Hanging Matters: Petty Theft, Sentence of Death, and a Lost Statute of Edward I

This article discusses an important aspect of the law relating to theft in thirteenth-century England, and one of the ways in which that law developed. Central to it is the argument that the treatise The Mirror of Justices and references in court records and reports show that a short statute enacted early in the reign of Edward I, probably in 1278, categorically defined 12d. as the amount, whether in goods or money, at which larceny became a capital felony, incurring judgment of death. As well as setting out the evidence for this hitherto overlooked ordinance, the article also argues that the statute can be associated with some significant developments in the way petty theft was treated subsequently. In particular it had the effect of promoting the development of penal imprisonment, while since the task of valuation was given to trial juries, it further enhanced the leading role of the latter in determining the fates of the men and women whose lives depended on their verdicts.

Due Process & the Theater of Racial Degradation: The Evolving Notion of Pretrial Punishment in the Criminal Courts

Most theorists assume that the criminal courts are neutral arbiters of justice, protected by the Constitution, the rule of law, and court records. This essay challenges those assumptions and examines the courts as a place of punitive excess and the normalization of racial abuse and punishment. The essay explains the historic origins of these trends and examines how the categories of “hardened” and “marginal” defendants began to assume racialized meanings with the emergence of mass incarceration. This transformed the criminal courts into a type of public theater for racial degradation. These public performances or “racial degradation ceremonies” occur within the discretionary practices and cultural norms of mostly White courtroom professionals as they efficiently manage the disposition of cases in the everyday practice of law. I link these historical findings to a recent study of the largest unified criminal court system in the United States–Cook County, Chicago–and discuss court watching programs as an intervention for accountability and oversight of our courts and its legal professionals.

The Use of Land Value Taxation In New Zealand (1891 - 1991)

<p>This thesis examines the historical use of land value taxation by the New Zealand government over the period 1891 – 1991. The study adopts qualitative research methods to explore how land taxation policy progressed over the century and what were the relevant influences on policy direction. The primary aim of the study is to examine how the land value tax policy used in New Zealand developed over time, what drove changes to it and, ultimately, why it was abolished. To this end the study adopts a historical institutionalist framework to analyse the influence of institutional factors on the development of land tax policy. Particular attention is paid to the influence of ideas, path dependency, critical junctures and power. The research itself is an interpretive narrative history, primarily drawing from historical document sources including government records and publications, legislation, parliamentary debate records, court records and media coverage. By addressing this topic, this research informs future debate as to the suitability of land taxation for use as a tool to influence the property market or as a method of wealth taxation. In addition it offers an explanation as to how methods of taxation can become obsolete and eventually be abolished, in a New Zealand context.</p>

The Use of Land Value Taxation In New Zealand (1891 - 1991)

<p>This thesis examines the historical use of land value taxation by the New Zealand government over the period 1891 – 1991. The study adopts qualitative research methods to explore how land taxation policy progressed over the century and what were the relevant influences on policy direction. The primary aim of the study is to examine how the land value tax policy used in New Zealand developed over time, what drove changes to it and, ultimately, why it was abolished. To this end the study adopts a historical institutionalist framework to analyse the influence of institutional factors on the development of land tax policy. Particular attention is paid to the influence of ideas, path dependency, critical junctures and power. The research itself is an interpretive narrative history, primarily drawing from historical document sources including government records and publications, legislation, parliamentary debate records, court records and media coverage. By addressing this topic, this research informs future debate as to the suitability of land taxation for use as a tool to influence the property market or as a method of wealth taxation. In addition it offers an explanation as to how methods of taxation can become obsolete and eventually be abolished, in a New Zealand context.</p>

Access to electronic court records in Botswana

Governments all over the world are using information and communication technologies (ICTs) to enable the delivery of their programmes more effectively and efficiently and to increase the participation of the citizens in their governance through their e-government initiatives. The main purpose of this study was to explore issues of access to electronic case files at the Gaborone Magisterial District. Since 2005, the Department of Administration of Justice (AOJ) in Botswana has implemented an electronic Court Records Management System (CRMS) to manage case file records at the high courts and magistrates’ courts of Botswana as one of the government’s public sector reforms to improve service delivery at the courts. This study used both the quantitative and qualitative approaches with data collected through a questionnaire, document review, interviews with respondents and observation of respondents at the Gaborone Magisterial District as well as at justice stakeholders, which are Department of Public Prosecutions and the Department of Prisons and Rehabilitation. The questionnaire was supplemented with interviews. The study used the Records Continuum Model as lens to examine how electronic case files were used and accessed through the CRMS. The findings of the study revealed inadequate legislation on the management of electronic case files in Botswana. Challenges such as network disruptions, shortage of computers, resistance to change, training and a lack of commitment by staff affected access to court records on the CRMS. The study also established that access to electronic case files was limited to court personnel only. The study recommends the adoption of relevant policies and the provision of adequate infrastructure and remote access to electronic court records by the public and other stakeholders in the justice system in Botswana. Failure to provide online access to court records goes against the spirit of the Botswana National ICT policy and the National Vision 2036, which advocates for digital access to information and community access through the use of ICTs.

Access to electronic court records in Botswana

Governments all over the world are using information and communication technologies (ICTs) to enable the delivery of their programmes more effectively and efficiently and to increase the participation of the citizens in their governance through their e-government initiatives. The main purpose of this study was to explore issues of access to electronic case files at the Gaborone Magisterial District. Since 2005, the Department of Administration of Justice (AOJ) in Botswana has implemented an electronic Court Records Management System (CRMS) to manage case file records at the high courts and magistrates’ courts of Botswana as one of the government’s public sector reforms to improve service delivery at the courts. This study used both the quantitative and qualitative approaches with data collected through a questionnaire, document review, interviews with respondents and observation of respondents at the Gaborone Magisterial District as well as at justice stakeholders, which are Department of Public Prosecutions and the Department of Prisons and Rehabilitation. The questionnaire was supplemented with interviews. The study used the Records Continuum Model as lens to examine how electronic case files were used and accessed through the CRMS. The findings of the study revealed inadequate legislation on the management of electronic case files in Botswana. Challenges such as network disruptions, shortage of computers, resistance to change, training and a lack of commitment by staff affected access to court records on the CRMS. The study also established that access to electronic case files was limited to court personnel only. The study recommends the adoption of relevant policies and the provision of adequate infrastructure and remote access to electronic court records by the public and other stakeholders in the justice system in Botswana. Failure to provide online access to court records goes against the spirit of the Botswana National ICT policy and the National Vision 2036, which advocates for digital access to information and community access through the use of ICTs.

Harnessing a records management programme for justice delivery at the Alice magistrate court in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

This article focuses on harnessing a records management programme for justice delivery at the Alice Magistrates’ court. The objectives of the study were to find the extent to which court records are managed for justice delivery, the influence of court records in court processes, and the challenges, if any, of managing court records for justice delivery. The population of the study comprised all those who created and used court records at the Alice Magistrates’ court. The study used both quantitative and qualitative methods for data collection. Quantitative data were coded and analysed using Microsoft Excel 2010 while qualitative data were analysed using emerging themes based on the objectives of the study. The findings revealed that although records were important for justice delivery by the court, there were challenges posed by inadequate infrastructure, the lack of necessary knowledge and skills, ineffective control of records for justice delivery, and inadequate facilities for preservation and security of records. The study recommended improvement of the existing records management programme as a strategy. This is necessary for effective and efficient records management programme for justice delivery by the Alice Magistrates’ court.

‘Driven Insane by Eddyism’: Christian Science, Popular Psychopathology, and a Turn-of-the-Century Contest over Faith and Madness

ABSTRACT At the turn of the twentieth century, Christian Scientists contended with ongoing allegations that their faith was more of a mental pathology than a religion. This article analyzes how the Church of Christ, Scientist, in particular its public relations branch the Committee on Publication, systematically contended with popular portrayals of Christian Science as a source or indicator of insanity. Two highly profiled court cases, both predicated on the purported insanity of a Christian Science woman and her attendant inability to manage her business affairs, are explored for their cultural effect on the promotion of the causal association between Christian Science and madness. This study employs newspaper clippings collected and archived by the Church's Committee on Publication as well as court records to argue for the salience of the insanity charge in shaping the early history of Christian Science and its public perception. As a religious tradition premised on divine healing and health, popular psychopathological interpretations of Christian Science were particularly subversive and functioned not only to discredit and undermine the religion's claims to healing but to forward societal fears that Christian Science study posed a unique threat to women's health. This examination draws attention to a dynamic historical exchange between the press and a new religious movement, as well as the polyvalent gendered presumptions embedded in popular charges of insanity in association with religion.