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. |
From inside the book
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... ruled or tried to rule Ireland for centuries before there was a Great Britain , and the laws that the English imposed upon the Irish were not always the same as the laws the English made for themselves . The most important figures in ...
... British constitution , the lesson of Ireland was not irrelevant to the American constitutional argument . After all ... rule in Ireland was the most dangerous signal of all . If the American Whigs were determined to make a constitutional ...
... Britain , the rebels of Ireland turned to a different history to explain theirs . They turned to the history of British rule in Ireland ; a history that colonial whigs also bore in mind . The history of Ireland was the history of an ...
... rule . But the type of rebellion that they waged and its causes were bound ... British whigs to Parliament's encroachments on American rights . When Adams ... British whiggery . " Is not this perfect Despotism ?, " he asked , " What can ...
... British had done " there " they might yet do " here . ” 40 The Americans were attentive , and most were sympathetic ... rule in Ireland , even more of British imperial rule in America . Bernard wanted the government of Massachusetts Bay ...
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 |