Early Modern Britain

Conquering abroad Religious upheaval Printing press Increased travel

Some towns decided to employ watchmen to patrol the streets at night.

Thief Takers were men who hunted down criminals for rewards. A bit like bounty hunters. The reward was paid by the person who had been robbed.

If you were robbed you really had to catch the criminal yourself. You could summon a magistrate or post a reward for anyone who could catch the criminal.

The Justice of the Peace took care of local issues.

Women could not be JPs, jury members or take any other important role in the law. In fact if a women was drunk she would get a more severe punishment than a man. Even women who were raped were sometimes put on trial.

Increased travel abroad lead to Smuggling.

Increased travel on roads lead to a lot more Highway Robbery

Religious upheaval lead to Witchtrials.

Growth of towns lead to an increase in crime rate.

Vagrants were whipped on the first offence. If caught again they could be executed. Most people hated them. The rich were tough on thieves, vagrants, and poachers.

Dick Turpin was a famous Highway Robber

Jonathan Wild was a criminal who pretended to be a thief taker. He controlled all the criminals of London.

Puritans were christians who were very religious. They tried to ban christmas. During the 1650s they ruled England and there were punishments for not attending church, drinking, gambling, playing sports on Sundays and blaspheming.

Most of the old punishments were used such as, Stocks, pillory, whipping, fines, mutilation, execution. The 2 new punishments were Transportation and Bridwell.

The Bridewell was a very early form of prison meant to correct bad behaviour.

Transportation was given as a punishment for serious crime such as theft. Some protester were transported. Initially this was to America but by the late 1700s America was independent so we transported our criminals to Australia.

Vagrants were whipped on the first offence and executed on the second. The law was harsh because it was made by rich people who wanted to protect their wealth. The punishment was meant to deter people.

The Bloody Code was the name given to the laws that stated that you could be executed for many crimes such as poaching or even going out at night with a darkened face.

Witches were tortured hanged or burnt at the stake

Protesters were hanged

Women who argued in public or got too drunk were sometimes put in a Scold’s Bridle. Other times they might be dunked.

Kings and Parliament made laws together by the end of this period. The Parliament consisted of rich land owners and wealthy members of the gentry. They passed laws to protect their wealth.

Habeaus Corpus laws stated that you couldn’t be imprisoned without a trial. The use of Lawyers became more common and juries dealt with one case at a time.

The Bloody Code didn’t work because juries were reluctant to execute people for small crimes such as poaching.

Britain went from being ruled by a king, to being ruled by puritan to being ruled by parliament. At the same time we conquered lots of countries abroad and lots of town grew.

The Court System did not change much at all. Because it worked!