Magistrates, Police and People: Everyday Criminal Justice in Quebec and Lower Canada, 1764-1837
by Donald Fyson, Professor of History, Universite Laval.
Published for the Osgoode Society by the University of Toronto Press. 2006
Cost:$45.00
Student price $20.00
Read review(s)
Return to 2004-2008 book list
Description
This book is a study of everyday criminal justice in Quebec and Lower Canada between the Conquest and the Rebellions, concentrating on the justices of the peace and the police. The first half explores the criminal justice system itself: the transfer and adaptation of English criminal law and courts, the appointment and character of the magistracy, and the police. The second half presents an overview of everyday criminal justice in operation. Prof. Fyson argues that neither the Conquest nor the Rebellions represented radical breaks with the past. There was considerable continuity despite the Conquest, both in structures and in personnel. Conversely, state formation was well underway before the Rebellions, responding to the demographic, social and economic changes that swept the colony. Criminal law and the criminal justice system were modified to suit local circumstances, and the magistracy and the police, became increasingly professionalized. The relationship between the people and the system also changed dramatically across the period. This is perhaps best exemplified by the steady increase in the rate of criminal prosecution. From being relatively marginal, local criminal justice became increasingly used by both the Canadien and British populations of the colony, especially in urban areas.
Reviews
An excellent text which should prove of interest to historians, lawyers and judges from across the country.... In particular I commend the second half of the book in which attention is drawn to the actual operation of the everyday legal system of criminal justice.... [Fyson] has succeeded in teaching judges a great deal about the very nature of dispensing justice. Justice Gilles Renaud, Provincial Judges Journal, vol 29, 2007
