"Law and Society in England" is a major new text on legal history, covering in detail the complexities of two centuries of intense social and legal change. In this original work, the authors have examined the complex interaction between ideology, social change and the law. Bringing together a vast body of research and contemporary source material, they investigate the manner in which the legislative process responded to the growing demands for regulation and reform in a fast-changing society, and examine the extent to which the law reflected those shifting attitudes.