Sentencing Parricides: Text and Context; Rhetoric and Silence

This article considers the sentencing of two eighteenth centuryparricides, one committed by a daughter, the other by a son. In eachcase the sentencing remarks are first subject to generic analysis,derived from the work of Rukiya Hasan and Susan Urmston Philips. Withinthose thematic structures there is a traditional rhetorical analysis. Bycombining both types of analysis one can demonstrate the salientfeatures of each set of judicial remarks. The focus of the article thenshifts from these texts to their contexts, and reveals features in theiroffence narratives which have been omitted in these otherwise powerfulrhetorical utterances. Explanations for these silences are given.     

Logos and Pathos in Sentencing Dr William Parry

The focus of this article is on the sentencing remarks concerning a sixteenth century Welsh traitor. Before analysis of the logos track, thematic structure and the surface tropes of these remarks, the origins of this genre from 1307 are examined, demonstrating their formal drafted style and the extemporised style that fully emerged in 1600, which was presaged in the remarks examined here. The discussion that follows the analysis is in five sections which cover the external impacts on this genre; on sentencing remarks in genre theory; on sentencing remarks and social conflict; on censure and sanctions; and on sentencing remarks in the liturgy of criminal process.