Course Catalogue

View Specification Document | Reading List

This Special Subject explores ordinary people's encounters with the law and the prosecution of crime, using trials and associated material from London's central criminal court, the Old Bailey. This court involved people from across the expanding British empire and transported growing numbers of convicts to Britain's colonies. The course surveys a selection of crimes tried by the court, ranging from theft to homicide. In addition, incidental details from the court proceedings will be used to explore themes ranging from material culture and living conditions to working lives, social relations, racial identities, and family dynamics.

20 x 3-hour seminars over both semesters as scheduled in MyCampus. This is one of the Honours options in History and may not run every year. The options that are running this session are available on MyCampus.

Successful completion of Junior Honours in history.

None.

N/A

The standard assessments for this course are:

Semester 1

■ 1000-word seminar paper (10%)

■ 1000-word primary source analysis (10%)

■ 2500-word literature review (30%)

Semester 2

■ 1000-word seminar paper (10%)

■ 1000-word primary source analysis (10%)

■ 3000-word research essay (30%)

If required, for instance where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, the following alternatives are available:

■ There is no alternative to the assessments, but flexible deadlines can be offered as reasonable adjustments (students should follow the usual process for extensions)

Further reasonable adjustments may be provided where necessary. Students are encouraged to consult with the course convenor.

This course aims to:

■ prepare students for independent and original analysis of a complex range of historical evidence relating to the prosecution of crime and the experience of everyday life in Britain's long eighteenth century;

■ demonstrate how professional historians identify, classify, store, analyse, and interpret historical evidence which will elucidate the process from research to scholarship;

■ facilitate student-led discussion about varied historical approaches to and interpretations of Britain's eighteenth-century past

■ support students in developing the imagination and skills to master source criticism, analysis and oral and written argument and the knowledge and confidence to tackle major projects, applicable to further study or working environments.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Demonstrate an understanding of the operation of the criminal law in eighteenth-century Britain and the ways in which criminal prosecution shaped and mediated assumptions about class, gender, race, criminality, conflict and authority;

■ Critically evaluate and contrast a range of historiographical approaches and arguments related to British social, cultural and economic history in the long eighteenth century;

■ Locate, analyse and deploy primary source materials in order to construct arguments about the role of law, the representation of crime, and the nature of society in eighteenth century Britain;

■ Construct effective and well-evidenced historical arguments in written forms.