In a Defiant Stance: The Conditions of Law in Massachusetts Bay, the Irish Comparison, and the Coming of the American RevolutionThe minimum of violence accompanying the success of the American Revolution resulted in large part, argues this book, from the conditions of law the British allowed in the American colonies. By contrast, Ireland's struggle for independence was prolonged, bloody, and bitter largely because of the repressive conditions of law imposed by Britain. Examining the most rebellious American colony, Massachusetts Bay, Professor Reid finds that law was locally controlled while imperial law was almost nonexistent as an influence on the daily lives of individuals. In Ireland the same English common law, because of imperial control of legal machinery, produced an opposite result. The Irish were forced to resort to secret, underground violence. The author examines various Massachusetts Bay institutions to show the consequences of whig party control, in contrast to the situation in 18th-century Ireland. A general conclusion is that law, the conditions of positive law, and the matter of who controls the law may have more significant effects on the course of events than is generally assumed. |
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... American Revolution John P. Reid. 1. In. the. Very. Face. of. Government1. The. American. Comparison. were As the British Empire recedes toward its final days, its last gasps have a way of conjuring echoes from a grander past. “The British ...
... American Revolution John P. Reid. conditions controlling that law, not its rules, its maxims, or its principles. A glance at the judicial system reveals the imperial weakness. In Ireland all courts were controlled by the British ...
... American Revolution John P. Reid. Contents 1 In the Very Face of Government The American Comparison 2 It Signifies Little Who Is Governor The Locus of Law 3 Source from Whence the Clamors Flow The Conditions of Law 17 4 Democracy Is Too ...
... American Revolution John P. Reid. 2. It. Signifies. Little. Who. Is. Governor. 1. The. Locus. of. Law. It is institutions we should compare, yet we must never forget that men administered those institutions. An imperial official in ...
... American Revolution John P. Reid. 1 In the Very Face of Government THE AMERICAN COMPARISON is the British Empire recedes toward its final days , its last gasps have a way if conjuring echoes from a grander past . " The British military ...
Contents
1 | |
7 | |
17 | |
27 | |
Juries Lie Open to Management The Uses of the Grand Jury | 41 |
In Defiance of the Threats The Criminal Traverse Jury | 55 |
Unless Laws Are Enforced The Legitimacy of Whig Law | 65 |
By Consent of the Council The Import of Local Control | 74 |
Disjointed and Independent of Each Other The Conditions of Imperial Law | 100 |
The Government They Have Set Up The Emergence of Whig Government | 118 |
The Oppression of Centuries The Irish Comparison | 135 |
A Most Dreadful Ruin The Legal Mind of BritishRuled Ireland | 143 |
To Effect a Revolution The Execution of Imperial Law | 150 |
Enforced by Mobs The Rule of Law | 160 |
Notes | 174 |
Acknowledgments | 219 |
The Seeds of Anarchy The Execution of Whig Law | 85 |
The Same Leaven with the People The Legal Mind of the American Whig | 92 |
Index | 220 |