5 ms·

laws in the british empire were enforced, and followed almost religiously. The HMS bounty is about the only time anyone has openly mutinied against the empire a

laws in the british empire were enforced, and followed almost religiously. The HMS bounty is about the only time anyone has openly mutinied against the empire and kept their life and freedom, or perhaps the US in 1776 consider that the rum rebellion was put down in australia in 1810 by the royal navy, or the Wager mutiny - the survivors of a shipwreck/mutiny on the south coast of Chile in 1741 were court martialled in London a few years later. A sailor in those days even in a place as far flung as china or south africa would reasonably fear ending up being hanged in london

dragonwriter 6y ago
> laws in the british empire were enforced, and followed almost religiously. No, they weren't. The upper classes, both aristocratic and capitalist, in particular, has quite a bit of license in practice that wasn't on the books. > The HMS bounty is about the only time anyone has openly mutinied against the empire and kept their life and freedom, Yeah, you'll find most governments, especially ones that otherwise grant a pass to elites, take rebellion/mutiny quite seriously.
- Ichthypresbyter 6y ago
  Even among ordinary people, the default system was limited (if not selective) enforcement. There were a lot of capital crimes, but even assuming someone who committed one of them was caught (before the introduction of police forces or detectives) and convicted (before the introduction of state prosecutors), they would often be pardoned or receive a lighter sentence. Juries also had a role to play. For instance, at one stage you could be hanged for stealing property with a value of more than 40 shillings. There was at least one case where a jury convicted someone of stealing property to a total value of 39 shillings, even though what he stole included more than 40 shillings in cash!

5 ms·

laws in the british empire were enforced, and followed almost religiously. The HMS bounty is about the only time anyone has openly mutinied against the empire a

by throwawayasdf1 6y ago

dragonwriter 6y ago
> laws in the british empire were enforced, and followed almost religiously. No, they weren't. The upper classes, both aristocratic and capitalist, in particular, has quite a bit of license in practice that wasn't on the books. > The HMS bounty is about the only time anyone has openly mutinied against the empire and kept their life and freedom, Yeah, you'll find most governments, especially ones that otherwise grant a pass to elites, take rebellion/mutiny quite seriously.
- Ichthypresbyter 6y ago
  Even among ordinary people, the default system was limited (if not selective) enforcement. There were a lot of capital crimes, but even assuming someone who committed one of them was caught (before the introduction of police forces or detectives) and convicted (before the introduction of state prosecutors), they would often be pardoned or receive a lighter sentence. Juries also had a role to play. For instance, at one stage you could be hanged for stealing property with a value of more than 40 shillings. There was at least one case where a jury convicted someone of stealing property to a total value of 39 shillings, even though what he stole included more than 40 shillings in cash!