The year the Battle of Hastings took place and William I is crowned King of England.
1066
The Forest Laws were introduced.
1067
The Harrying of the North began and in 1070 it ended.
1069
Murdrum fine introduced for killing Normans.
1070
The Domesday book is created.
1086
Richard I introduces coroners to investigate suspicious deaths.
1194
Henry II reorganizes courts and tries to limit church's power over crime and punishment.
1150-60
Trial by Ordeal ends.
1215
Justices of the Peace appointed for all areas.
1327
The Statute of Labourers was made.
1351
Justices of the Peace could arrest suspected heretics.
1414
Henry Tudor becomes King Henry VII of England.
1485
Vagabonds and Beggars Act was introduced.
1494
Witchcraft Act makes witchcraft punishable by death.
1542
The Vagrancy Act, an able-bodied vagabond, who was without work for more than three days, was to be branded with the letter V, was made.
1547
The introduction of the Bridewell, used to punish vagabonds and reform them as well as house orphans.
1556
Demonologie was published.
1597
Poor law introduced and houses of correction set up in each county.
1601
Transportation to America begins.
1603
The year of the Gunpowder Plot.
1605
Matthew Hopkins witch hunts.
1645-47
The Game Act was passed which meant that individuals who were poor were not allowed to own equipment or dogs that could be used for poaching.
1671
Law lists 50 crimes punishable by death.
1688
Black Acts make poaching game punishable by death.
1723
Witchcraft was decriminalized.
1736
Fielding brothers set up Bow Street Runners.
1748
The State of Prisons was published.
1777
The law lists 222 crimes punishable by death.
1810
The Metropolitan Police Force was introduced.
1829
Tolpuddle martyrs.
1833
The detective branch in Scotland Yard was set up.
1842
Pentonville prison was opened and the separate system introduced.
1842
Transportation is abolished.
1857
The first National Crime Records were set up.
1869
All prisons brought under government authority.
1877
Jack the Ripper murders.
1888
Borstals introduced for young offenders.
1900
The Fingerprint branch was set up in the Metropolitan Police Force.
1901
The Military Service Act introduces conscription.
1916
Driving whilst drunk becomes a crime.
1925
Execution of under-18s ends.
1933
The Derek Bentley case occurred.
1953
Death penalty abolished.
1965
The Misuse of Drug Act, making many drugs illegal for the first time, was passed.
1971
Domestic Violence Act makes domestic violence a crime.
1976
Racial and Religious Hatred Act makes racial abuse a crime.
2006