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The Justice and the Mare's Ale
Alan Macfarlane (Author)
9780631130741, Wiley
Paperback / softback, published 4 November 1982
252 pages
22.9 x 15.1 x 1.5 cm, 0.378 kg
‘This admirable work...cannot be overlooked; it must be read.' The Spectator ‘Fascinating.' The Observer ‘It is as gripping as a detective story. Actually Alan Macfarlane's new book is a true detective story, set in the Westmorland in the 1680's.' New Society ‘It is an extraordinary story very well told, largely in the words of the original depositions and other papers in the public records and in the extensive Fleming archive.' London Review of Books ‘The Justice and the Mare's Ale is two books rather than one, and two rather good books at that. One of them is a work of detailed local history...giving a blow by blow account of the criminal careers and eventual comeuppance of a dozen Westmorland burglars and coin-clippers in the early 1680s. The other is a sequel to The Origins of English Individualism, a second instalment of Macfarlane's argument that the peculiarities of the English are very peculiar indeed, and that pace the sociological orthodoxy England never was a "pre-modern" or pre-capitalist or peasant society.' Times Educational Supplement ‘A skilful reconstruction of Cumbrian skulduggery and the rewards of persistent justice.' Keswick Reminder ‘It works as an extended case study and it is a splendid story.' The Economist ‘A tribute to Cambridge scholarship.' Daily Telegraph
A historically reconstructed detective story, The Justice and the Mare's Ale is a case study brought alive by documents, through which readers can explore the way in which law worked in practice in late - seventeenth century northern England and the ways in which criminal law and ordinary life intersected during that period. "It is as gripping as a detective story. Actually Alan Macfarlane's new book is a true detective story, set in the Westmorland in the 1680's." "It is an extraordinary story very well told, largely in the words of the original depositions and other papers in the public records and in the extensive Fleming archive."
—New Society
—London Review of Books
Subject Areas: Miscellaneous items [WZ]