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Home / Periods / Georgian & Regency Britain / Georgian Crime and the Bloody Code

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Georgian Crime and the Bloody Code

1714–1837 CE

Georgian criminal justice operated under the so-called Bloody Code, a legal regime with many capital offences. Theft, forgery, highway robbery, smuggling and other crimes could bring severe punishment. Trials, executions, transportation and prisons were public features of the age.

This mattered because law shaped the lives of poor people, servants, apprentices, debtors and anyone without protection. Mercy, patronage, gender, reputation and money could affect outcomes as much as formal guilt. The criminal justice system was both spectacle and social control.

Antonia Hodgson’s Thomas Hawkins series is a strong example of Georgian crime fiction using prisons, courts and London danger. Laura Shepherd-Robinson also uses crime and investigation to expose slavery, gender and power in Georgian society. Series set in this world can follow thief-takers, magistrates, prisoners, lawyers, servants, hangmen, informers and families facing ruin.

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Series

Series about Georgian Crime and the Bloody Code (1 series)

Dick Turpin in Order

by Richard Foreman 4 books 4.3(126)

The Dick Turpin series reimagines the historical highwayman as an ambitious Georgian criminal moving between roads, taverns, theatres and aristocratic houses. Turpin confronts an assassin, a rival outlaw and the temptation of a celebrated jewel before the final story collection tests the reputation he has created. Each adventure…

Books

30 Best Novels About Georgian Crime and the Bloody Code