The London Hanged.The London Hanged Peter Linebaugh Verso ver·so n. pl. ver·sos 1. A left-hand page of a book or the reverse side of a leaf, as opposed to the recto. 2. The back of a coin or medal. 180 Varick Street, 10th floor, New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , NY 10014-4606 1859845762 $18.00 1-800-233-4830 www.versobooks.com First published in 2003, and now available in a very affordable paperback edition, The London Hanged: Crime and Civil Society in the Eighteenth Century is a close study of capital punishment capital punishment, imposition of a penalty of death by the state. History Capital punishment was widely applied in ancient times; it can be found (c.1750 B.C.) in the Code of Hammurabi. in eighteenth-century London and the implications that can be drawn from it as relevant to issues of the modern day. History professor Peter Linebaugh reveals that the era's gallows GALLOWS. An erection on which to bang criminals condemned to death. in London was more than simply a place for punishing wrongdoers; it was a means of keeping the poor population of London in line even though the rich imposed new forms of private property and criminalized formerly customary rights CUSTOMARY RIGHTS. Rights which are acquired by custom. They differ from prescriptive rights in this, that the former are local usages, belonging to all the inhabitants of a particular place or district-the latter are rights of individuals, independent of the place of their residence. . All working-class men and women of that time and place had reason to fear being hanged, postulates Linebaugh, supporting his theories about the use of public hanging as a weapon of the ruling class with extensive evidence and historical cases. A "must-read" scrutiny of capital punishment and its misuse. |
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