in the decade in the flush of enthusiasm that some men shared for the possibil-
ities that transportation offered, much more ambitious efforts were undertaken
to introduce a sentence of transportation for broad classes of offences. Bills were
introduced in 1663 and 1664 to authorize those convicted of clergyable felony
and petty larceny to be transported. It was noted in both bills that although the
judges were empowered to imprison defendants for a year who successfully
claimed benefit of clergy as well as ordering them to be burned on the thumb,
the threat of such punishments did not ‘prevent persons from committing the
like crimes again’. The legislation was intended to give judges the discretion to
order anyone convicted of a clergyable offence or petty larceny to be delivered
to a merchant and transported to Jamaica, Virginia, or any other plantation for
five to nine years.^85 In 1665 a proposal was put forward to impose transportation
in some circumstances as an alternative to capital punishment in a bill ‘for the
292 The Old Bailey in the Late Seventeenth Century
stretched that also allowed the judges the power to order transportation instead of hanging ( 22 Chas II,
c. 5 ( 1670 ), s. 4 ); an act to punish forms of rural incendiarism with execution included a clause that en-
abled the convicted offender to petition for seven years’ transportation ( 22 & 23 Chas II, c. 7 ( 1670 ), s. 4 ).
(^85) JHC, 8 ( 1660 – 7 ), 438, 461; JHL, 11 ( 1660 – 6 ), 529, 550, 561, 587, 588, 590, 591. For the draft bill, see
Historical Manuscripts Commission: Seventh Report( 1879 ), 175.
Table 6. 2 .Selected parliamentary bills and statutes, 1663 – 1689 a
A: Failed bills
Title/purpose Reference
Bill to authorize transportation for grand and petty larceny JHC, 8 , 437 ( 1663 )
Same JHL, 11 , 529 ( 1663 )
Same JHL, 11 , 587 ( 1664 )
Bill for the better trial and conviction of persons indicted for
petty treason, murder, and felony JHC, 8 , 613 ( 1665 )
Committee to consider laws with respect to thieves and robbers,
and in particular to consider their transportation JHC, 9 , 5 ( 1667 )
Bill to prevent burglaries and robbing of houses in London JHC, 9 , 494 ( 1678 )
B: Statutes
Title/purpose Number
To prevent ‘theft and rapine’ on the northern borders;
authorizing transportation 19 Chas II, c. 3 , s 2 ( 1666 )
Stealing cloth at night from tenters; authorizing
transportation 22 Chas II, c. 5 , s 4 ( 1670 )
Rural incendiarism; authorizing transportation 22 & 23 Chas II, c. 7 , s 4 ( 1670 )
Habeas Corpus Act 31 Chas II, c. 2 ( 1679 )
Note:
aIn the case of bills, the reference to the journals of the House of Commons ( JHC) and of the
House of Lords ( JHL) is to the first mention of the proposed legislation; further references can be
found in the indexes