Trial of Lord George Gordon

[1] The crowd of protesters fragmented and began looting nearby buildings; by the time the riots had finished a week later, 300 had died.

However, an impassioned speech by Erskine, which argued that Gordon's actions were only crimes under the illegally extended law of constructive treason, led to the jury finding him not guilty.

Erskine became renowned as an excellent, albeit unorthodox, advocate; Gordon, on the other hand, was later excommunicated and imprisoned, dying in jail in 1793.

[4] The 1778 Act explicitly removed the bans on saying mass, land inheritance or academic standing, and involved several other implicit concessions, made to encourage Catholics to serve in the military.

[10] His indictment stated that he "most wickedly, maliciously, and traitorously did ordain, prepare, and levy public war against our said lord, the King".

[12] Gordon retained two barristers for his defence, Thomas Erskine and Lloyd Kenyon, and was arraigned by the Attorney General before Lord Mansfield in the Court of King's Bench on 5 February 1781, pleading not guilty.

[13] The Attorney General opened, managing to accidentally reduce the evidence of some of his own witnesses to ridicule; this was offset by Kenyon's confusing and poor speech in Gordon's defence.

[15] The verdict was received with pleasure by the majority of the populace, with the principle of constructive treason "widely regarded as highly threatening and injurious to public freedoms".