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The 'whores' and 'highwaymen' of Gregory Durston's title are just some of the dubious characters met with in this absorbing work. They include thief-takers, trading justices, an upstart legal profession whose lower orders developed various ways to line their own pockets and court officials who did the same. The book shows how little was planned and how much sprang up due to individuals - so that the origins of social control, particularly at a local level, had much to do with personal ideas of morality, class and perceived threats. Based on news reports, Old Bailey and local archives and other records, the book weaves a compelling picture of a critical time in English history. This it does through the voices of contemporary observers as well as the best of writings by experts. It spans the period from the Glorious Revolution to the early 1820s. In three parts: Crime and the Metropolis - including metropolitan crime, attitudes to crime and policing, explanations for crime, and criminal law and procedure. Policing - including policing the metropolis, constables, the watch, beadles, the role of the military, and the detection of crime. Justice - including the magistracy and its work, ways of prosecution, trial in the lower and higher courts, and penal regimes.
About the author
Gregory J Durston MA, DipL, LLM, PhD is a barrister-at-law who has taught in Law Schools in England and Japan. He is Reader in Law at Kingston University, Surrey. He is also the author of Fields, Fens & Felonies Crime and Justice in Eighteenth-Century East Anglia (Waterside Press, 2016).
Summary
This comprehensive work on the development of summary jurisdiction, early policing and the emergence of London's embryonic modern criminal justice system looks at every aspect of these topics from numerous perspectives and across the eighteenth century
