Table of Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Abbreviations x
Introduction 1
Part I Laying Down the Law: 600-1500
1 The Promulgation of the Law in Anglo-Saxon England 9
2 The Enforcement of the Law in Anglo-Saxon England 23
3 A Norman Yoke? 33
4 Henry II and the Creation of the Common Law 46
5 Becket and Criminous Clergy 52
6 The Achievement of Henry II 62
7 Magna Carta 69
8 From Ordeal to Jury 77
9 Legal Eagles 82
Part II Conflict of Laws: 1500-1766
10 The King's Conscience, the Lord Chancellor's Foot 97
11 Star Chamber: Keeping England in Quiet 103
12 Torture 109
13 The Writ and Charter of Liberty 115
14 Rex Lex v. Lex Rex: Sir Edward Coke 119
15 Oedipus Lex: The Trial of Charles I 133
16 Free-born John 149
17 From Restoration to Revolution and Reaction 157
Part III The Transformation of the Law: 1766-1907
18 The Purity of England's Air 173
19 The Menace of the Mob 185
20 The Fear of the Felon 197
21 Garrow's Law? 201
22 The Tongue of Cicero: Thomas Erskine 206
23 The Drum Major of Liberty: Henry Brougham 218
24 The Bonfire of the Inanities: Peel, Public Protection and the Police 224
25 Lunacy and the Law 232
26 Necessity Knows No Law 241
27 The Apollo of the Bar: Edward Marshall Hall 252
Part IV The Rule Of Law: 1907-2014
28 'The Martyrdom of Adolph Beck' and the Creation of the Court of Criminal Appeal 261
29 Liberty Sacrificed to Security 267
30 Nuremberg and Norman Birkett 276
31 Wrongs and Rights 285
32 Deprave and Corrupt: Blasphemy, Obscenity and Oscar Wilde 289
33 Hanging in the Balance 305
34 A Murder in Catford 314
35 The Rule of Law under Threat? 319
Bibliography 327
Index 335