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"Beyond the Law": Politics of Ending Death Penalty for Sodomy Britain
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Barnes and Noble
"Beyond the Law": Politics of Ending Death Penalty for Sodomy Britain
Current price: $110.50
Barnes and Noble
"Beyond the Law": Politics of Ending Death Penalty for Sodomy Britain
Current price: $110.50
Loading Inventory...
Size: Hardcover
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Upchurch recounts the legal and political efforts of reformers like Jeremy Bentham and Lord John Russellthe latter of whom argued that the death penalty for sodomy was “beyond the law and above the law.” He also reveals that a same-sex relationship linked the families of the two men responsible for co-sponsoring the key legislation. By recovering the various ethical, religious, and humanitarian arguments against punishing sodomy,
overturns longstanding assumptions of nineteenth-century British history. Upchurch demonstrates that social change came from an amalgam of reformist momentum, family affection, elitist politics, class privilege, enlightenment philosophy, and personal desires.