Essays in the History of Canadian Law, Volume I

Edited by David H. Flaherty.  Published with the University of Toronto Press, 1981.

This volume, containing ten essays, was the first of two designed to illustrate the wide possibilities for research and writing in Canadian legal history and reflecting the current interests of those working in that area. Topics covered include historical aspects of company law, the law and the economy, legal reform in Ontario, custody law, the law of master and servant, the law of nuisance, origins of the Canadian Criminal Code, and women’s rights in Quebec. Professor Flaherty supplies an introduction to the writing of Canadian legal history and, with his contributors, provides an important building block on which a significant tradition of indigenous legal history in Canada has grown and flourished.

Reviews of Essays in the History of Canadian Law, Volume I

A valuable showcase for the impressive work currently being done in Canadian legal history, and a very extensive agenda of scholarship for the future. John McLaren, Canadian Bar Review, Vol 62, 1984, p. 707.
This collection will add considerably to the literature, and should stimulate students to approach the unanswered (and unasked) questions with increasingly valuable results.... The whole volume, and the society that supported its publication, will do much to foster the development of a sophisticated and comparative history of Canadian law. Douglas Hay, Canadian Historical Review, vol 64, 1983, p. 583.
An excellent collection of thoughtful and thought-provoking papers that firmly establishes Canadian legal history as a valuable field of study in need of considerable exploration. Paul Schabas, University of Toronto Faculty of Law Review, Vol 74, 1984, p. 74.

Reviews have also appeared in the following publications:

  • Bradley Adams, Ontario History, Vol X, 198X, p. 436.
  • D.G. Bell, University of New Brunswick Law Journal, Vol 33, 1984, p. 312.
  • Linda Kealey, Social History/Histoire Sociale, Vol 1, 1984, p. 475.
  • Albert Kiralfy, International and Comparative Law Quarterly, Vol 33, 1984, p. 506.
  • Russell K. Osgood, Law and History Review, Vol 2, 1984, p. 161
  • William Wylie, Labour/Le Travail, Vol 13, 1984, p. 202.
  • A.W.B. Simpson, University of Western Ontario Law Review, Vol 21, 1983, p. 195.
  • Brian Young, McGill Law Journal, Vol 29, 1983, p. 212.
  • David Kettler, Journal of Canadian Studies, Vol 18, 1983, p. 136.
  • Louis A.Knafla, American Journal of Legal History, Vol 27, 1983, p. 389.
  • W.H. McConnell, Saskatchewan Law Review, Vol 47, 1982-83, p. 389
  • H.R.S. Ryan, Queen’s Law Journal, Vol 8, 1982-83, p. 309.
  • American Historical Review, Vol 87, 1982,  p. 1515.
  • W. Laird Hunter, Canadian Law Information Council, Vol 1, 1982, p. 3.