ABSTRACT
The introductory chapter outlines the scholarly and theoretical background to the collection. The book contributes fresh cultural-historical and theoretical perspectives to the history of the English and Irish criminal trial, which has previously been dominated by social and legal historians. This requires attendance to: the ‘lawyerisation’ of the eighteenth-century criminal trial; the growth of the press and the public sphere; performance theory and emotions; and the culture of sensibility. Rather than the application of cool reason, justice is considered as ‘theatre’ shaped by prevailing cultural scripts such as sensibility or majesty. Naturally, this chapter also includes an overview of the individual contributions. It is striking that many of the cases considered invoke familial and interpersonal relations, precisely the type of relations which elicit emotional responses in a way, for example, that a trial of someone accused of stealing from a shop or bleaching ground would not. Two further connecting threads run through these various discussions: contemporary differences of opinion as to whether ‘emotives’ contributed to truth and justice, and anxiety about the theatrical tactics of victims, defendants, and lawyers in the courtroom. Uniting these concerns is the issue of whether the emotions expressed were genuine or contrived.
