Whores and Highwaymen: Crime and Justice in the Eighteenth-Century Metropolis

The 'whores' and 'highwaymen' of Gregory Durston's title are just some of the dubious characters met with in this absorbing work. They include thief-­takers, trading justices, an upstart legal profession whose lower orders developed various ways to line their own pockets and court officials who did the same. The book shows how little was planned and how much sprang up due to individuals -- so that the origins of social control, particularly at a local level, had much to do with personal ide...