Development of the Law of Blackmail in Georgian England - Common Law Creation of a Capital Felony

• NCJ Number: 103795
• Author(s): A E Simpson
• Date Published: 1986
• Length: 18 pages
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Description
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Presented at annual meeting of American Criminology, Atlanta, Georgia, October 1986

Annotation

This analysis of the transformation of blackmail from a misdemeanor into a capital felony under certain circumstances in 18th-century England shows how male society's strong aversion to homosexuality impacted the aforementioned area of law.

Abstract

In 18th-century England, robbery, which was defined to include the perpetrator's posing an immediate threat to the victim's life or physical health as a device for obtaining money, was a capital offense. Blackmail, which involved the obtaining of money from the victim under the threat to impune the victim's character, was a misdemeanor. This changed in the case of R. v. Jones (1776), as the defendant was convicted of robbery after obtaining money from a victim under the threat of a public allegation that the victim was a homosexual. The crime was considered robbery instead of extortion because the jury believed that the allegation of being homosexual would invoke as much or more terror in the victim than if a gun was held to his head. Thus, extortion under the threat of alleging homosexuality of the victim was made a capital offense in case law, supported later by legislation. This overt fear of being labeled homosexual grew from an 'ethos of masculinity' that arose in the early 18th century as an essentially urban phenomenon. 61 notes and a table on felony prosecutions for sexual blackmail in the Old Bailey for 1776-1830.