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Essays in the History of Canadian Law, Volume I

Edited by David H. Flaherty.  Published with the University of Toronto Press, 1981.

This volume, containing ten essays, was the first of two designed to illustrate the wide possibilities for research and writing in Canadian legal history and reflecting the current interests of those working in that area. Topics covered include historical aspects of company law, the law and the economy, legal reform in Ontario, custody law, the law of master and servant, the law of nuisance, origins of the Canadian Criminal Code, and women’s rights in Quebec. Professor Flaherty supplies an introduction to the writing of Canadian legal history and, with his contributors, provides an important building block on which a significant tradition of indigenous legal history in Canada has grown and flourished.

Reviews of Essays in the History of Canadian Law, Volume I

A valuable showcase for the impressive work currently being done in Canadian legal history, and a very extensive agenda of scholarship for the future. John McLaren, Canadian Bar Review, Vol 62, 1984, p. 707.
This collection will add considerably to the literature, and should stimulate students to approach the unanswered (and unasked) questions with increasingly valuable results.... The whole volume, and the society that supported its publication, will do much to foster the development of a sophisticated and comparative history of Canadian law. Douglas Hay, Canadian Historical Review, vol 64, 1983, p. 583.
An excellent collection of thoughtful and thought-provoking papers that firmly establishes Canadian legal history as a valuable field of study in need of considerable exploration. Paul Schabas, University of Toronto Faculty of Law Review, Vol 74, 1984, p. 74.

Reviews have also appeared in the following publications:

  • Bradley Adams, Ontario History, Vol X, 198X, p. 436.
  • D.G. Bell, University of New Brunswick Law Journal, Vol 33, 1984, p. 312.
  • Linda Kealey, Social History/Histoire Sociale, Vol 1, 1984, p. 475.
  • Albert Kiralfy, International and Comparative Law Quarterly, Vol 33, 1984, p. 506.
  • Russell K. Osgood, Law and History Review, Vol 2, 1984, p. 161
  • William Wylie, Labour/Le Travail, Vol 13, 1984, p. 202.
  • A.W.B. Simpson, University of Western Ontario Law Review, Vol 21, 1983, p. 195.
  • Brian Young, McGill Law Journal, Vol 29, 1983, p. 212.
  • David Kettler, Journal of Canadian Studies, Vol 18, 1983, p. 136.
  • Louis A.Knafla, American Journal of Legal History, Vol 27, 1983, p. 389.
  • W.H. McConnell, Saskatchewan Law Review, Vol 47, 1982-83, p. 389
  • H.R.S. Ryan, Queen’s Law Journal, Vol 8, 1982-83, p. 309.
  • American Historical Review, Vol 87, 1982,  p. 1515.
  • W. Laird Hunter, Canadian Law Information Council, Vol 1, 1982, p. 3.

David H. Flaherty

Between 1965 and 1999 David Flaherty taught at Princeton University, the University of Virginia, and, principally, the University of Western Ontario where he taught law and history. While at the University of Western Ontario (1972-1999), he was the first director of the Centre for American Studies. He is now a Professor Emeritus. David Flaherty has… Read more »

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Contents:

Contents

Foreword
BRENDAN O’BRIEN, QC, and PETER N. OLIVER ix

Preface xiii

Contributors xv

1 Writing Canadian Legal History: An Introduction
DAVID H. FLAHERTY 3

2 Hudson’s Bay Company Law:
Adam Thom and the Institution of Order in Rupert’s Land 1839-54
KATHRYN M. BINDON 43

3 The Law and the Economy in Mid-Nineteenth-Century Ontario:
A Perspective
R.C.B. RISK 88

4 William Hume Blake and the Judicature Acts of 1849:
The Process of Legal Reform at Mid-Century in Upper Canada
JOHN D. BLACKWELL 132

5 The Law of Master and Servant in Mid-Nineteenth-Century Ontario
PAUL CRAVEN 175

6 Shifting Patterns in Nineteenth-Century Canadian Custody Law
CONSTANCE B. BACKHOUSE 212

7 The Origins of the Canadian Criminal Code
GRAHAM PARKER 249

8 Judicial Conservatism in an Age of Innovation:
Comparative Perspectives on Canadian Nuisance Law 1880-1930
JENNIFER NEDELSKY 281

9 Quebec’s Legal Elite Looks at Women’s Rights:
The Dorion Commission 1929-31
JENNIFER STODDART 323

10 An Annotated Bibliography of Statutes and Related Publications:
Upper Canada, the Province of Canada, and Ontario 1792-1980
MARGARET A. BANKS 358

Table of Cases 405

Index 408