Identity, Crime and Legal Responsibility in Eighteenth-Century England

Rabin, D.

During the eighteenth century English defendants, victims, witnesses, judges, and jurors spoke a language of the mind. With their reputations or lives at stake, men and women presented their complex emotions and passions as grounds for acquittal or mitigation of punishment. Inside the courtroom the language of excuse reshaped crimes and punishments, signalling a shift in the age-old negotiation of mitigation. Outside the courtroom the language of the mind reflected society's preoccupation with questions of sensibility, responsibility, and the self.

Details

Published by: Palgrave Macmillan

Publication Date: 2004-01-01

Format: Paperback

ISBN-13: 9781349517169

DOI: 10.1057/9780230505094

Dimensions: 216cm x140cm

Pages: 234