Summary Justice in the City: A Selection of Cases Heard at the Guildhall Justice Room

摘要

Since the 1970s there has been what has been termed a 'crime wave' when it comes to writing about offending and the criminal justice system in the past. For a variety of reasons, the eighteenth century has attracted the most attention. Early studies of this period tended to focus on the assizes and Old Bailey court where most serious crimes were determined by professional judges from the Westminster courts sitting with juries. Slightly later studies moved on to the quarter sessions, where justices of the peace (frequently aided by a recorder), but still sitting with a jury, heard middle ranking and minor offences. However, for a long time, one of the most vital parts of the criminal justice system, the 'entry level' work of magistrates 'out of sessions', whether processing serious cases that would end up being heard in the two higher courts or determining comparatively trivial criminal matters summarily, was ignored, even though decisions made at this stage had major consequences for the rest of the system when it came to serious crimes, and most allegations went no further than a magistrate's hearing. One of the primary reasons for this neglect was a dearth of records. Quite frequently, these matters had not been recorded. Even where they had been written down, the records and accounts had often been lost, not being deemed to be very important. Nevertheless, in recent decades, a small number of surviving eighteenth-century justices' notebooks from the provinces have been published, casting light on proceedings in front of magistrates.