This book, first published in 1967, examines the implications of a now-forgotten minor riot that occurred in 1833, a turbulent year with the working classes striving for recognition in a changing social order. A political meeting in London had been declared illegal, the police breaking up the crowd were met with resistance, and in the fracas a policeman was stabbed to death. A bad-tempered inquest followed, at which the jury returned a verdict of justified killing – for which a section of the public hailed them as heroes. This analysis sets the crime and verdict against the political protests of the time.