Bloomsbury is publishing a book
using a microhistorical approach to the evolution of the modern justice system
in the UK.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Adopting a microhistory approach,
Fair and Unfair Trials in the British Isles, 1800-1940 provides an in-depth
examination of the evolution of the modern justice system. Drawing upon
criminal cases and trials from England, Scotland, and Ireland, the book
examines the errors, procedural systems, and the ways in which adverse
influences of social and cultural forces impacted upon individual instances of
justice.
The book investigates several
case studies of both justice and injustice which prompted the development of
forensic toxicology, the implementation of state propaganda and an increased
interest in press sensationalism. One such case study considers the trial of
William Sheen, who was prosecuted and later acquitted of the murder of his
infant child at the Old Baily in 1827, an extraordinary miscarriage of justice
that prompted outrage amongst the general public. Other case studies include
trials for treason, theft, obscenity and blasphemy. Nash and Kilday root each
of these cases within their relevant historical, cultural, and political
contexts, highlighting changing attitudes to popular culture, public criticism,
protest and activism as significant factors in the transformation of the
criminal trial and the British judicial system as a whole.
Drawing upon a wealth of primary
sources, including legal records, newspaper articles and photographs, this book
provides a unique insight into the evolution of modern criminal justice in
Britain.
ABOUT THE EDITORS
David Nash is
Professor of History at Oxford Brookes University, UK. He is one of three
Editors of the journal, Cultural and Social History. David Nash is
the author of several books, including Christian Ideals in British
Society (2013) and Blasphemy in the Christian World (2007).
Anne-Marie Kilday is
Professor of Criminal History at Oxford Brookes University, UK. She is author
of A History of Infanticide in Britain (2013), co-author
of Cultures of Shame: Exploring Crime and Morality in Britain 1600-1900 (2010)
and editor (with David Nash) of Histories of Crime, 1600-2000 (2010).
TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Illustrations
List of Contributors
Acknowledgements
Introduction, David Nash and
Anne-Marie Kilday (both of Oxford Brookes University, UK)
1. "A Monstrous Innovation
on the Laws": The William Sheen Case; Child Murder and Double Jeopardy at
the Old Bailey, Heather Shore (Manchester Metropolitan University, UK)
2. That Justice Shall Be Done
Impartially: Pre-Trial Publicity and Palmer's Act of 1856, Katherine Watson
(Oxford Brookes University, UK)
3. "We Want Justice to be
Done": Press, Jury, and the Question of Fairness in the Trial of George
Vass, Clare Sandford-Couch (University of Northumbria, UK)
4. The Trials of Peter Barrett: A
Microhistory of Dysfunction in the Irish Criminal Justice System, Niamh Howlin
(University College Dublin, Ireland)
5. The Maamtrasna Murders: Lawful
Trials v. Fair Trials, Conor Hanley (NUI Galway, Ireland)
6. George Bedborough and the
Watford University Press: A 'Scandalous and Obscene Libel in the Form of a
Book'; The Almost Accidental Prosecution of Sexual Inversion, Lesley Hall
(Wellcome Library and University College London, UK)
7. Will the Real Oscar Slater
Please Stand Up?: The 1908 Murder of Marion Gilchrist Revisited, Anne-Marie
Kilday (Oxford Brookes University, UK)
8. Gott and Pack and the 'Leeds
Police Fiasco': The Apparent 'Inevitability' of Unfair Blasphemy Trials, David
Nash (Oxford Brookes University, UK)
9. The Framing of Alice Wheeldon:
Anti-War Activist and Feminist Up Against the State, Lucy Bland (Anglia Ruskin
University, UK)
10. The 'Bobbed Haired Bandit'
and Smash and Grab Raider, Alyson Brown (Edge Hill University, UK)
Conclusion, David Nash and
Anne-Marie Kilday (both of Oxford Brookes University, UK)
Bibliography
Index
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