Magistrates, Police, and People: Everyday Criminal Justice in Quebec and Lower Canada, 1764-1837 [Hardcover]

Donald Fyson (Author)

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Product Details

Hardcover: 464 pages
Publisher: University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division; 1 edition (Dec 16 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0802092233
ISBN-13: 978-0802092236
Product Dimensions: 2.3 x 1.6 x 0.4 cm
Shipping Weight: 794 g
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #71,710 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #31 in Books > Law > Perspectives on Law > Legal History
- #31 in Books > Professional & Technical > Law > Perspectives on Law > Legal History
- #45 in Books > History > Americas > Canada > Province & Local

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Product Description

The role and function of criminal justice in a conquered colony is always problematic, and the case of Quebec is no exception. Many historians have suggested that, between the Conquest and the Rebellions (1760s-1830s), Quebec's 'Canadien' inhabitants both boycotted and were excluded from the British criminal justice system. Magistrates, Police, and People challenges this simplistic view of the relationship between criminal law and Quebec society, offering instead a fresh view of a complex accord.

Based on extensive research in judicial and official sources, Donald Fyson offers the first comprehensive study of the everyday workings of criminal justice in Quebec and Lower Canada. Focussing on the justices of the peace and their police, Fyson examines both the criminal justice system itself, and the system in operation as experienced by those who participated in it. Fyson contends that, although the system was fundamentally biased, its flexibility provided a source of power for ordinary citizens. At the same time, everyday criminal justice offered the colonial state and colonial elites a powerful, though often faulty, means of imposing their will on Quebec society. This fascinating and controversial study will challenge many received historical interpretations, providing new insight into the criminal justice system of early Quebec.