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Law Legal History

Magistrates, Police, and People

Everyday Criminal Justice in Quebec and Lower Canada, 1764-1837

by (author) Donald Fyson

Publisher
University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division
Initial publish date
Dec 2006
Category
Legal History
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780802092236
    Publish Date
    Dec 2006
    List Price
    $89.00
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781487597344
    Publish Date
    Dec 2006
    List Price
    $53.00

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Where to buy it

Out of print

This edition is not currently available in bookstores. Check your local library or search for used copies at Abebooks.

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.

About the author

Donald Fyson is a professor in the Department of Historical Sciences at l’Université Laval.

Donald Fyson's profile page

Awards

  • Winner, Prix Lionel-Groulx from the Instut d'histoire de l'Amerique française
  • Winner, Clio Award - Quebec Region - Canadian Historical Society
  • Commended, Sir John A. MacDonald Prize
  • Winner, Canadian Law and Society Association Book Prize (English)
  • Winner, James Willard Hurst Prize - Law and Society Association