The Agricultural Labourer and the Crime in England in the Industrial Revolution : especially on the Poaching

Abstract

Crime is, needless to say, a behaviour contrary to the law. The law is generally enacted with an object to prevent the crime and maintain the social order. And consequently a man to infringe the law is often regarded as a criminal to violate the criterion of the civil society. But of the various crimes, a behaviour to infringe the laws is not regarded as the crime in the mind of many people, as the case may be. J. G. Rule called this crime pattern the "social crime". There were also many social crimes in England in the industrial revolution, viz. smuggling, poaching, wrecking……. The purpose of this paper is to make clear what significance poaching as the social crime had for the agricultural labourer in the industrial revolution. Though a behaviour to violate the game laws and imposed the heavy fine, poaching was a just typical social crime of this time which was not regarded as crime by many people in the country. Poaching is a behaviour which the unqualified trespass the game preserves and engage in unlawful buying or selling of the games in the black market. Now, this paper has some points to analyze as follows; (1) the consciousness of the poacher to the crime. (2) the realities of the poaching. (3) the difference between the hunting community and the poaching community. (4) the formation of the class consciousness of the agricultural labourer through the poaching.