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Essays in the History of Canadian Law, Volume II

1983

Edited by David H. Flaherty.  Published with the University of Toronto Press, 1983.

This volume, containing nine essays, is the second of two designed to illustrate the wide possibilities for research and writing in Canadian legal history. Topics covered include: the role of the civil courts in Upper Canada; legal education; political corruption; nineteenth-century Canadian rape law; the Toronto Police Court; the Kamloops outlaws and commissions of assize in nineteenth-century British Columbia; private rights and public purposes in Ontario waterways; the origins of workers’ compensation in Ontario; and the evolution of Ontario courts. In combination, these two volumes of essays reflect the wide-ranging scope of legal history as an intellectual discipline and will encourage others to pursue important avenues of inquiry on all aspects of our legal past.

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

From almost every standpoint it is an exceptional accomplishment. The mature scholarship in this volume testifies again to the careful and insistent hand of editor Flaherty. Bradley Adams, Ontario History, Vol 20, 1982.
Every effort has been made to discuss legal problems in a manner that is both straightforward and comprehensible and to place these problems within their social context. Will Abbeah, Ontario Lawyers Weekly, December 1983.

Reviews have also appeared in the following publications:

  • Delloyd J. Guth, UBC Law Review, Vol 18, 1984, p. 407.
  • David Kettler, Journal of Canadian Studies, Vol 19, 1984, p. 150.
  • Albert Kiralfy, International and Comparative Law Quarterly, Vol 33, 1984, p. 506.
  • Russell K. Osgood, Law and History Review, Vol 2, 1984, p. 161.
  • Graham Parker, Archivaria, Vol 18, 1984, p. 277.
  • Paul Schabas, University of Toronto Faculty of Law Review, Vol 42, 1984, p. 126.
  • Allan Smith, Canadian Historical Review, Vol 65, 1984, p. 292.

David H. Flaherty

Between 1965 and 1999 David Flaherty taught at Princeton University, the University of Virginia, and, principally, the University of Western Ontario where he taught law and history. While at the University of Western Ontario (1972-1999), he was the first director of the Centre for American Studies. He is now a Professor Emeritus. David Flaherty has… Read more »

Contents:

Contents

Foreword
BRENDAN O’BRIEN, QC, and PETER N. OLIVER         vii

Preface                                                                                                 ix

Contributors                                                                                    xiii

1   Instruments of Commerce and Authority:
The Civil Courts in Upper Canada 1789-1812
WILLIAM N.T. WYLIE                                                                   3

2   Legal Education in Upper Canada 1785-1889:
The Law Society as Educator
G. BLAINE BAKER                                                                         49

3   ‘The Ten Thousand Pound Job’:
Political Corruption, Equitable Jurisdiction, and the
Public Interest in Upper Canada 1852-6
PAUL ROMNEY                                                                              143

4   Nineteenth-Century Canadian Rape Law 1800-92
CONSTANCE B. BACKHOUSE                                               200

5   Law and Ideology: The Toronto Police Court 1850-80
PAUL CRAVEN                                                                               248

6   The Kamloops Outlaws and Commissions of Assize
in Nineteenth-Century British Columbia
HAMAR FOSTER                                                                          308

7   Private Rights and Public Purposes in the Lakes, Rivers,
and Streams of Ontario 1870-1930
JAMIE BENIDICKSON                                                               365

8   ‘The Nuisance of Litigation’:
The Origins of Workers’ Compensation in Ontario
R.C.B. RISK                                                                                      418

9   The Evolution of the Ontario Courts 1788-1981
MARGARET A. BANKS                                                              492

Table of Cases                                                                                  573

Index                                                                                                    575