Criminal La and Colonial Subject [Paperback]

This book looks at how the practice of law developed in early New South Wales.What did ordinary people understand by guilt, suspicion, evidence and the term offense ? This book explores the relationship of a colonial people with English law and looks at the way in which the practice of law developed among the ordinary population.What did ordinary people understand by guilt, suspicion, evidence and the term offense ? This book explores the relationship of a colonial people with English law and looks at the way in which the practice of law developed among the ordinary population.This book explores the relationship of a colonial people with English law and looks at the way in which the practice of law developed among the ordinary population. Paula Jane Byrne traces the boundaries among property, sexuality and violence, drawing from court records, dispositions and proceedings. She asks: What did ordinary people understand by guilt, suspicion, evidence and the term offense ? She illuminates the values and beliefs of the emerging colonial consciousness and the complexity of power relations in the colony. The book reconstructs the legal process with great tetail and richness and is able to evoke the everyday lives of people in the colonial NSW.Author's note; Acknowledgements; Abbreviations; List of figures; List of tables; 1. Introduction; Part I. Law and the Person: 2. Labour; 3. The house; 4. The body; Part II. Offence in the Wilderness: 5. The creation of bushranging; Part III. Suspicious Characters: Police and People: 6. The structure and style of policing; 7. Popular use of law; Part IV. The Court Room: 8. Deciding what was good and bad; 9. Conclusion; Appendix; Bibliography; Index. Those who seek historical treatment of crime will surely welcome this book, both because it illuminates a little known area of history and because it is based on primary source material. Nancy Wolfe, The Criminologist Her methodology and conclusions should interest a broad speclÃ,