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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... common law.” 2 This comment, dated from the town of Lisburn in the North of Ireland during July 1972, undoubtedly reflects the sentiments of many other British army officers who, during the first three decades following the Second World ...
... Law. It is institutions we should compare, yet we must never forget that men administered those institutions. An ... common denominator is not there. The law flows from the same source, it takes the same form, yet it serves a different ...
... common law . " 2 This comment , dated from the town of Lisburn in the North of Ireland during July 1972 , undoubtedly reflects the sentiments of many other British army officers who , during the first three decades following the Second ...
... law and the conditions of law that made the difference . By the " conditions " of law is meant not merely ... common law whose writs ran in Wales and Ireland as well as in the former kingdom of England . They were lamenting the ...
... common law . Their counterparts in eighteenth - century North America were also restrained , and by the same common law , yet they would not have sympathized with their brother officers in Ireland — neither then nor now . For those ...
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 |