Legal Histories of the British Empire Las, Engagements and Legacies [Hardcover]

This book is a major contribution to our understanding of the role played by law(s) in the British Empire. Using a variety of interdisciplinary approaches, the authors provide in-depth analyses which shine new light on the role of law in creating the people and places of the British Empire. Ranging from the United States, through Calcutta, across Australasia to the Gold Coast, these essays seek to investigate laws central place in the British Empire, and the role of its agents in embedding British rule and culture in colonial territories.

One of the first collections to provide a sustained engagement with the legal histories of the British Empire, in particular beyond the settler colonies, this work aims to encourage further scholarship and new approaches to the writing of the histories of that Empire. Legal Histories of the British Empire: Laws, Engagements and Legacieswill be of value not only to legal scholars and graduate students, but of interest to all of those who want to know more about the laws in and of the British Empire.

Notes on Contributors Chapter One Laws, Engagements, and Legacies: the Legal Histories of the British Empire An Introduction, Shaunnagh Dorsett and John McLaren, Part I  Framing Empire: People and Institutions, Chapter Two Navigating the Scylla of Imperial Politico-Legal Aspirations and Charybdis of Colonial Micro-Politics in the British Empire: The Case of the Judges, John McLaren, Chapter Three Asserting Judicial Sovereignty: The Debate over the Abolition of Privy Council Jurisdiction in British Africa, Bonny Ibhawoh, Chapter Four Law, Culture and History: Amir Alis Interpretation of Islamic Tradition, Nandini Chatterjee, Chapter Five A Judicial Maverick: John Gorrie at Large in the Victorian Empire, Bridget Brereton, Part II  Laws Chapter Six Benjamin Knowles v. Rex: Judging Murder, Race and Respecl“2