kinds of cases tried at each—to make it possible for them to leave all property
offences to the Old Bailey and to reserve for their own sessions of the peace the
large majority of misdemeanours. Such a distinction was unknown in the rest
of the country, where there was always considerably more overlap between the
work of the quarter sessions and assize courts. The consequence of this
pattern of trial in the metropolis is that all the data concerning the prosecution
and trial of property crime in the City can be derived from the records of the
Old Bailey.
Patterns of prosecution
The patterns of prosecution for crimes against property in the late seventeenth
century were in several respects very different in London from those common
in the rest of the country. At the most obvious level, it is hardly surprising, given
the population disparities, that more felony cases were brought to trial at the
Old Bailey than elsewhere. On average, about 140 men and women accused of
offences against property were sent for trial each year from the City of London
between 1670 and 1750 (Table 1. 1 ). But that was only one element in the total
picture of Old Bailey prosecutions, for the City accounted for only about a third
on average of the total number of defendants put to their trial in that court over
this period. The majority of the felons tried in the metropolis—and a growing
majority—came from the larger populations in Middlesex: from Westminster
to the west, from the densely populated parishes on the City’s borders, and from
other parts of the county further afield. In the late seventeenth century some-
thing on the order of 40 per cent of the defendants in property cases at the Old
Bailey were from the City of London, about 60 per cent from Middlesex. Early
in the eighteenth century that proportion changed in favour of the county so
that in the years following the end of the War of Spanish Succession in 1713
roughly seven out of ten defendants in property cases at the Old Bailey were
Introduction: The Crime Problem 17Table1.1.Prosecutions at the Old Bailey for offences against property
in the City of London,1670‒175 0Accused Clergyable Non-clergyable Total % Clergyable % Non-clergyable
offences offences offences offences
Male 4,185 2,634 6,819 61.4 38.6
Female 2,810 1,616 4,426 63.5 36.5
Total 6,995 4,250 11,245 62.2 37.8
% Male 59.8% 62.0% 60.6%
% Female 40.2% 38.0% 39.4%
Source: CLRO: Sessions Minute Books (SM)