Edexcel GCSE History Key Terms

A law that made poaching a capital offence to protect the property of wealthy landowners.

A prison reform law championed by Robert Peel that mandated separating male and female prisoners and providing doctors.

The legislation establishing the first professional, centralised police force in London.

The modern legislation that suspended the death penalty in Britain.

A legal process where an accused person confessed and swore an oath to leave the country forever to avoid execution.

A Conscientious Objector refusing all war-related work, including non-combatant roles, who usually faced imprisonment.

Daily official logs kept by workhouses recording the reasons people sought relief, such as illness or destitution.

A Conscientious Objector willing to perform non-combatant work to support the nation without fighting.

A radical political belief opposing all forms of organised government, often associated at the time with revolutionary violence.

Legislation allowing local councils to forcibly clear slums and replace them with modern housing.

A 1166 act under Henry II that solidified royal power by introducing royal judges to diminish local community-led justice.

Semi-annual traveling royal courts that were suspended during the Civil War, removing professional judges from local trials.

A uniformed officer patrolling a set route to deter crime through visible presence.

Timed, set routes patrolled by uniformed police constables to maintain a visible presence and deter crime.

A legal loophole allowing anyone who could prove they were a cleric to be tried in a lenient Church court rather than a secular court.

A scientific identification system developed in 1879 using precise physical measurements and standardised mugshots, adopted by the Met in 1894.

Cycles of retaliatory violence between families in Anglo-Saxon society, often triggered by a murder.

The 18th and early 19th-century legal system where over 200 crimes carried the death penalty.

A specialized youth reformatory used between 1902 and 1982 that emphasized strict discipline and vocational skills.

A specific type of financial compensation paid under Anglo-Saxon law for bodily injury rather than death.

The first professional, organised detective force in London, attached to the Bow Street Magistrates' Court and founded by the Fielding brothers.

The system of laws and legal principles made and enforced by the Church authorities rather than the King.

A criminal offence that is so serious it is punishable by death.

Specific types of murder still punishable by death under the 1957 Homicide Act, such as murdering a police officer or killing by shooting.

A crime punishable by the death penalty.

The legally authorized use of the death penalty as a punishment for a crime.

The law that officially ended public hangings, moving all executions behind closed prison walls.

Irregular, day-to-day employment with no job security, commonly found at the London Docks or on railways.

A specific area within a workhouse designed for vagrants (homeless people) staying for just one or two nights.

The punishing cycle in WWI where absolutists were arrested, served a sentence, were released, immediately re-conscripted, and re-arrested.