Since only what had to be preserved in writing can be used to reconstruct legal experiences in the past, the business of the courtroom shapes our perceptions of the application of the criminal law. The historian must grapple simultaneously with criminal allegations and with the priorities of those who recorded them. And, because the routines of the courtroom reinforced legal categories, the conventions of this central arena illuminate the more shadowy processes influencing definitions of law and crime.

In early modern England, the two basic forums for criminal, or crown, indictments were the Assizes and Quarter Sessions. The Assizes met semiannually (during vacations between law terms at Lent and Summer) at the northern edge of the shire. Their brief appearances brought to Sussex the strength and influence of the central courts. The two judges of the Assizes were normally men who presided over the courts of common law in Westminster. These professionals, armed with commissions of oyer et terminer and gaol delivery, heard and tried all varieties of criminal complaints and were also authorized to hear litigation. During the period covered by their commissions, the judges on circuit could consider virtually any problem. Only these two men possessed the power to hear both crown and common pleas.