Canadian State Trials, Volume II : Rebellion and Invasion in the Canadas, 1837-1839

This second volume of the Canadian State Trials series focuses on the largest state security crisis in 19th century Canada: the rebellions of 1837-1838 and associated patriot invasions in Upper and Lower Canada (Ontario and Québec). Historians have long debated the causes and implications of the rebellions, but until now have done remarkably little work on the legal aspects of the insurrections and their aftermath. Given that over 350 men were tried for treason or equivalent offences in connection with the rebellions, this volume is long overdue. The essays collected here, written by prominent Canadian historians, legal scholars, and archivists, break new ground in the existing historiography of the rebellions by presenting the first comprehensive examination of the legal dimensions of the crises. In addition to examining trials and court martial proceedings, the essays examine their political, social, and comparative contexts, including the passage of emergency legislation and executive supervision of legal responses, the treatment of women, and the plight of political convicts transported to the Australian penal colonies. Canadian State Trials, Volume Two contributes significantly to the ongoing reassessment of the rebellion period. And incompetent justice : Legal responses to the 1885 Crisis [North-West Rebellions] / Bob Beal and B. Wright -- Another look at the Riel Trial for Treason [Louis Riel] / J.M. Bumstead -- The White Man governs. : The 1885 Indian trials [Indians, First Nation, Aboriginal or Native peoples] / Bill Waiser -- [Securing the dominion] -- High-handed, impolite, and empire-breaking actions : radicalism, anti-imperialism and political policing in Canada, 1860-1914 / Andrew Parnaby, Gregory S. Kealey with Kirk Niergarth -- Codification, public order and the security provisions of the Canadian Criminal Code, 1892 / Desmond H. Brown, B. Wright -- Appendices : Sir John A. Macdonald Fonds ; Archival Sources in Canada for Riel's Rebellion