Laws, Lawyers, and Punishment in the Victorian Period :: Victorian Era

faithfulnesss, practice of attorneys, and Punishment in the Victorian PeriodThe LawAt the beginning of the 19th century there were 3 types of rectitude in England -Common Law the law of the land(Pool 127), which was built up oer many centuries *referred to in order to determine such cases as the rigorousness of a contract or whether or not someone was blameworthy of murder3 courts that heard cases -Kings Bench- criminal cases -Eschequer- disputes about money -Common Pleas- disputes amongst citizens -Equity seen over by the chancery Court designed to top relief from strict decisions made by the common law-Church Law 4 courts -Court of Arches-Court of the archbishop -Court of Faculties-granted special permission to do things such as bemuse multiple livings -Consistory Court-handled divorce and wills -Prerogative Court- wills of bishops However, this system of laws changed much throughout the century. The Chancery became barely a joke for there you could not present evidence during trials and fantan came to view it as necessary for matters of will and divorce to be referred to spick-and-span civil courts instead of the church. In 1873 the 3 common law courts and the Chancery were combined to make the Supreme CourtLawyersThere were two types of lawyers -those who argued in court- barristers, sarjeants, and advocates -those who prepared the cases for these lawyers- attorneys, pollsters, proctorsCourtroom lawyers held more prestige especially the barrister, who was often fountainhead bornTo become a barrister one had to go to a certain(prenominal) number of dinners at the Inns of Court for 3 years. Then if you were approved of by the older lawyers youd be called to the bar and then could become a barrister. There was no exam required.Solicitors had to serve as an in-between between the barristers and their clients. So they were in trade which was less respectful to become solicitor one had to be an apprentice for 5 years to a practicing lawyerPunishmentIn 1800 there were over 200 offences punishable by death including sheep stealing and doing damage to the Westminster Bridge -This harshness was probably collectible to the lack of real paid policemen at the time. So when someone was really caught and convicted they were made an example.