Public punishment can have unexpected perils: this post tells the stories of two sham-plots in Elizabethan England, in which unscrupulously enterprising people tried to use the law—and government f…

By Cassie Watson; posted 18 September 2026. In a previous post I suggested that criminal justice historians could pursue a valuable research project focused solely on records created by the Court o…

By Cassie Watson; posted 18 September 2026. In a previous post I suggested that criminal justice historians could pursue a valuable research project focused solely on records created by the Court o…

Posted by Sara M. Butler, 6 August 2026. Cundradus Schlapperitzi, miniature showing marriage (1445).  New York Public Library. Courtesy of Picryl. Public Domain.   Historians of marriage have done …

With curbs on trial juries now proposed in the UK, this post looks back to the part played by their now defunct counterpart, the grand jury.

With curbs on trial juries now proposed in the UK, this post looks back to the part played by their now defunct counterpart, the grand jury.

With curbs on trial juries now proposed in the UK, this post looks back to the part played by their now defunct counterpart, the grand jury.

Lucy Clarke examines the arrest in early modern England, reconstructing how bystanders could legitimise or challenge the power of the state.

With curbs on trial juries now proposed in the UK, this post looks back to the part played by their now defunct counterpart, the grand jury.

By Cassie Watson; posted 19 June 2026. Serial offenders are assumed to have at least two to four victims;[1] to kill for pleasure or gain; and to follow a pattern in victim selection. If, as Eric H…

By Cassie Watson; posted 19 June 2026. Serial offenders are assumed to have at least two to four victims;[1] to kill for pleasure or gain; and to follow a pattern in victim selection. If, as Eric H…

Making Connections: New Works in Legal History Series Sponsored by the American Society for Legal History Deadline for Applications: June 30, 2026 The ASLH Making Connections: New Works in Legal Histo...

Posted by Sara M. Butler, 8 May 2026. Medieval England had no word that was equivalent to the modern term rape. Instead, lawmakers and the judiciary used the term raptus, which is often translated …

Posted by Sara M. Butler, 8 May 2026. Medieval England had no word that was equivalent to the modern term rape. Instead, lawmakers and the judiciary used the term raptus, which is often translated …

Who owns what lies within the ground beneath our feet? This post explores the answers offered in a 1568 case that has both analogues and legacies today.

Who owns what lies within the ground beneath our feet? This post explores the answers offered in a 1568 case that has both analogues and legacies today.

By Cassie Watson; posted 27 March 2026. What did a cheese thief in Victorian Lancashire have in common with a pitman in County Durham, a bigamist in the Rhondda Valley, or an eighteenth-century Wel…

‘To err is human, to forgive divine’: A new post looking at the context for ‘Bloody’ Queen Mary’s Good Friday pardons of 1554.

By Cassie Watson; posted 27 March 2026. What did a cheese thief in Victorian Lancashire have in common with a pitman in County Durham, a bigamist in the Rhondda Valley, or an eighteenth-century Wel…

By Cassie Watson; posted 27 March 2026. What did a cheese thief in Victorian Lancashire have in common with a pitman in County Durham, a bigamist in the Rhondda Valley, or an eighteenth-century Wel…

In this guest post, Kay Crosby uses the early history of women’s jury service to explore the criteria by which the state recognized some women (but not others) as citizens.

Posted by Sara M. Butler, 5 February 2026. The church tried its best to vilify social mobility in late medieval England, encouraging good Christians to embrace their place in society (no matter how…

Posted by Sara M. Butler, 5 February 2026. The church tried its best to vilify social mobility in late medieval England, encouraging good Christians to embrace their place in society (no matter how…

Kathleen Commons | 2 May 2025 ◇ American History | Birthright Citizenship| English Legal History | Immigration Law

In 1803, during the Napoleonic Wars, the British imperial government conquered the Dutch colony of Berbice and took over the management of presumed governmental slaves. These consisted of persons on f...

This conference invites paper proposals from scholars in history, legal studies, human geography, anthropology, English, film studies, sociology, politics, and related disciplines. We welcome research...

Tracing the phenomenon of Protestant ‘fish days’, this post explores why some people in early modern England believed that changing their diet could promote a public good–and how they brought…

Tracing the phenomenon of Protestant ‘fish days’, this post explores why some people in early modern England believed that changing their diet could promote a public good–and how they brought…

Call for Papers 2026 American Society for Legal History Annual Meeting (November 12 - 14, 2026) The Program Committee of the American Society for Legal History invites proposals for the 2026 meeting t...

By Cassie Watson; posted 26 December 2025. In the wake of the Thames Torso Murders (1887–89), the Jack the Ripper killings of autumn 1888, and several subsequent unsolved murders that were thought …

By Cassie Watson; posted 26 December 2025. In the wake of the Thames Torso Murders (1887–89), the Jack the Ripper killings of autumn 1888, and several subsequent unsolved murders that were thought …

Abstract. This article explores the history of the English prison reform movement from ‘below’ – that is, from the perspective of prison inmates. By highli

In this guest post, Helen Rutherford explores what a unique atlas of Victorian coroners’ districts might tell us about technologies of knowledge and death investigation.

Posted by Sara M. Butler, 30 November 2025. Even though medievalist Barbara Rosenwein was among the first group of English-language historians to embrace emotion as an analytical construct, medieva…

In this guest post, Susannah Wilson gives a snapshot of the killing and trial at the centre of her new book on forensic psychology and female violence: ‘A Most Quiet Murder: Maternity, Afflic…

Did claims of having fallen for the devil’s seductions heighten or lessen perceptions of a person’s guilt in early modern English legal processes?

Did claims of having fallen for the devil’s seductions heighten or lessen perceptions of a person’s guilt in early modern English legal processes?

By Cassie Watson and Carolyn Strange; posted 23 September 2025. The prosecution and sentencing of the Australian ‘Mushroom Murderer’ to life in prison for the poisoning of three relatives and the a…

Posted by Sara M. Butler, 14 Aug. 2025. There is no medieval record more enjoyable to peruse than visitation returns. Although visitations developed over the course of the ninth century, it was not…

Posted by Sara M. Butler, 14 Aug. 2025. There is no medieval record more enjoyable to peruse than visitation returns. Although visitations developed over the course of the ninth century, it was not…