Laws, Lawyers, and Punishment in the Victorian Period :: Victorian Era

Laws, Lawyers, and Punishment in the Victorian PeriodThe LawAt the beginning of the 19th coke there were 3 types of law in Eng res publica -Common Law the law of the land(Pool 127), which was built up everywhere many centuries *referred to in order to do such cases as the validity of a contract or whether or non some angiotensin-converting enzyme was guilty of murder3 courts that heard cases -Kings Bench- criminal cases -Eschequer- disputes about money -Common Pleas- disputes between citizens -Equity seen over by the court of chancery judicature designed to give relief from strict decisions made by the common law-Church Law 4 courts -Court of Arches-Court of the archbishop -Court of Faculties-granted special permission to do things such as hold multiple livings -Consistory Court-handled divorce and testaments -Prerogative Court- wills of bishops However, this system of laws changed a good deal throughout the century. The Chancery became merely a joke for there you could not present evidence during trials and Parliament came to view it as necessary for matters of will and divorce to be referred to new civil courts instead of the church. In 1873 the 3 common law courts and the Chancery were combined to make the Supreme CourtLawyersThere were two types of lawyers -those who argued in court- seal offristers, sarjeants, and advocates -those who prepared the cases for these lawyers- attorneys, solicitors, proctorsCourtroom lawyers held more prestige especially the barrister, who was often well bornTo become a barrister one had to go to a certain number of dinners at the Inns of Court for 3 years. Then if you were approved of by the older lawyers youd be called to the bar and then could become a barrister. There was no exam required.Solicitors had to wait on as an in-between between the barristers and their clients. So they were in trade which was little respectful to become solicitor one had to be an apprentice for 5 years to a practicing lawyerPunishmentIn 1800 there were over 200 offences punishable by death including sheep stealing and doing damage to the Westminster noseband -This harshness was probably due to the lack of real paid policemen at the time. So when someone was actually caught and convicted they were made an example.