The Traveller's Guide, and the Country's safety. Being a Declaration of the Laws of England against High-way-men, or Robbers upon the Road [...] Illustrated with variety of Law Cases, Historical Remarks, Customs, Usages, Antiquities and authentick Authorities,

Bookseller Notes

A portable little book explaining the legal recourse available to victims of highway robbery. Amongst various legal statutes and acts, the backbone of the book is an analysis of legal 'Hue and Cry', which declared that the public was obligated to assist in pursuing and apprehending criminals. The author bemoans the 'faint and weak performance' of hue and cry and that 'too often robbers did escape unpunished, and that impunity was an encouragement to others to commit the like enormities, to the great and manifest danger of the King's Subjects travelling on their lawful occasions'. He aims to strengthen the use of this ancient call to arms, outlining 'Who may raise the Huy [sic] and Cry and for what cause', what precisely must be done, and sundry other practical matters such as how far constables of one jurisdiction ere expected to pursue a suspected robber into the next. An early example of different police forces working together (or seemingly not, in most cases).This period was marked by an increased number of such crimes, along with a general revaluation of highwaymen; while certain individuals were romanticised well into the eighteenth century, they were on the whole viewed as a thuggish criminal element and a serious nuisance, which deterred people from travelling on His Majesty's highway.Very scarce in commerce.