<sod>As Lord Chief Justice,  Scroggs presided at the trial of the persons denounced by [[Titus Oates]] and other informers for complicity in the fabricated  "[[Popish Plot]]", and he treated these prisoners with characteristic violence and brutality, overwhelming them with sarcasm and abuse while on their trial, and taunting them when sentencing them to death. So careless was he of the rights of the accused that at one trial he admitted to the jury during his summing-up  that he had forgotten much of the evidence.<ref>Kenyon pp.184-5- Kenyon  points out that a  judge's summing-up was then something of an ordeal since there was no facility for taking notes, so that the judge had to rely entirely on his memory of the evidence.</ref> In fairness to Scroggs, he  seems to have been a sincere believer in the existence of the Plot, along with much of the general public and Parliament, but he did nothing to test the credibility of witnesses like Oates, [[William Bedloe]], [[Miles Prance]] and [[Thomas Dangerfield]], even though he knew well that Bedloe and Dangerfield were leading figures in the criminal underworld, and he  probably  also knew  that Prance had made his confession only after a  threat of [[torture]]. Another leading informer, [[Stephen  Dugdale ]] was a case apart as he was  a man of good social standing, "sense and temper", with  "something in his manner which disposed  people to  believe him", and Scroggs can be excused for finding his  evidence  credible.<eod>
<sod>As Lord Chief Justice,  Scroggs presided at the trial of the persons denounced by [[Titus Oates]] and other informers for complicity in the fabricated  "[[Popish Plot]]", and he treated these prisoners with characteristic violence and brutality, overwhelming them with sarcasm and abuse while on their trial, and taunting them when sentencing them to death. So careless was he of the rights of the accused that at one trial he admitted to the jury during his summing-up  that he had forgotten much of the evidence.<ref>Kenyon pp.184-5- Kenyon  points out that a  judge's summing-up was then something of an ordeal since there was no facility for taking notes, so that the judge had to rely entirely on his memory of the evidence.</ref> In fairness to Scroggs, he  seems to have been a sincere believer in the existence of the Plot, along with much of the general public and Parliament, but he did nothing to test the credibility of witnesses like Oates, [[William Bedloe]], [[Miles Prance]] and [[Thomas Dangerfield]], even though he knew well that Bedloe and Dangerfield were leading figures in the criminal underworld, and he  probably  also knew  that Prance had made his confession only after a  threat of [[torture]]. Another leading informer, [[Stephen  Dugdale ]] was a case apart as he was  a man of good social standing, "sense and temper", with  "something in his manner which disposed  people to  believe him", and Scroggs can be excused for finding his  evidence  credible, at least in the early stages of the Plot.<eod>