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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... admiralty jurisdiction—that the British government created to enforce certain imperial statutes. The vice admiralty was not a substitute but an alternative for the colonial judicial system, having cognizance only over a few areas of ...
... admiralty was not a substitute but an alternative for the colonial judicial system , having cognizance only over a few areas of imperial law in which American judges had demonstrated marked and persistent hostility . We learn something ...
... admiralty court , the most important imperial tribunal on the continent . It had been created to avoid hostile juries in the old colonies and located in Halifax , Nova Scotia , a garrison and naval town , to be free of political ...
... admiralty for over twenty years , never living in Nova Scotia , but collecting the salary , perhaps as a pension or reward for his loyalty to the crown . Surely this private - privilege attitude toward public office affected ...
... admiralty has written , " had long been a defensive weapon at the disposal of aggrieved merchants . " 2 During the 1760s the civil jury became an offensive weapon as well . Common - law judgments in civil ( not criminal ) cases were ...
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 |