Perceptions of Crime and Social Control in Early Modern England

The Stuarts inadvertently changed the balance of the English constitution and legal system. James I insisted upon the divine right of kings and argued with Parliament and leading lawyers such as Sir Edward Coke over the royal prerogative to raise taxes and make legal decisions. James argued that kings were above the law, whilst Coke countered that not even kings were above English common law (Schama, 2001 p.27). James I declared that he liked common law as it was “favourable and advantageous for a king” to use it to maintain his power and status (Lockyer, 1989 p. 59).

There was perhaps one set of sentences that Coke passed, which James would not have disagreed with. He condemned the Gunpowder Plotters to death and made everybody aware of the significance of having traitors hung, drawn and quartered (Ivory, Weston et al, 2002 p. 103). The government’s ability to effectively maintain social controls was undermined by the disputes between Charles I and Parliament that led to the English Civil War and eventually a constitutional monarchy that protected the interests of the rich and powerful more effectively than before (Schama, 2001 p. 244).

Early Modern England did seem to have a problem with crime if not social control. It would be unrealistic to believe that any country could totally eradicate crime or the need for some form or level of social control. In a sense Early Modern England witnessed a return to tighter social control once the Tudor dynasty was secure and the instability of the Wars of the Roses became a thing of the past. Law was based on the clerical, civil and Crown courts with Parliament passing legislation and the monarch being the final arbiter.

 Social control was based on the social and economic order, the teachings of the church, the effectiveness of the courts and the power of the Crown. The Reformation, imposed as it was from above altered the balance between the Crown, Parliament and the church. The church was the loser whilst the enhanced power of the Crown would bring it conflict with Parliament at the end of the Early Modern period. Crime did not go away during this period and most evidence suggests that it actually increased. The courts tried to deter crime by passing the harshest sentences available to them. Economic necessity rather than the moral failings of those that committed them drove most crime.