Essays in the History of Canadian Law: Two Islands, Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island

by Christopher English (Editor)

Overview

The study of Canadian legal history has seen a remarkable growth in the past decade, nowhere more so than in Atlantic Canada. Given its early settlement and some of the liberties taken with legal procedure there - as well as some creative interpretations of English law – the region is ripe for close study in the legal history field. This new collection examines that history on 'two islands:' Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island.

The essays examine legal themes, developments, and disputes, and offer a framework for comparing ways of administering justice through the courts in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The cases examined are particularly interesting for the light they throw on legal process and, especially, on the motives of the parties. Unlike in contemporary England and Upper Canada, the English precedents gave way to local needs as equitable regimes emerged that put family and community interests first, and treated all members of the family in ways tailored to their personal needs and circumstances.

This volume, which includes a number of essays examining women's legal status and access to the courts, is a comprehensive and fascinating examination of legal history in two Canadian provinces.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442658165
Publisher:	University of Toronto Press
Publication date:	12/15/2005
Series:	Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	438
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Christopher English is an Honorary Research Professor in the Department of History at Memorial.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Contributors

Introduction
CHRISTOPHER ENGLISH

Part One: Historiography

1. The Legal Historiography of Newfoundland
   CHRISTOPHER ENGLISH
2. The Legal Historiography of Prince Edward Island
   J.M. BUMSTED

Part Two: The Administration of Justice

1. Politics and the Administration of Justice on Early Prince Edward Island, 1769–1805
   J.M. BUMSTED
2. Surgeons and Criminal Justice in Eighteenth-Century Newfoundland
   JERRY BANNISTER
3. The Supreme Court on Circuit: Northern District, Newfoundland, 1826–33
   NINA JANE GOUDIE

Part Three: Property Law and Inheritance

1. Formal and Informal Law in Two New Lands: Land Law in Newfoundland and New South Wales under Francis Forbes
   BRUCE KERCHER AND JODIE YOUNG
2. Defining Property for Inheritance: The Chattels Real Act of 1834
   TRUDI JOHNSON
3. ‘The Duty of Every Man’: Intestacy Law and Family-Inheritance Practice in Prince Edward Island, 1828–1905
   MICHEL STAIRS

Part Four: Legal Status and Access to the Courts by Women

‘Now You Vagabond [W]hore I Have You’: Plebeian Women, Assault Cases, and Gender Relationships on the Southern Avalon, 1750–1860
WILLEEN L. KEOUGH

Women in the Courts of Placentia District, 1757–1823
KRISTA L. SIMON

‘Out of Date in a Good Many Respects’: The Legal Status and Judicial Treatment of Newfoundland Women, 1945–9
LAURA BROWN

Part Five: Litigation in Chancery and at Common Law

1. Bowley v. Cambridge: A Colonial Jarndyce and Jarndyce
   BAVID M. BULGER
2. The Judges Go to Court: The Cashin Libel Trial of 1947
   CHRISTOPHER ENGLISH

Index