skip to main content

You Are Here: Home / Programmes / Breaking the Seal / Legal - synopsis
 
Breaking The Seal
 

Programme five - Legal

 
Police lamp

This land is whose land?

Throughout history there has been a constant struggle to determine who owns Britain's land.

Learn'd friends

The meticulous note-taking of the legal system leaves a fascinating historical trail in legal documents.

From Saxon times to the present day, justice has been done and been seen to be done - and for the last thousand years, clerks have toiled away recording the sordid, sad and fascinating details of criminals and their crimes.

In this programme, Bettany Hughes scours the country's archives in a quest to get close to the true history of crime and punishment. In Hampshire, we discover there really were outlaws who held up travellers through the woods, in Essex we find that there were serial petty thieves in the sixteenth century, in London how burglars plied their trade in the seventeenth century and the story of the last aristocrat to be hung.

And as a young Australian traces the crimes committed by his transported ancestors, we see how Britain gradually replaced the harsh regime of flogging and hanging with the very modern world of prisons.

Discover more in the programme transcript.

Content last updated: 14/02/2000

 

Bookmark with:

  • del.icio.us
  • Digg
  • Facebook
  • Newsvine
  • NowPublic
  • Reddit
  • Stumbleupon
Please wait while loading. You must have JavaScript enabled to view star ratings.
 

People who liked this page also liked:

Comments

Please wait while loading. You must have JavaScript enabled to view comments.
 
 

Explore Open2

Penguin

Two members of the Life team go in search of penguins in their natural environment. See what they find on Deception Island.

Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Would you say you're a Christian? Share your views, and learn about the views of others, in our new Christianity survey.

Breaking news, 1940s style

Keep up to date with our Twitterfeeds of latest news from Open2 and alerts of OU programmes on the BBC.

 
 

Site info and help