught by members of the public and prosecutions brought by victims.
Hitchcock and Shoemaker chart an increasingly sophisticated society taking crime and punishment away from the anarchy of the London mob to put it into a court where a judge and jury meted out justice. This is a vivid picture of a flourishing city where market capitalism and enlightenment thinking battled to impose order on the chaotic crime that accompanied Britain's economic miracle.
Details
- Format : Thick 2nd Hand Paperback
- Condition : As New
- Category : Non-Fiction - Law, Society & Social Sciences
- Published : 2010 (Bloomsbury Academic)
- ISBN : 9780340913758
- SKU : B001803
- PPC : SP400gm
- RRP : £7.99
- Quantity Available : 1 only.
External Reviews
"This is an important book for my criminology history module, its so easy to read and not like other academic books which can be boring. It's informative and has serious and amusing anecdotes and above all accurate information as far as I have been able to ascertain, so a good reliable book suitable for academic and general reading." - Goodreads Review.
The Authors
Tim Hitchcock has published widely on the histories of gender, sexuality and poverty focussed primarily on eighteenth-century London.
Robert Shoemaker is Professor of Eighteenth-Century British history at University of Sheffield. His main interests lie in social and cultural history, particularly urban history, gender history, and the history of crime, justice and punishment, and in the use of digital technologies in historical research.
