num_pages: 138
description: This is a guide to modern, post-1800, legal records in the Public Record Office, designed both for those who have never used them before and for those unfamiliar with the wider social and administrative framework of law enforcement and the punishment of offenders. It covers both civil and criminal cases, ranging from bankruptcy to divorce and defamation, drawing not only on the records of the courts themselves, but also on those of the Home Office, Lord Chancellor's Department, Prison Commission, Ministry of Health and Metropolitan Police. Changing attitudes towards capital, corporal and custodial punishments and the treatment of young offenders and criminal lunatics are explored in detail. Illustrations range from the official record of the execution of Ruth Ellis in 1955, to the case brought against Vivien Leigh by the producer of Gone With The Wind for breach of contract.
language: English
title: Law & Society: An Introduction to Sources for Criminal & Legal History from 1800
titlecomplete: Law & Society: An Introduction to Sources for Criminal & Legal History from 1800 (Readers Guides Series No. 14)
publisher: Natl Archives