Presents a representative body of Romantic and early Victorian crime literature. This work contains ephemeral material ranging from gallows broadsides to reports into prison conditions. It is suitable for those studying Literature, Romantic and Victorian popular culture, Dickens Studies and the History of Criminology.

Presents a representative body of Romantic and early Victorian crime literature. This work contains ephemeral material ranging from gallows broadsides to reports into prison conditions. It is suitable for those studying Literature, Romantic and Victorian popular culture, Dickens Studies and the History of Criminology.

Presents a representative body of Romantic and early Victorian crime literature. This work contains ephemeral material ranging from gallows broadsides to reports into prison conditions. It is suitable for those studying Literature, Romantic and Victorian popular culture, Dickens Studies and the History of Criminology.

Presents a representative body of Romantic and early Victorian crime literature. This work contains ephemeral material ranging from gallows broadsides to reports into prison conditions. It is suitable for those studying Literature, Romantic and Victorian popular culture, Dickens Studies and the History of Criminology.

Presents a representative body of Romantic and early Victorian crime literature. This work contains ephemeral material ranging from gallows broadsides to reports into prison conditions. It is suitable for those studying Literature, Romantic and Victorian popular culture, Dickens Studies and the History of Criminology.

Modern criminal courts are characteristically the domain of lawyers, with trials conducted in an environment of formality and solemnity, where facts are found and legal rules are impartially applied to administer justice. Recent historical scholarship has shown that in England lawyers only began to appear in ordinary criminal trials during the eighteenth century, however, and earlier trials often took place in an atmosphere of noise and disorder, where the behaviour of the crowd - significant body language, meaningful looks, and audible comment - could influence decisively the decisions of jurors and judges. This collection of essays considers this transition from early scenes of popular participation to the much more orderly and professional legal proceedings typical of the nineteenth century, and links this with another important shift, the mushroom growth of popular news and comment about trials and punishments which occurred from the later seventeenth century. It hypothesizes that the popular participation which had been a feature of courtroom proceedings before the mid-eighteenth century was not stifled by ’lawyerization’, but rather partly relocated to the ’public sphere’ of the press, partly because of some changes connected with the work of the lawyers. Ranging from the early 1700s to the mid-nineteenth century, and taking account of criminal justice proceedings in Scotland, as well as England, the essays consider whether pamphlets, newspapers, ballads and crime fiction provided material for critical perceptions of criminal justice proceedings, or alternatively helped to convey the official ’majesty’ intended to legitimize the law. In so doing the volume opens up fascinating vistas upon the cultural history of Britain’s legal system over the ’long eighteenth century'.

The Encyclopedia of Romantic Literature is an authoritative three-volume reference work that covers British artistic, literary, and intellectual movements between 1780 and 1830, within the context of European, transatlantic and colonial historical and cultural interaction. Comprises over 275 entries ranging from 1,000 to 6,500 words arranged in A-Z format across three fully cross-referenced volumes Written by an international cast of leading and emerging scholars Entries explore genre development in prose, poetry, and drama of the Romantic period, key authors and their works, and key themes Also available online as part of the Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Literature, providing 24/7 access and powerful searching, browsing and cross-referencing capabilities