“The Lottery of Justice”: The Bloody Code in England, 1760–1830

Abstract

This is the second of two chapters in the monograph exploring the administration of justice in England between 1760 and 1830. It focuses on four counties: Kent, Cornwall, Oxfordshire and Lancashire. The first part of the chapter outlines the patterns of sentences of death, executions and pardons across the four counties, focusing particularly on the patterns of numbers and percentages of capitally convicted felons going to the gallows over the seventy-year period. The remainder of the chapter then explores the patterns of sentences of death, executions and pardons for those capitally convicted of serious crimes against the person (namely murder, infanticide and rape) and forms of property offences.