Adopting a microhistory approach, Fair and Unfair Trials in the British Isles, 1800-1940 provides an in-depth examination of the evolution of the modern justice system. Drawing upon criminal cases and trials from England, Scotland, and Ireland, the book examines the errors, procedural systems, and the ways in which adverse influences of social and cultural forces impacted upon individual instances of justice. The book investigates several case studies of both justice and injustice which prompted the development of forensic toxicology, the implementation of state propaganda and an increased interest in press sensationalism. One such case study considers the trial of William Sheen, who was prosecuted and later acquitted of the murder of his infant child at the Old Baily in 1827, an extraordinary miscarriage of justice that prompted outrage amongst the general public. Other case studies include trials for treason, theft, obscenity and blasphemy. Nash and Kilday root each of these cases within their relevant historical, cultural, and political contexts, highlighting changing attitudes to popular culture, public criticism, protest and activism as significant factors in the transformation of the criminal trial and the British judicial system as a whole.Drawing upon a wealth of primary sources, including legal records, newspaper articles and photographs, this book provides a unique insight into the evolution of modern criminal justice in Britain.

List of IllustrationsList of ContributorsAcknowledgementsIntroduction, David Nash and Anne-Marie Kilday (Oxford Brookes University, UK)1. "A Monstrous Innovation on the Laws": Murder and Double Jeopardy at the Old Bailey, Heather Shore (Manchester Metropolitan University, UK)2. Legislating to Ensure 'Impartial' Justice: Palmer's Act of 1856, Katherine Watson (Oxford Brookes University, UK)3. "All That They Had Heard, All That They Had Read, All That They Had Seen': Questions of Fairness and Justice in the Trial of George Vass, Helen Rutherford and Clare Sandford-Couch (University of Northumbria, UK)4. The Trials of Peter Barrett: A Microhistory of Dysfunction in the Irish Criminal Justice System, Niamh Howlin (University College Dublin, Ireland)5. The Maamtrasna Murders: The Trial of Myles Joyce, Conor Hanley (NUI Galway, Ireland)6. George Bedborough and the Watford University Press: A 'Scandalous and Obscene Libel in the Form of a Book'; The Almost Accidental Prosecution of Sexual Inversion, Lesley Hall (University College London, UK)7. 'Circumstances of Unexplained Savagery': The Gilchrist Murder Case and its Legacy, 1908-1927, Anne-Marie Kilday (Oxford Brookes University, UK)8. 'Police Fiasco', 'The Black Army', 'Devil Dodgers' and 'Humbug': The Apparent 'Inevitability' of Unfair Blasphemy Trials up to 1922, David Nash (Oxford Brookes University, UK)9. The 'Bobbed Haired Bandit' and Smash and Grab Raider, Alyson Brown (Edge Hill University, UK)Bibliography Index