I spend a good 10 minutes going over the list of active trials that day on the boards behind the information desk.
But without knowing specifics in advance it's difficult to find out much about the cases, as they only have simple factual information; respondents, defendants, courtroom numbers and times. The man behind the information desk had told me to come back if I didn't find what I was looking for, but it doesn't help that I don't know what I'm looking for. I wander around hoping for some kind of inspiration. Outside Court number 14 a large group of people are milling around waiting expectantly and I decide this is as good a court as any.
The room is considerably smaller than the Supreme Court, with a generous amount of wood paneling. The small seating area is completely filled, with one man leaning over whispering conspiratorially with a member of the legal team. The judge enters and the court falls silent. This is a personal injury case, and from what I can gather, centres around whether a parent has the right to withhold a medical diagnosis from an adult child.
There is no screaming, no blind fury for the truth, just the simple steps that govern our everyday laws. As with the Supreme Court, you can cross your fingers for an interesting trial, but otherwise consider booking onto a tour. Bags and any kind of electronics are prohibited in the court building, and I am directed to a travel agent nearby who can store my stuff. The man at the door motions me back towards the public gallery entrance, another sign that this going to be very different. The grimy, dimly lit Warwick Passage has more than a touch of the condemned to it.
A turning on the left leads through a small door and I climb up a drab staircase. Have I taken a wrong turning? It feels as if I am about to come up inside the holding cells. I make my way up, winding through people waiting in the stairwell and find a woman on floor 1, explaining my request again. I nod but immediately feel a little uneasy. She leads me down the corridor, opens the door to court 15 and points to a chair. The public galleries are situated on an upper-level viewing gallery, allowing you to sit above the court, looking down upon it, hawk-like.
There is a tension in the air as a witness is examined, whom I can hear, but not see. It is a fascinating experience to watch something you have seen so many times in movies and on TV taking place in real life. They allow users to see differences between the punishment sentences handed down by the court and the punishments convicts actually experienced, and make it possible to compare the impact of the punishments of imprisonment and transportation on convicts' lives.
See About this Project. Keyword s. Reference No. By the 18th Century Newgate was crowded, filthy and unhealthy. Judges were forced to carry nosegays of flowers to hide the unpleasant smells from the cells, a tradition that still continues today.
The black-cloaked figure is believed to be the spirit of a man who was wrongly accused of being a highwayman, who was hanged and buried in lime on the site where the court now stands. In the old sessions house and Newgate Prison were demolished to make way for the current building, which was opened in by Edward VII. The Old Bailey is run by the Corporation of London.
The correct name for the Old Bailey is the Central Criminal Court, the nickname is taken from the road the Court is situated on. The oak-panelled courtrooms have been the setting for some of the most infamous trials in world criminal history. Records from a number of archives have been brought together and digitised on the London Lives website including Quarter Sessions records for City of London, Middlesex and Westminster.
Though there are no records from quarter sessions courts at The National Archives, our library contains the following printed and published calendars for records held at the London Metropolitan Archives:. For quick pointers Tuesday to Saturday to Discovery is a catalogue of archival records across the UK and beyond, from which you can search 32 million records.
This website uses cookies We place some essential cookies on your device to make this website work. Set cookie preferences. Skip to Main Content. Search our website Search Discovery, our catalogue. How to look for records of View Online How many are online? None Some All. Order copies We can either copy our records onto paper or deliver them to you digitally. Visit us in Kew Visit us in Kew to see original documents or view online records for free.
Pay for research Consider paying for research. Contents 1. Why use this guide? Counties and districts covered by the court's jurisdiction 3. Crimes tried by the court 4. Summaries of trials: proceedings and other accounts 5.
Records of prisoners, 6. Witness statements: depositions, 7. Charges: indictments since 8. Court books, 9. Appeals and criminal petitions,
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