‘For Publick Satisfaction’

Abstract

Chapter 5 turns to the ways in which killings became ‘public’ in the sense of being made widely known, and how that contributed to making homicide public in the sense of being seen as an offence against a community. It examines public executions, the advent of printing—including both the new genre of the murder pamphlet and legal printing more generally—and the rise of the commercial stage. It examines the ways in which these discussions and displays helped inculcate a message that vengeance ought to be left to law, a public rather than private matter.