Kissing the gallows
Subtitle: a cultural history of crime, torture and punishment in Malta, 1600-1798
By: [edited by] William Zammit
Edition: First edition.
Publisher: BDL publishing
Published: 2016
Place of publication: San Gwann
Language: eng
Translated from: ita
Number of pages: 479
ISBN-13: 9789995767129
Subjects: Crime; History; Sources; Punishment
Description: "The present publication is the result of various research visits to the Vatican Archives spread over ten years or so and of going through some 200-odd volumes of correspondence and miscellaneous documentation, comprising many thousands of manuscript folios and varying from beautifully clear handwriting to the nightmarish. True, daring and often dramatic episodes of crime have always attracted the attention of contemporary eyewitness observers. Perhaps even more magnetic was the spine-chilling retribution meted out by authority. Tucked away safely in the role of mere observers, whether of the moralistic self-righteous and indignant sort or simply as welcome spectators of the exercise of State or ecclesiastical power over errant subjects, they have left us a considerable corpus of primary source evidence of what they witnessed, in the form of diaries, letters and descriptive accounts from the period. A whole world later and from the comfort of our technologically-overloaded homes, it is our turn to be the privileged and willing spectators of history – buffered and secure as we are – against the horrors they describe, thanks to the distance of a few centuries."--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 455-468) and index.

Sources in English translated from Italian; critical matter in English.
Table of contents: title: Part I.; title: Society, crime and judicial retribution in ancien régime Malta --; title: Primary sources on crime and retribution in early modern Malta --; title: The nature of crime and its perception --; title: Retribution in motion : judicial structures, procedures and immunities --; title: Executions as expiatory justice and divine grace -- -- Part II.; title: Crimes committed by the Maltese, the order's members and other foreigners in Malta --; title: Burglary, theft and robbery --; title: Dereliction of duty --; title: Desertion and other military offences --; title: Duelling --; title: Escape, capture and entrapment --; title: Escape from quarantine --; title: Forgery --; title: Fraud --; title: Gambling --; title: Manslaughter --; title: Multiple crimes --; title: Murder --; title: Odd cases out --; title: Physical assaults and scuffles --; title: Rebellion and mutiny --; title: Sex, crime and punishment --; title: Suicide --; title: Unreported treasure trove : the case of the golden calf --; title: Vandalism --; title: Non-capital punishment for unspecified crimes --; title: Capital punishment for unspecified crimes -- -- Part III.; title: Crimes committed by slaves --; title: Burglary, theft and robbery --; title: Escape, capture and entrapment --; title: Murder --; title: Odd cases out --; title: Physical assaults and scuffles --; title: Rebellion and mass escape --; title: Sex, crime and punishment --; title: Suicide --; title: Capital punishment for unspecified crimes.