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

2005

Prince Edward Island, Private law (incl. Land - Other Property and Inheritance), Courts, Case Studies

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

Two Islands will be welcomed by those interested in Canadian legal history, and those interested in the social, cultural, and political histories of Newfoundland and P.E.I. R. Blake Brown, Dalhousie Law Journal, Vol 31, 2008, p. 463.

This collection of historical essays should disabuse political scientists of any idea that the judicialization of politics and the politicalization of the judiciary are strictly contemporary phenomena.... [I]t is important to understand that judicial power has been an enduring feature in political societies founded on the English tradition of governance. This book helps us appreciate that this power can be as much a force for good as for ill.... Besides giving us many insights into the law and justice system of Canada’s island provinces, the volume provides useful accounts of their legal historiography – Christopher English writing on Newfoundland’s and J.M. Bumsted on Prince Edward Island’s. Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island may be Canada’s only two provinces without a law school, but this collection of essays by scholars, young and old, from a variety of disciplines, show that these provinces do not lack a talented legal academy. Peter H. Russell, Law and Politics Book Review, Vol 16, 2006, p. 536.

Two Islands... signals the arrival of Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island into the field of Canadian legal history. While there remains more to be done in elaborating and expanding our legal historical understanding of those two islands and their peoples, these future enquiries can be founded on an essay collection that successfully provides compelling examples of the quality scholarship that can be produced. Jonathon Swainger, Newfoundland and Labrador Studies, Vol 23, 2008, p. 263.

This collection of essays spans the legal history of two colonies of the British Empire, Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island, from the eighteenth century to the middle of the twentieth century. In both jurisdictions, legal history is a relatively new topic of interest, not yet a field.... [T]he authors of these essays are opening up previously unexamined avenues of dialogue....[T]his volume contributes to our understanding of the law's place in ...key social developments.... Nearly all of [the essays]... set out specific instances in which British common law and imperial statutes are modified by local practice. Jeff A. Webb, American Journal of Legal History, Vol 48, 2006, p. 233.

Reviews have also appeared in the following publications:

• Sean Cadigan, Canadian Historical Review, Vol 27, 2006, p. 695

Christopher English

Dr. English was a Professor in the Department of History at Memorial University in Newfoundland, with a focus on legal history. In 1997 he created and served as Coordinator of the Interdisciplinary Minor Program in Law and Society at Memorial University. He is now an Honorary Research Professor in the Department of History at Memorial…. Read more »