The+Victorian+Legal+System--Geoff+Thomas

The English legal system had remained largely unchanged since medieval times. The court system was divided into three major sections: The King's bench, The Court of Common Pleas and The Court of Chancery; each dealt with different legal issues and had their own form of bureaucracy that governed their court procedures. The King's Bench (or Queen's bench should the monarch be female) was the highest level of court in the empire, roughly equivalent to the United States' Supreme Court; it held jurisdiction over the other two branches of the English legal system and could be called on for any law that became a matter of state. The King's Bench also oversaw The Court of Chancery and The Court of Common Pleas and would send judges four times a year to the rural counties to deal with serious offenses. It was organized so that the jury would be exclusively from the court itself so that all members would be well educated in the law and “intelligent” enough to make serious decisions in cases that often related to capitol punishment. The King's Bench

The Court of Common Pleas was mostly a local court that would enforce issues relating to credit, debt, fraud, bankruptcy and petty theft, and was by far the most called upon of all the three courts. Their court proceedings were held in a very similar manner to modern courts; the jury was selected from the common masses and the prosecution as well as the defense would enter an open debate that was oversaw by the chief justice, and if the defendant could afford an attorney they could have legal council. The trials were known to be poorly organized, highly chaotic and heavily micromanaged; they were required to do long and monotonous formalities that gave no purpose to either side and were only emplace for the sake of tradition. The jury would more often than not find themselves seated in the wrong place and performing the formalities wrongly, this forced them to repeat the rituals until all members of the jury preformed it correctly. Oftentimes the court could loss a jury member simply because they were seated in a wrong place in the courthouse, in such an event the trial would be put on hold indefinitely until the lost jury member realized that they were the reason that the court was being delayed. The Court of Common Pleas

The Court of Chancery had a highly contrasting court procedure; there was no jury simply a large collection of judges that would, after any trial, debate the case in private and come to a common consensus. They dealt exclusively with cases that related to equity, such as: land ownership, inheritance, guardianship and asylum for the mentally ill. Because their responsibilities were based on circumstance and morality rather than bureaucracy and legality they did not have the strict traditions that were used in trials for the other two courts. The Court of Chancery

Trial proceedings were skewed in favor of the wealthier party involved. If you could not afford an attorney then you would be given no legal counseling at all, and if your opponent was influential enough then the judge and jury would often side with them solely to enter their good graces. The legal system was designed not to be fair but rather to keep criminal offenders of the streets. The judges and attorneys were known to be exceedingly rude to the jury members, the witnesses and their clients; such groups often entered the courthouse with no information as to the court procedure or the prosecution’s charges. Quite often the trial was simply a formality that was held to make the punishment legitimate, whether or not he person in question had any involvement in the crime at all. Attorneys generally gave little, if any, consideration for the client outside of how willing they were to part with their money. As shown in “Great Expectations” through the character Mr. Jaggers the law profession was one that lacked any form sympathy for its own customers, and the power that attorneys had over the courts was often abused. Mr Jaggers

Punishments were just as cruel as the courts that issued them. capital punishment was issued liberally and instead of being used as a last resort to punish immoral acts committed by the general populous, it was used largely as a method of discouraging the many potential criminals who lived in London’s slums and squalors. Even if the accused could avoid the death sentence they would be forced to endure the harsh conditions of the prison system or sent into exile in an English penal colony. The law was corrupt, unforgiving, elitist and highly mismanaged. All in all the perfect topic to come up in a Charles Dickens book.

Works CitedCenturies, For. "Crime and Punishment in Victorian England: The Law System Switch from Death Penalty, to More Humane Punishment." //Georgian/Victorian Britain//. Web. 19 Apr. 2010. .

The Court of Chancery. Digital image. //Court of Chancery//. Web. 19 Apr. 2010. <http://images.google.com.eg/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2f/The_Court_of_Chancery_during_the_reign_of_George_I_by_Benjamin_Ferrers.jpg/300px-The_Court_of_Chancery_during_the_reign_of_George_I_by_Benjamin_Ferrers.jpg&imgrefurl=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_of_Chancery&usg=__2AQjvJ4xiXzwDkGrAVSJZ17MnYg=&h=371&w=300&sz=30&hl=en&start=3&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=Oonz91ot9LFm4M:&tbnh=122&tbnw=99&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcourt%2Bof%2Bchancery%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26tbs%3Disch:1>.

The King's Bench. Digital image.// Etchings & Engravings - Legal & Law Related//. Web. 19 Apr. 2010. .Mr. Jaggers. Digital image.// Jaggers//. Web. 19 Apr. 2010. .

Rowlandson, Thomas. The Court of Common Pleas. Digital image.// Court of Common Pleas, Westminster Hall//. Web. 19 Apr. 2010. .

"Victorian London - Legal - Courts - List of Law Courts."// Dictionary of Victorian London - Victorian History - 19th Century London - Social History//. Web. 19 Apr. 2010. .

"Victorian London in Depth."// MURAL Home Page//. Web. 19 Apr. 2010. .