The Unwritten Law examines the values and assumptions of mid-Victorian England as revealed in the actual workings of the criminal justice system. The working definitions of criminality and justice were often influenced more by certain tacit assumptions than by the written law. Through a careful study of the ways that the status and circumstances of victims and suspects influenced judicial decisions, Conley provides important new insights into Victorian attitudes toward violence, women, children, community, and the all-important concept of respectability. She also addresses issues that continue to be of concern in today's society: How can equal justice be preserved when social and economic conditions and expectations are not equal? How can the rights of the accused be reconciled with those of victims--especially children? Can and should the courts interfere with the traditions of family and community? What standards can determine the criminality of a particular act and the justice and efficacy of punishment? This original analysis will hold special interest for students and scholars of British history, social history, and criminality and the law. "This is a welcome addition to the literature on the nature of crime and criminal justice in England."-- Journal of Modern History "A valuable contribution to Victorian social history....Provides a rich resource for other more specialized historical studies, while offering a fascinating mosaic of late-Victorian society."-- American Historical Review "With a fascinating array of cases to illustrate her argument...Conley's volume abounds in revealing insights."-- Journal of Social History "A valuable contribution to this field."-- Victorian Studies "A useful addition to the growing literature on local crime and police studies. Conley has provided an interesting and balanced treatment of her subject."-- CHOICE "A well-written and succinct book that advances our understanding both of Victorian criminal justice and of the role of gender in Victorian society. Conley makes a notable advance over earlier scholarship on Victorian criminal justice."--Martin J. Weiner, Rice University "First-rate local study....Provides an original and revealing portrait of the ways in which the criminal justice system affected ordinary middle- and working-class lives."-- The Historian "Conley's The Unwritten Law: Criminal Justice in Victorian Kent traces the important tensions implicit within the theory and practice of the criminal justice system in the 19th century....A clear, well-written, and thoughtful account of the system of criminal justice in the Victorian period."-- Victorian Periodical Review "The author provides a welcome and lucid account of the operation of criminaljustice, with all its imperfections and preconceptions, as actually experienced by the population of Victorian Kent."-- Albion "Conley's portrait is admirable for its balanced judgements....Her judgments on issues of male dominance, child abuse, oppression of the poor, and a myriad of cruelties are a blend of sympathetic understanding and just criticism, expressed in an eminently good tone."-- Journal of Interdisciplinary History "The most striking material deals with what lawyers classify as violent crime....Some of the illustrations are quite remarkable."-- Journal of British Studies Carolyn A. Conley is at University of Alabama, Birmingham.