Skip to main content

Free UK delivery for orders £30

Prosecuting London’s Fraudsters 1760-1820

Swindlers, Tricksters and the Law

Prosecuting London’s Fraudsters 1760-1820 cover

Prosecuting London’s Fraudsters 1760-1820

Swindlers, Tricksters and the Law

Quantity
Pre-order. Available 24 Jun 2027
£76.50 RRP £85.00 Website price saving £8.50 (10%)

Payment for this pre-order will be taken when the item becomes available

Description

Fraud is often thought of as a very modern-day crime. This book traces the historical beginnings of fraudulent activity, identifying fraud offences, its prosecutors and its punishments in late 18th and early 19th century London.

In studying how fraud was prosecuted, Griffiths demonstrates how financial crime was shaped over the course of the 18th and 19th centuries. Using under-studied manuscript court records, Prosecuting London's Fraudsters unveils how, and for whom, the criminal justice system operated in the 18th century and exposes its role in sowing the early seeds of capitalism. Centring on Old Bailey records, City of London officials' notes, government financial records and more obscure materials from contemporary practitioners, this book traces the prosecution of fraud from the lowest to the highest criminal courts in London, offering a holistic view of fraud prosecution in the Georgian period and a better understanding of the history of financial crime.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Tables
List of Illustrations
Introduction: A Gentleman of Strict Honour and Integrity: Fraud and Commercial Life in Eighteenth-Century London
1. Frauds: Offences, Connections, and the Criminal Law
2. Choosing to Prosecute: Fraud, Costs, and the Courts
3. The Machinery of Prosecution: Magistrates, Clerks, and the Courts of London
4. Fraud in Practice and the People Who Prosecuted
5. Economic Frauds in the Old Bailey
6. Social Frauds in the Old Bailey
7. Frauds against Public Offices in the Old Bailey
8. The City of London: Politics, Commerce, and the Law
Concluding Thoughts

Product details

Bloomsbury Academic Test
Published 24 Jun 2027
Format Hardback
Edition 1st
Pages 272
ISBN 9781350151741
Imprint Bloomsbury Academic
Illustrations 15 bw illus
Dimensions 234 x 156 mm
Series History of Crime, Deviance and Punishment
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Related Titles

Environment: Staging