Law and Government in England during the Long Eighteenth Century: From Consent to Command

by D. Lemmings

Overview

Over the long eighteenth century English governance was transformed by large adjustments to the legal instruments and processes of power. This book documents and analyzes these shifts and focuses upon the changing relations between legal authority and the English people.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781137506955
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	10/28/2011
Series:	Studies in Modern History
Edition description:	2011
Pages:	269
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

DAVID LEMMINGSProfessor of History at the University of Adelaide, Australia. He has published several books on legal culture and governance in eighteenth century England andis editor (with Clare Walker) of Moral Panics, the Media and Law in Early Modern England (2009).

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgements List of Tables Note on Works Cited in Endnotes Introduction: Law, Consent and Command The Local Experience of Law and Authority: Quarter Sessions, JPs, and the People Going to Law: the Rise and Fall of Civil Litigation Crime and the Administration of Criminal Law: Problems, Solutions, and Participation Parliament, Legislation and the People: the Idea and Experience of Leviathan Conclusion: Governance, People and Law in the Eighteenth Century

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"This is an impressive work of scholarship. Lemmings offers an analysis of the changing nature of criminal law and civil litigation, and contextualizes this within an exploration of the effect of the new parliament after the Glorious Revolution. He describes a process that saw government grow to dominate society in a way that it had never done before; thus 'in the eighteenth century parliament became Leviathan' (p.128). Parliament, released from the restrictions imposed upon it by the predilictions of previous monarchs, flexed its muscles and passed thousands of individual acts that affected the lives of millions. The emphasis was on control, so the 1714 Riot Act, the infamous Waltham Black Act in 1723 and the 1718 Transportation Act, all of which addressed the problems of crime and civil order (or disorder)...Lemmings has written a challenging book, one that historians of the period need to engage with." - Drew Gray, University of Northampton, UK

Editorial Reviews

"This is an impressive work of scholarship. Lemmings offers an analysis of the changing nature of criminal law and civil litigation, and contextualizes this within an exploration of the effect of the new parliament after the Glorious Revolution. He describes a process that saw government grow to dominate society in a way that it had never done before; thus 'in the eighteenth century parliament became Leviathan' (p.128). Parliament, released from the restrictions imposed upon it by the predilictions of previous monarchs, flexed its muscles and passed thousands of individual acts that affected the lives of millions. The emphasis was on control, so the 1714 Riot Act, the infamous Waltham Black Act in 1723 and the 1718 Transportation Act, all of which addressed the problems of crime and civil order (or disorder)...Lemmings has written a challenging book, one that historians of the period need to engage with." - Drew Gray, University of Northampton, UK

From the Publisher