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"Hurry, Papa! Or we'll miss the hanging!"
"It's not a hanging, dear, it's a trial. The hanging comes this afternoon.
"
A girl and her father[src]

The Old Bailey courthouse, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey, was a criminal court building located in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The street outside follows the route of the ancient wall around the city of London, which was part of the fortification's bailey, hence the metonymic name. Local townspeople could tell of the courthouse by Lady Justice, who stood atop of the Old Bailey holding a sword in one hand, and the scales of justice in the other.

The Crown Court sitting in the Old Bailey hears major criminal cases from within London. In exceptional cases, trials may be referred to the Old Bailey from other parts of England and Wales. As with most courts in England and Wales, trials at the Old Bailey are open to the public; however, they are subject to stringent security procedures.

History[]

In 1750, crowds thronged toward the Old Bailey courthouse in London to witness a pirate's trial. A little girl and her father made their way to the courthouse as the town crier advertised a pirate execution amidst the crowd. The main courtroom was filled with an angry crowd who wanted to see a pirate's hanging. The trial focused on Joshamee Gibbs, who was tried for a cruel case of mistaken identity as he was mistaken for Jack Sparrow. The attitude of the court in London is to hang first and ask questions later. Luckily for Gibbs, the real Jack Sparrow managed to turn up disguised as the judge of Gibbs' case, after having hid the real judge. However, he changed Gibbs' sentence from a hanging to life imprisonment.[1]

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