Four decades worth of the 18th century proceedings of the Old Bailey, London’s main criminal court, are now available on-line: The Proceedings of the Old Bailey On-line.
You can search the proceedings of the main London criminal court from nearly three centuries ago and find out all sorts of neat stuff. I particularly like their “On this day in …” feature. For example, on July 8, 1724:
There’s a story right there: why was Christopher Longwood “making water” in an alley at 11 o’clock at night? one too many ales at the ale-house? a weak bladder? was he cogitating on what the missus would say when he got home?
And why did the jury acquit? Did they trust the character witnesses? just didn’t like something in the prosecutor’s story?
Were the Hat and Wig any good after being thrown in the sheep-pens?
Jury nullification flourished in the 17- and 1800’s during the period of “The Bloody Code,” which mandated a death sentence for many crimes, including the theft (even without violence) of more than 40 pounds in cash or goods. (The traditional view is that this widespread nullification eventually caused the reform of the penal law, although some current researchers believe that the reform was independently motiviated and not related to the frequent nullification.) But IIRC the Bloody Code wasn’t enacted until the 1730’s.
