Nether World: Crime and the Police Courts in Victorian London

A new account of urban Victorian life told through the dubious day-to-day of London’s police courts.

Nether World presents a rich, often humorous glimpse into everyday life in Victorian London through a revealing account of nineteenth-century police courts. People of all classes brought complaints to this court about those who had hurt, abused, or stolen from them—drunks, pickpockets, wife-beaters, and fraudsters—who were each in their turn judged by magistrates wielding broad summary powe...