Dr Ruth Paley

Published Volumes

History of Parliament Research

My work at the History of Parliament currently focuses on those peers and bishops who had significant interactions with the law. These have included the disgraced bishop Thomas Watson of St David’s, James duke of York and Prince George of Denmark. Future work will focus upon Lord Chancellors as Speakers of the Lords

Research and Publications

My personal research interests are in the social history of the law with particular reference to the administration of criminal justice in eighteenth century London. I am currently preparing a book, in collaboration with Elaine A Reynolds, on the policing of London in the long eighteenth century. My publications include:

- ‘Dragging the law into disrepute’ in Paul Brand, Andrew Lewis and Paul Mitchell (eds) Law in the city (Four Courts, forthcoming)

- ‘Imperial politics and English law: the many contexts of Somerset’ in Law and History Review vol. 24 no. 3 (Fall, 2006),

- ‘After Somerset: Mansfield, slavery and the law in England 1772-1830’ in Norma Landau (ed) Law, crime and English society 1660-1830 (Cambridge, 2002),

- ‘Thief-takers in London in the age of the McDaniel Gang c1745-1754’ in Douglas Hay and Francis Snyder (eds) Policing and Prosecution in Britain (Oxford, 1989).