ABSTRACT
In the middle of the eighteenth century, following closely the conclusion of the War of Austrian Succession in 1748, a crime wave of unexampled proportions struck the metropolis of London and its immediate environs. Indeed, by 1751 crime in London was so alarming that the House of Commons — responding to an appeal in the King’s speech in January — established a committee to consider ways of combatting it, in particular to suggest measures ‘for enforcing the execution of the laws and for suppressing outrages and violences’. In the eighteen years between 1736 and 1753 almost 2000 men and women were accused of crimes against property before the assizes and quarter sessions of the county of Surrey. From the court’s point of view a core of relatively experienced jurors was an advantage, considering the number of cases the jury heard and the pace at which they moved.
