The Erosion of the Victim and the Rise of State Power from 1600

Abstract

The history of the victim demonstrates the gradual removal of the victim from common law processes, in particular, their empowered position as private prosecutor. This is evidenced by the steady rise of precedents that focus on the power of the King, state, public prosecutors and defendants, over that of the victim. In many cases, it is not the victim that was expressly excluded, but simply replaced as the subject bringing charges on indictment. This provided the basis upon which, from around 1600, the victim increasingly lacked prosecutorial agency, to be seen around the mid-twentieth century as little more than a witness, or basis for the charge of the defendant’s offensive conduct against society. The impact of various institutions, namely the rise of parliamentary sovereignty independent of the political will of the King, the decline in feudalism, and the expansion of the social as the key arena of government, each explain why victim power was transferred to the state.