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This article explores the law of treason in relation to the run up to and unfolding of the Rhodesian Unilateral Declaration of Independence crisis of 1965–80. It considers how contemporaries debated the applicability of the treason laws to the unique situation created by the actions of the Smith government, and shows how it was unclear exactly who was culpable, and under what laws they would be so. In doing this it demonstrates how accusations of treason came to be used as a political tool, and the extent to which treachery was still a concept within the national mindset in the late 1960s and 1970s. Finally, it suggests that the law was arguably in need of serious reform, but that the unusual circumstances of the Rhodesian rebellion served to obscure how far this was the case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This note uncovers a new source for Edward Coke's seminal account of the law of libel in his 1605 report De libellis famosis: the second part of William West's Symboleography (1594). West adapted much of his popular English law book, including his definition of libel, from the work of the German civilian Hermann Vulteius. Coke in turn borrowed wholesale from West. That borrowing not only underscores the sixteenth-century roots of Coke's law of libel but also suggests the difficulty of disentangling common law practice from civil law precept in late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century England. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the wartime state in the local context and looks at how the daily activity of local courts and police changed dramatically during the wartime period. It also assesses the complex role that police and local courtrooms played with regards to ethnicity and nationalism. The increasing authority of local courtrooms and the enhanced powers of policing, I argue, amplified the role of the state in certain aspects of London life, but reduced it in others. New demands on local courtrooms and policing could only be accommodated by the redirection of their efforts from pre-war priorities. The traditional roles of the police in addressing 'moral' crimes such as public drunkenness and gambling declined dramatically as policy redirected police resources towards the enforcement of wartime regulations, the support of military conscription and discipline, and the policing of immigrant communities and ethnic minorities, and of 'enemy aliens' in particular. Although the balance of power in the latter case was highly asymmetrical, those brought before the courtroom on accusations of being 'outsiders' or 'enemies' in the national community were not entirely without recourse. The public nature of courtrooms meant that, in some circumstances, they could become sites for the affirmation of rights and national belonging in wartime Britain, rather vehicles for their abrogation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers the role of emotion in the eighteenth-century courtroom. It discusses the work of judges and magistrates in constituting and upholding a ‘grand narrative’, which legitimized English criminal law. This grand narrative was inherently emotional, activating patriotism and love of justice, but also fear of punishment through the performance of ‘emotional labour’ from the judgment seat. However, while performing the majesty of the law, judges attempted to balance a number of complicating factors, such as the rise of sensibility, the role of the press, and their own emotions about criminal justice. The growing presence of professional counsel from the end of the century also complicated the emotional tenor of criminal trials. Moreover, the majesty of the law was undermined and even corrupted by the representation of trials and executions in the popular press. Far from viewing displays of emotion as inappropriate, it appears that many contemporaries held emotion to be an integral part of trial process, and of the majesty of the law. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Historians usually analyze changing gender constructions in the criminal courts after World War I through cases involving men and women. Using a different analytical lens, this article explores two well-publicized murder trials involving war veterans and illegitimate children, one of a soldier who murdered his wife's daughter from an adulterous affair and one who killed his own son. Although notions of masculinity had changed, the police, courts, and Home Office used traditional factors to assess punishments, including the degree of provocation, the behavior of the women involved, and the issue of deterrence. The press, however, was more sympathetic to the veterans, regarding them as victims of circumstances, much like women who committed infanticide. This new presentation did not succeed with the Home Office, especially as the war moved further into the past. By 1925, men's war service had less influence on punishment than Victorian ideas of gender and criminal responsibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies the existence of Her Majesty's Court at Westminster, a court of law during the reign of Queen Henrietta Maria of England. Parliamentary confirmation of the legality of the queen's court; Motivation behind the formal establishment of the court; Working relationship with the Queen's Council and the court's operations.

Explores the origins of the Arbitration Act of 1698 and the practice of court-related arbitration in eighteenth-century England. Arbitration in the mid-1690; Proliferation of out-of-court arbitration pre-1770; Upsurge in out-of-court arbitration entered as rules of court post-1770; Types of controversies under arbitration post-1770; Types of arbitrators post-1770; Legalization of arbitration process.