Pleas of the Crown

This chapter traces the history of criminal procedure. The early ‘appeal’ of felony gave way to the indictment, a written presentment approved by a grand jury. Until Georgian times there were few safeguards for the accused other than whatever care was taken by judge and jury. Counsel were rarely involved, except in treason cases; trials were brief; and there were no appeals. The capital punishment imposed on all convicted felons was adjusted in practice by the mechanisms of sanctuary, benefit of clergy, ‘pious perjury’ by jurors, and pardons. Benefit of clergy was originally a privilege of ordained clergy, but the judges contrived to extend it to any man who could read, and Parliament perfected the fiction by extending it to women and the illiterate. Pardons were widely available underlay both the system of transportation and a form of criminal appeal.