Hanging a boy for killing a deer?
Even the English weren't this cruel.
sharePoaching was a very serious offense.
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MovieChat Forums > Death Comes to Pemberley (2014) Discussion > Hanging a boy for killing a deer?
England at about 1815, when the story takes place, was very different from what it is today.
The TV series story is accurate about the death penalty in England at that time.
From Wikipedia;
Sir Samuel Romilly, speaking to the House of Commons on capital punishment in 1810, declared that "[there is] no country on the face of the earth in which there [have] been so many different offences according to law to be punished with death as in England." Known as the "Bloody Code", at its height the criminal law included some 220 crimes punishable by death, ...
Many of these offences had been introduced to protect the property of the wealthy classes that emerged during the first half of the 18th century, a notable example being the Black Act of 1723, which created 50 capital offences for various acts of theft and poaching. Crimes eligible for the death penalty included shoplifting and stealing sheep, cattle, and horses, and before abolition of the death penalty for theft in 1832, "English law was notorious for prescribing the death penalty for a vast range of offenses as slight as the theft of goods valued at twelve pence."
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_the_United_Kingdom#Background
BB ;-)
it is just in my opinion - imo - 🌈 share
Poaching was indeed a hanging offense....
http://www.regencyera.net/2013/01/crime-and-punishment-part-i/
Hanging a boy for killing a deer?This really bugged me, too, it kinda ruined my evening.
I saw a similar scene in Garrow's Law, a young boy was ordered to be hanged for stealing something. The moment the assistant put the black cloth on the head of the judge to mean the death penalty, the confused look of the boys when they were taken away on the carriage, it was just so sad. share
You can be sad all you want, but the fact remains that this is the way things were back then.
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It was horrible. They never would have used it in the film if it wasn't historically correct.
shareActually, people use things in films all the time that are not historically correct. Filmmakers are more concerned with drama than a curacy. The Tudors for example contains many inaccuracies, and don't get me started on The Imitation Game. Filmmakers really aren't bothered about accuracy.
shareI agree, I found it incredibly disturbing and sad. Historically accurate or not, this is a modern story aimed at the same people who enjoy Pride & Prejudice. This storyline had no business in it.
shareDuring the 18th century the number of crimes for which a person could be hanged rose to 200. though transportation to Australioa had become a popular altenrative by the regency era. First time offenders in particular were more likely to be sentenced to transportation. there had been several attempts to get the laws changed to reduce the number of crimes carrying the death penalty, but it was only in 1823 that the number was reduced by Over 100, and in 1832 the number was reduced to about 60.
In fact considering the number of crimes for which a person could be hanged, there seem to have been not a vast number of hangings. In 1784-1793 for instance, the London and Middlesex courts orderd 437 hangings altogether. 437 hangings over a decade, with a possible 200 crimes for which people could be hanged,suggests that courts were more often than not lenient in sentencing people.