ABSTRACT
Situating the development of modern criminology in the Global North, Chapter 1 examines the state of ‘justice’ in much of continental Europe from the fourteenth to mid-eighteenth centuries. Acknowledging that historical research is fraught with difficulties and there is debate on the way that ‘justice’ is administered in this period, it shows its enforcement to be frequently arbitrary, affected by religious superstition and featuring interrogation and punishment techniques that could be excessive and brutal. It includes a case study on Robert-François Damiens as illustrative of not just the barbarity of what has become known as the 00E9;gime but as a symbol of resistance – an important theme that emerges when reflecting on the history of the discipline.
