D. Lemmings

Law and Government in England during the Long Eighteenth Century: From Consent to Command - Studies in Modern History D. Lemmings

Marc Notes: Originally published: 2011.; Includes bibliographical references and index.; Over the long 18th century English governance was transformed by large adjustments to the processes of power. This book documents and analyses these shifts and focuses upon the changing relations between legal authority and the English people. Biographical Note: David Lemmings is Professor of History at the University of Adelaide, Australia. He has published several books on legal culture and governance in eighteenth-century England, and is editor (with Claire Walker) of Moral Panics, the Media and the Law in Early Modern England (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009). Review Quotes: "This is an impressive work of scholarship. Lemmings offers an analysis of the changing nature of criminal law and civil litigation, and contextualizes this within an exploration of the effect of the new parliament after the Glorious Revolution. He describes a process that saw government grow to dominate society in a way that it had never done before; thus 'in the eighteenth century parliament became Leviathan' (p.128). Parliament, released from the restrictions imposed upon it by the predilictions of previous monarchs, flexed its muscles and passed thousands of individual acts that affected the lives of millions. The emphasis was on control, so the 1714 Riot Act, the infamous Waltham Black Act in 1723 and the 1718 Transportation Act, all of which addressed the problems of crime and civil order (or disorder)... Lemmings has written a challenging book, one that historians of the period need to engage with." - Drew Gray, University of Northampton, UKTable of Contents: Preface and AcknowledgementsList of TablesNote on Works Cited in Endnotes 1. Introduction: Law, Consent and Command2. The Local Experience of Law and Authority: Quarter Sessions, JPs, and the People3. Going to Law: the Rise and Fall of Civil Litigation4. Crime and the Administration of Criminal Law: Problems, Solutions, and Participation5. Parliament, Legislation and the People: the Idea and Experience of Leviathan6. Conclusion: Governance, People and Law in the Eighteenth Century

Contributor Bio:  Lemmings, David David Lemmings is Associate Professor in History at the University of Newcastle, Australia.