ABSTRACT
At the Old Bailey in January 1720, William Spiggot and Thomas Phillips were tried
for committing several robberies on the highway; but they refused to plead either
‘guilty’ or ‘not guilty’, much to the court’s annoyance. No arguments could convince
them of ‘the absurdity of such an obstinate procedure’, as the official record puts it;
so the court ordered that the following should be read, which was the law in such
cases:
That the prisoner should be sent to the prison from whence he came, and put
into a mean room, stopped from the light, and shall there be laid on the bare
ground, without any litter, straw, or other covering, or without any garment
about him, except something to hide his privy members. He shall lie upon his
back, his head shall be covered, and his feet shall be bare. One of his arms
shall be drawn with a cord to one side of the room, and the other arm to the
other side; and his legs shall be served in the like manner. Then there shall be
laid upon his body as much iron or stone as he can bear, and more. And the
first day after he shall have three morsels of barley bread, without any drink;
and the second day he shall be allowed to drink as much as he can, at three
times, of the water that is next the prison-door, except running water, without
any bread; and this shall be his diet till he dies; and he against whom this
judgement shall be given forfeits his goods to the King.