ABSTRACT
Explanations for the introduction of explicit legislation regarding newborn child murder in England and Wales during the seventeenth century have hinged on contemporary concerns about protecting infant life, curbing maternal malpractices and, in particular, controlling the rates of illegitimacy which had significant financial implications for parishes and communities. In England and Wales, a lot of dissatisfaction was voiced by political and legal commentators over the initial legislative provision for child murder as it was thought to be too harsh and therefore increasingly unenforceable as the number of successful prosecutions had dwindled. In Scotland, criticism of the legislation was arguably more humanitarian in nature. The gender disparity evident in Scottish homicide continued during the nineteenth century and into the more modern era. Premeditated violence also seems to have been relatively rare amongst indictments for fatal violence in Scotland in the three hundred years after 1660.
