The two parts of this book are quite distinct, and so warrant separate treatment. The larger, first section is a transcription of three justicing books, edited and introduced by B. J. Davey. These documents record the business of Thomas Dixon, magistrate at Riby in south Lincolnshire in the 1780s and 1790s. Davey's capable introduction fully surveys the issues these documents raise for the historian of criminal justice. Such records are very rare, yet these examples are of particular interest because Dixon, as a substantial tenant farmer, was not a member of the county gentry, like most of his peers on the bench. According to Davey's analysis, this fact accounts for his unusual approach to justice: his infrequent resort to informal sanctions; the apparent absence of arbitration from his conduct of petty sessions; and his exceptionally strict sentencing of insubordinate employees tried under the master and servant acts.
Given the rigid formality of Dixon's records, it is difficult to be sure that his approach to summary justice was as routinised as the sources suggest. Nevertheless, Davey's assessment is largely persuasive, and Dixon comes across as a man determined to apply the law strictly and mechanically, in contrast to more typical gentleman magistrates, in Lincolnshire as elsewhere. A more frustrating consequence of Dixon's sober record-keeping is the paucity of really vivid, juicy passages for historians to chew over. Indeed, for criminal justice historians, Davey's thorough introduction covers almost all the available ground. Some of the more interesting sources included here are not from Dixon's justicing books at all, but from related quarter sessions records. Occasional witness examinations, for instance, offer readier access to everyday life in the locality. That said, for readers interested in rural society more broadly, Dixon's notes offer interesting, although still limited, insights into such diverse issues as settlement, bastardy, poor relief, parish office-holding and its attendant expenses, and agricultural service.
The second part of the volume turns to a single civil court action from the 1830s, touching upon the mutual indebtedness of gentleman heir Benjamin Hart Thorold, and former stonemason John Catton, whom Thorold persuaded to take charge of Thorold's latest business venture, the Blackamoor's Head beerhouse. R. C. Wheeler, who has edited the records of this case, argues that they illuminate various subjects, including the social relations of landlord and tenant, and the economics of the droving trade. This assertion is amply borne out by the documents themselves. Testimony regarding Thorold's relationship with Catton signals the intimacy of interpersonal contact across this social divide, and Catton's agency in their business dealings. Thorold apparently came to negotiate with him four or five times before they reached agreement. The papers also include some quantitative data, which provides useful material on the droving trade upon which the beerhouse depended. Finally, the evidence provided by various local witnesses, principally farmers, offers further insights into the life of this rural community, and especially its familiarity. Joseph Dalton, who considered Catton's doings at the beerhouse ‘no business of mine’ (p.152), very much stands out as the exception to the norm.
In summary, this welcome volume offers a unique glimpse into social relations and the experience of community in a rural setting. In particular, it will reward those interested in courts and use of the law, local government and administration, and the economic and social history of eighteenth and nineteenth-century Lincolnshire.
