ABSTRACT
This chapter explains why nineteenth-century experiences are particularly significant in the search for the origins of the lexicon of financial crime in Britain, as it is believed to subsist within academic discourses and popular consciousness. This further affirms the case for regarding twenty-first century society as being on the same societal trajectory as nineteenth-century society, with it becoming possible to observe continuity and change in attitudinal patterns and orientation of response from this cultural perspective. Financial crime would challenge the Victorians in unprecedented ways, not only because the political economy of the nineteenth century was radically different, but changes in penal philosophy and direction would also shape the nature of criminal responses to high art crime. The differences between eighteenth-century and Victorian approaches are encapsulated in a comparison between the South Sea Bubble and the aftermath of the railway boom. The investment opportunities presented by the railways were premised on the joint-stock company becoming the central capitalist vehicle of the nineteenth century.
