Crime and Punishment

• In Saxon England, crimes included drinking too much, insulting your neighbor, stealing, murder, and plowing someone else's land
• Punishments in Saxon England

  • Tything
  • No police - every male over 12 expected to join tything
  • Hue and cry - entire village had to join hunt for criminal
  • Parish constable - unpaid local duty to maintain law and order
• Trial by local jury in Saxon England


  1. Accused and victim give their version

  2. Jury decides based on knowledge of people

  3. Jury finds accused guilty if victim more trustworthy
• Trials by ordeal in Saxon England

  • Trial by hot iron
  • Trial by hot water
  • Trial by cold water
  • Trial by blessed bread
• Wergild


  System of fines for different crimes, designed to reduce further violence
• Capital and corporal punishments were used for serious crimes in Saxon England, including execution and mutilation</b>
• When William the Conqueror took control, he kept Saxon laws but added new ones written in French, disadvantaging the Saxons
• New Norman laws and institutions

  • Sheriff and Posse Comitatus
  • Trial by combat
  • Church courts
  • Forest laws
• Henry II made further changes to increase the king's power, including the introduction of incarceration and ending trial by ordeal
• Benefit of clergy allowed accused to be tried in church courts with less severe punishments
• Sanctuary allowed criminals to claim protection in a church for up to 40 days
• Between 1500-1700, factors that changed crime and criminals included population growth, economic changes, religious turmoil, political turmoil, and landowners' attitudes
• Measures used to deal with vagabonds

  • Whipping
  • Slavery
  • Branding
  • Execution
  • Houses of Correction
• Petty crimes in 1500-1700s included selling underweight goods, cheating at gambling, owing money, theft, murder, and assault
• Law enforcement in 1500-1700s

  • Hue and cry
  • Posse Comitatus
  • Parish constables
  • Watchmen and sergeants
  • Rewards
  • Justices of the Peace
  • Manorial courts
  • Quarter sessions
  • County Assizes
• t warrant from a magistrate and to arrest the criminal responsible rewards these were offered to anyone who successfully captured a criminal responsible for more serious crimes
• Justices of the Peace

  Set up in the medieval period, became a major part of law enforcement between 1500 and 1700, important local people landowners who judged local or minor court cases
• Justices of the Peace


  • Allowed to find people, put people in the stocks or order them to be whipped
• Justices of the Peace

  1. Handled minor crimes on their own

  2. Met with other JPS in the same County four times a year for quarter sessions

  3. Most serious crimes would be considered at these meetings

  4. JPS would have the right to pass the death sentence
• Royal judges


  1. Visited each County twice a year to handle the most serious offenses

  2. These were known as County Assizes
• Benefit of clergy


  By the 1600s many people could read and were able to cheat the benefit of clergy rules so it was gotten rid of
• Habeas corpus


  This Act was passed in 1679, prevented the authorities from locking up a person indefinitely without evidence that they were guilty
• Laws concerning punishment for crimes got a lot stricter, this was known as the bloody court
• Punishments used


  • Capital punishment (hanging, burning at the stake, beheading)
  • Pillory
  • Fines
  • Whipping
  • Houses of Correction
  • Gaols
  • Carting
  • Dunking stool
• Capital punishment was still used for major crimes such as murder, treason and arson as well as stealing expensive items
• After 1688 the number of crimes for which capital punishment was used massively increased
• By 1815 there were 225 crimes that could lead to a death sentence, even very minor crimes such as poaching rabbits
• Witchcraft had been a crime for hundreds of years, but between 1645-1747 there were 250 cases of witchcraft in East Anglia alone
• Matthew Hopkins


  Employed to catch witches, used torture to get them to confess, victims were often old women
• Witchcraft accusations were a sign of increased tension between the poor and those richer, combined with the instability caused by the Reformation and the Civil War
• Witchcraft was decriminalized in the 18th century and was seen as merely a con trick
• Highwayman


  Robbers who targeted travelers in wooded and dark areas near the capital city, using only a cheap pistol and a horse
• Smuggling

  Illegally importing goods such as tea and tobacco to avoid import taxes, estimated 20,000 active smugglers in 1748
• Tything


  A group of ten households in Saxon England. Every male over the age of 12 was expected to join the tything and help maintain law and order in their community.
• No police


  In Saxon England, there was no formal police force like we have today. Instead, the responsibility for maintaining law and order was shared among all able-bodied males in the community.
• Hue and cry


  If a crime was committed, the person who witnessed it would raise a "hue and cry" - that is, they would shout and make a loud noise to alert their neighbors. The entire village would then join in the pursuit of the criminal.
• Parish constable


  A parish constable was an unpaid local official who was responsible for maintaining law and order in their community. They were typically chosen by their fellow community members and were responsible for enforcing the laws and regulations of the time.