main target. As part of our investigation into the making of post-Revolution le-
gislation it is worth enquiring into the way the courts put the Shoplifting Act into
effect. How the London juries and judges responded to this statute immediately
after its passage should reveal the way they read the intentions behind the legis-
lation. It seems clear that the courts thought the point of the act was to threaten
rather than actually to hang large numbers of shoplifters. There is no reason to
think that there was a massive failure to communicate here between legislators
and judges, or that the refusal of the courts to administer the new statute to the
letter would have surprised or dismayed the proponents of this legislation. In-
deed, since the statute defined the offence to be removed from clergy by the
value of the goods stolen (five shillings or more) and not merely by the character
of the act, it seems clear that those who drafted the bill intended juries to impose
the death penalty when they thought it appropriate and to remove it when they
chose. They certainly must have anticipated that both judges and juries would
interpret the five-shilling limit as an invitation to use such discretion.
The trial juries at the Old Bailey made it immediately clear that they would
do so. As Table 7. 4 reveals, even in the years immediately after its passage, the
vast majority of men and women convicted under the new statute were saved
from execution at Tyburn. Of the twenty men accused under the statute in our
sample, two were convicted of the full charge, and two were acquitted. The re-
maining sixteen were convicted of a lesser charge which saved them from the
The Revolution, Crime, and Punishment in London 343Table7.4.Verdicts and sentences at the Old Bailey in shoplifting cases
in the City of London, 1699 – 1713A. Verdicts:
Number of Verdicts Partial verdict: reduced to
accused Not guilty Guilty Grand Petty
larceny larcenyMen 20 2 2 10 6
% 10.0 10.0 50.0 30.0
Women 105 23 27 32 23
% 21.9 25.7 30.5 21.9
B. Sentences:
Total To be Pardoned Executed Clergy Hard Whipped
guilty hanged labourMen 18 2 2 — 8 2 6
% 11.1 — 44.4 11.1 33.3
Women 82 27 22 5 21 11 23
% 26.8 6.1 25.6 13.4 28.1
Source: Sample