2. Housebreaking and burglary were crimes of a different nature
Several parameters had to be met before a crime could be presented to the courts as a burglary during the early Regency. The crime had to occur in the dark of night, between 9 PM and 6 AM the following day. It had to include forcible entry, even if the miscreant used a skeleton key to open a lock. Theft had to occur, a hasty departure without loot removed the charge of burglary, and rendered it a simple trespass. The premises had to be occupied at the time of the illegal entry, by the legal tenants of the property, servants not included. The enterprising thief who stole the dead Scrooge’s nightshirt and bed curtains during his vision of the future thus did not commit burglary, since Scrooge was dead at the time. Instead, that woman committed the crime of housebreaking, as well as theft.
Housebreaking did not carry the same stigma, nor penalty, as the more dangerous burglary, since it did not endanger the lives of the tenants, at least in theory. Both crimes applied to buildings used for commercial purposes as well as private homes and boarding houses. A person who broke into a closed printer’s shop, with no one present, and stole property, committed the crime of housebreaking. Professional criminals often employed young boys to commit illegal entry, using their agility and size to enter buildings through narrow windows, coal chutes, and even chimneys. Bill Sykes forced Oliver Twist to abet a crime in just such a manner. Detectives investigating illegal entries often concluded a boy had helped the criminal commit the break-in, before steadily increasing evidence indicated that other nefarious means were involved in the crime.