| Abjure | To renounce on oath. |
| Arson |
The act of willfully and maliciously setting fire to property. |
| Assize court | A court of justice, sitting at intervals in each county of England and Wales to administer the civil and criminal law. |
| Beadle | A parish officer similar to a constable. |
| Benefit of clergy |
A system whereby the clergy could claim immunity in a civil court on a felony charge. |
| Chattels | Property and possessions. |
| Counterfeiting |
Made in imitation of that which is genuine; imitated, forged. |
| ‘The dark figure’ | The number of unreported crimes. |
| Exacted | Called upon to appear in court. |
| Eyre court | Court of itinerant justices who traveled in circuit. |
| False presentment | A mistake. |
| Familiar | The devil’s less important demons who took the form of an animal. |
| Feudal | Land given ultimately by the king, in exchange for services. |
| The ‘first finder’ | The first person who found the body. |
| Guardian of the Peace | An earlier name for a Justice of the Peace. |
| Headboroughs | A deputy constable. |
| Heresy | Holding a religious belief contrary to that of any religious system considered as orthodox. |
| Highwaymen |
One who frequents the highway for the purpose of robbing passengers; esp. one who does this on horseback. |
| Hue and Cry | Loud cry made by those pursuing a suspected wrongdoer. |
| Hulks | Disused warships used as prisons. |
| Hundred | A district or area of a county. |
| Impotent poor | People too old, disabled or sick to work. |
| JP | Justice of the Peace. |
| Jury |
A body of people sworn to render a ‘verdict’ based on questions officially submitted to them. |
| Juvenile delinquency | Young offenders. |
| Multiple stores | Department stores. |
| The Ordinary | Prison Chaplain. |
| Outlawed |
Put outside the law – banished and exiled. |
| Over mighty subjects | Lords who used their private armies to terrorise local villages. |
| Pestilence | Plague. |
| Petty Constables | A local official elected to arrest criminals and to carry out instructions passed down form the Justice of the Peace or the County Assize Justices. |
| Poaching | Stealing wild creatures – birds, animals or fish, from those who own the land or water they live in. |
| The posse comitatus | "The force of the county". A body of men raised by the king’s county official, the sheriff, to chase a criminal. |
| Recidivists | People who offended repeatedly. |
| Sanctuary | Safety and protection given by the church. |
| Shaming punishment | A punishment which humiliated the offender: example; ducking stool and the stocks. |
| Sheriff | King’s official in charge of a county or shire. |
| A social crime | An activity which the government has defined as a crime but the population at large, does not agree that it is a crime. |
| Statutes |
A law or decree made by a sovereign or a legislative authority. |
| Sturdy rogues/beggars | People who could work, but did not. |
| Tenant in chief | Someone who held land directly from the king. |
| Tithing | A group of ten people. |
| Treason | Trying to overthrow the government. |
| Vagabonds | Those people who did not have a regular job or a fixed home. |
| Ward | An area of a town. |
| Witchcraft | The use of supernatural means for harmful or evil ends. |