This book takes the reader on a journey through the folk musical tradition of Britain as it intersects with the law from time to time. Chapters are arranged thematically according to the species of crime traversed in the songs. For example, ‘Poaching’, ‘Homicide’ and ‘Arson’.

Co-author Sir Stephen Sedley is a former judge of the High Court of England and Court of Appeal. As a humorous aside ‘Sedley’s Laws of Documents’* (below) are sure to coax a knowing chuckle or two from counsel. Sedley provides a deft exposition of the historical legal context in the introduction to each chapter and a brief analysis of the particular law applicable to the conduct described in each song. Occasionally he proffers an argument for the defence or prosecution of a song’s characters.

Sedley’s co-author, Martin Carthy, is a renowned folk musician and musicologist. Carthy provides brief and informative notes on the provenance of each song, its traditional shape and melody. He has striven to collect the earliest recorded, most authentic versions, and has adorned them with musical notation.

A great pleasure alongside reading the book is listening to the tunes on your music streaming service, or on Youtube. Although the versions may differ, this brings the lyrics to life in way that reading them on the page simply cannot.

The following is a selection of links to Youtube videos for a few songs contained in the anthology:

‘McCaffery’

‘Lord Randall’

‘Polly Vaughn’

‘Famous Flower of Serving Men’

‘The Flying Cloud’

‘Hugh the Graeme’

‘The Sheffield Apprentice’

‘The Black Velvet Band’

‘Maggie May’

‘Tom’s Gone to Hilo’

*Sedley’s Laws of Documents:

1. Documents may be assembled in any order, provided it is not chronological, numerical or alphabetical;

2. Documents shall in no circumstances be paginated continuously;

3. No two copies of any bundle shall have the same pagination;

4. Every document shall carry at least 3 numbers in different places;

5. Any important documents shall be omitted;

6. At least 10 per cent of the documents shall appear more than once in the bundle;

7. As many photocopies as practicable shall be illegible, truncated or cropped;

8. Significant passages shall be marked with a highlighter which goes black when photocopied;

9. (a) At least 80 per cent of the documents shall be irrelevant. (b) Counsel shall refer in court to no more than 5 per cent of the documents, but these may include as many irrelevant ones as counsel or solicitor deems appropriate;

10. Only one side of any double-sided document shall be reproduced.

11. Transcriptions of manuscript documents and translations of foreign documents shall bear as little relation as reasonably practicable to the original;

12. Documents shall be held together, in the absolute discretion of the solicitor assembling them, by: a steel pin sharp enough to injure the reader; a staple too short to penetrate the full thickness of the bundle; tape binding so stitched that the bundle cannot be fully opened; or a ring or arch-binder, so damaged that the arcs do not meet.