Law and Society in England 1750-1950 is an indispensable text for those wishing to study English legal history and to understand the foundations of the modern British state. In this new updated edition the authors explore the complex relationship between legal and social change. They consider the ways in which those in power themselves imagined and initiated reform and the ways in which they were obliged to respond to demands for change from outside the legal and political classes.What emerges is a lively and critical account of the evolution of modern rights and expectations, and an engaging study of the formation of contemporary social, administrative and legal institutions and ideas, and the road that was travelled to create them.The book is divided into eight chapters: Institutions and Ideas; Land; Commerce and Industry; Labour Relations; The Family; Poverty and Education; Accidents; and Crime.This extensively referenced analysis of modern social and legal history will be invaluable to students and teachers of English law, political science, and social history.

CHAPTER ONE. INSTITUTIONS AND IDEAS Part 1: Industrialisation 1750-1875 Part 2: Passing Greatness 1875-1950 CHAPTER TWO. LAND Part 1: Agricultural Exploitation 1750-1850Part 2: Urban Conditions and Land Values 1750-1850 CHAPTER THREE. COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY Part 1: Contract Part 2: Debt, Bankruptcy, Insolvency Part 3: The Limited Liability Company Part 4: Legal Control of Anti-Competitive Activity Part 5: Technological Advance and The Patent System CHAPTER FOUR. LABOUR RELATIONS Part 1: Service and Its Regulation 1760-1875 Part 2: Employment 1875-1950 CHAPTER FIVE. THE FAMILY Part 1: Private Family Law 1750-1850 Part 2: New Pressures on Family Law: 1850-1950 CHAPTER SIX. POVERTY AND EDUCATION Part 1: Destitution in Country and Town 1750-1890 Part 2: Schools: Learning and Mass Literacy to 1890 Part 3: Poor Relief and Its Alternatives Part 4: Education - The Modern Structure CHAPTER SEVEN. ACCIDENTS Part 1: Compensation by Civil Suits Part 2: Planning Against Accidents CHAPTER EIGHT. CRIME Part 1: The Era of The Bloody Code Part 2: Criminal Justice Transformed Part 3: Into The Twentieth Century