Making Men

In this chapter, we examine the practices and ideologies expressed in the police courts of Scotland and their media representation in the first half of the nineteenth century. These courts, established in Scotland’s largest urban centres in the early nineteenth century, were the principal places of summary jurisdiction in terms of the sheer number of cases they handled. ¹ Whether for non-payment of police rates, breaching local by-laws, committing criminal acts or seeking legal redress and advice, urban inhabitants were most likely to be brought before these courts, potentially giving them greater impact on the lives of ordinary people than the much more widely studied higher courts. In its first month of sitting in August of 1805, the Edinburgh Police Court dealt with over 300 cases, as diverse as from petty theft, trespassing and assault, to keeping mischievous dogs, running improper shows and riding dangerously in the streets. ² By 1835, it was dealing with up to ninety-eight cases per working day and over 6,000 cases per year. ³