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Elizabethan age crime and punishments
Punishment in the elizabethan era
Elizabethan age crime and punishments
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In 1757, a sailor who was convicted of sexually assaulting a young male received a beating of 500 lashes, while in 1762, two men received 1000 lashes each for engaging in consensual sex, and in 1806, there were more hangings in England for sodomy than there were for murder offences. Chapter 3 of Rum, Sodomy and the Lash stresses the differences between a pirate’s trial versus a sodomist’s trial in court. Turley explains that pirates are economic criminals, and their crimes directly threaten property. At the same time, sodomites do not put the public in danger but rather challenge the separation between males and females and are no longer a part of the domestic economy and are instead a threat to society’s economic order. It is evident that sodomy was viewed as the worst offence and did not protect the public from real, dangerous
For example, in 1581 two acts were passed against Catholics. The first was that recusancy fines were increased to £20 and higher fines were imposed for hearing or saying mass. The second was that it would be classed as a treasonable
Previous to the year 1832, the English people had seen their House of Commons continuously pass bills and tariffs in which either hindered their civil rights or solely benefited the wealthier class. In the year 1815, the corn laws were passed, placing a huge tax over grains. Nobles benefited greatly because they owned lad that grew the grain. These laws created riots amongst the lower classed englishmen. Another law passed prior to the efforts of reform in 1832 was the six acts bill, in which suspended a person’s right to assemble and suspended hiatus corpus.
A House in Gross Disorder, by Cynthia Herrup, provides a relatively holistic account of the trial and crimes committed by Mervin Touchet, the second Earl of Castlehaven. The trial takes place in 1631, and in that same year he is found guilty of rape, and sodomy, and sentenced to death by the guillotine. Herrup does not write the account in order to prove guilt or innocence, as she is aware that its impossible to conclude one or the other. Rather she focuses on the societal, cultural, and political factors surrounding the case, and this in turn sheds light on the role that patriarchy, order, and reputation played in the 17th century of England in terms of law and order. The case of Castlehaven was significant and unique for a number of reasons: He was a landowning nobleman, he was Catholic and had ties to Ireland, he was accused by his son and his wife of gross and irrefutable offences, and the case against him set a precedence for the future.
In both Early Modern Germany and London alike, punishments vary from relatively
The Magna Carta states, “For a trivial offense, a free man shall be fined only in proportion to the degree of his offense, and for a serious offense correspondingly, but not so heavily as to deprive him of his livelihood.” So it stands to reason that, this law means the punishments people receive for an offense will have to be equal to the offense they committed. The main reason the barons created this law was because King John was taking large fines and giving them to everyone who needed to be punished. This was unfair to the people in the kingdom because a person who committed a small offense would be
The Code includes crimes such as stealing , cheating, as well as lying. The punishment for these crimes varied from having an ear cut off to even
Crime and Punishment in the Elizabethan Era In the Elizabethan Era there was a lot of punishments for the crimes that people did. There were some punishments that people can live through, and there were some punishments that could lead people to death. During this time people just could not kill somebody and just go to prison, you will go down in painful and sometimes slow death.
Someone who lied or insulted another person had to pay a considerable fine. A man in Virginia vehemently ridiculed the governor. He had his tongue pierced, and then the authorities banished him from the neighborhood. The hostile colonists aimed for criminal punishments to mortify the offenders. Instead of placing convicts in jail, they would often be whipped publicly or have the name of the offense burned onto one of their hands.
In the late 1700’s when Britain was in their industrial revolution crime was growing more repeated and prisons were getting to full. These workers were getting so underpaid and some people were even not employed, that they started to resort to violence and breaking the law. Crimes consisting of pick pocketing, stealing bread and other types of food. Britain needed a place to get rid of all these convicts.
As Queen Elizabeth made a law in 1563 that compelled everyone to eat fish on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, the poor also regularly ate fish. This law was made to support the fishing industry. Disobeying
These crimes were theft, begging, adultery, and poaching ("Elizabethan Crime and Punishment" 1). Not all crimes were big and bad like these. Traveling was a crime if a person did not have a license to travel. These crimes were more serious because of the people who committed them(“William Shakespeare Site-Map”). Types of crime depended on the person committing them.
This essay will mention some of the crimes and punishments; it will also explain the differences between the medieval times and the modern times. Crime Crimes for people to commit in the Medieval times was easier for people to commit than. Most of the crimes were very so unnecessary that even lighting a fire can cause big times. Some of the crimes committed in the Medieval times were Theft which means to steal something from another person, Arson which means to light fire in public, Witchcraft means to practise magic such as black magic and a use of spells, Heresay/blasphemy means disrespect towards god because in the Medieval times they looked up to god a lot and they would make big discussions by asking god in a way people would not know. Treason which is traitor to the crown (king), Vagrancy means homelessness which in the medieval times was very common for people that work or the king such as peasants.
During the Medieval Period, the punishment one received depended on the severity of the crime. Also, more crimes were committed during this time because it was hard to find jobs at the time, the poor had hardly any choice but to steal to survive [S5]. However, people today usually get a fine for most crimes, such as speeding or stealing. Serious crimes, like murder or rape, people get sent to jail for a certain amount of time depending on the severity of the crime. The way we punish today is very different to the way people were punished in medieval times.
Did you know that for stealing a purse you could have your limbs torn off?During the Elizabethan period, there would be crimes committed followed by punishments. These crimes are most not like the crimes today. Some include stole purses, begging, and poaching. Now you're probably wondering, what such crimes must those be? Money wasn't much easy to get back then so people tried to steal and be able to feed their families.
