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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... executive proclamations, judicial titles, and ceremonial tunes but one contrast—the official stationed in Ireland would more likely be English, or perhaps Scots, than would his counterpart in America. This difference tells us more than ...
... executive proclamations , judicial titles , and ceremonial tunes but one contrast — the official stationed in Ireland would more likely be English , or perhaps Scots , than would his counterpart in America . This difference tells us ...
... executive power into near impotence . Perhaps " power " is not the word to describe the Massachusetts executive . The Irish comparison with the American colonies is nowhere more striking than in the contrast of executive authority . The ...
... executive power.11 " I would give it as my Opinion , " Bernard concluded , " that if He [ the king ] cannot secure to himself the Appointment of the Council , it is not worth while to keep that of the Governor . For it would be better ...
... executive hopes to act as a chief executive should , to give orders , not receive them . The truths of American constitutional law were a rude awakening for the profligate official as well as for the unselfish patriot . When Governor ...
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 |