- Alsatia
:"See also:
Alsace "Alsatia in
London , was the name given to an area lying north of theRiver Thames covered by the Whitefriarsmonastery , to the south of the west end ofFleet Street and adjacent to the Temple. Between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries it had the privilege of asanctuary , except against a writ of theLord Chief Justice or of the Lords of thePrivy Council ; and as a result it was the refuge of the perpetrators of every grade of crime, debauchery, and offence against the laws. The execution of a warrant there, if at any time practicable, was attended with great danger, as all united in a maintenance in common of the immunity of the place. It was one of the last places of sanctuary used inEngland , abolished byAct of Parliament named "The Escape from Prison Act" in 1697 and a further Act in 1723. Eleven other places in London were named in the Acts (The Minories ,The Mint ,Salisbury Court ,Whitefriars ,Fulwoods Rents ,Mitre Court ,Baldwins Gardens ,The Savoy ,The Clink ,Deadmans Place ,Montague Close ,The Mint andStepney ).Alsatia was named after the ancient name for
Alsace , Europe, which was itself outside legislative and juridical lines, and, therefore, they were literally places without law. The name is thought to be a cant term for the area and is first known in print in the title of "The Squire of Alsatia", a 1688 play written byThomas Shadwell (?1642–1692).The name was used into the 20th century as a term for a ramshackle marketplace, "protected by ancient custom and the independence of their patrons".
As of 2007, the word is still in use among the English judiciary with the meaning of a place where the law cannot reach: "In setting up the Serious Organised Crime Agency, the state has set out to create an Alsatia - a region of executive action free of judicial oversight," Lord Justice Sedley in UMBS v SOCA 2007 [http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article2586539.ece] .
External links
* [http://80.1911encyclopedia.org/S/SA/SANCTUARY.htm 1911 Encyclopaedia article on "sanctuary" includes details of Alsatia]
* [http://philobiblion.blogspot.com/2004/12/new-old-words.html Use of the term in a 1952 novel]
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