The transatlantic constitution: colonial legal culture and the empire / Mary Sarah Bilder

departing From Traditional Approaches To Colonial Legal History, Mary Sarah Bilder Argues That American Law And Legal Culture Developed Within The Framework Of An Evolving, Unwritten Transatlantic Constitution That Lawyers, Legislators, And Litigants On Both Sides Of The Atlantic Understood. The Central Tenet Of This Constitution—that Colonial Laws And Customs Could Not Be Repugnant To The Laws Of England But Could Diverge For Local Circumstances—shaped The Legal Development Of The Colonial World. focusing On Practices Rather Than Doctrines, Bilder Describes How The Pragmatic And Flexible Conversation About This Constitution Shaped Colonial Law: The Development Of The Legal Profession; The Place Of English Law In The Colonies; The Existence Of Equity Courts And Legislative Equitable Relief; Property Rights For Women And Inheritance Laws; Commercial Law And Currency Reform; And Laws Governing Religious Establishment. Using As A Case Study The Corporate Colony Of Rhode Island, Which Had The Largest Number Of Appeals Of Any Mainland Colony To The English Privy Council, She Reconstructs A Largely Unknown World Of Pre-constitutional Legal Culture. herbert A. Johnson - Journal Of American History this Study Of The British Imperial Constitution, Based Upon Extensive Research In English And American Archives, Is One Of The More Significant Recent Pieces Of Scholarship In This Area...mary Sarah Bilder Has Come To Some New Conclusions That Make This Short Volume Essential Reading For All Students Of Early America. Departing from traditional approaches to colonial legal history, Mary Sarah Bilder argues that American law and legal culture developed within the framework of an evolving, unwritten transatlantic constitution that lawyers, legislators, and litigants on both sides of the Atlantic understood. The central tenet of this constitution--that colonial laws and customs could not be repugnant to the laws of England but could diverge for local circumstances--shaped the legal development of the colonial world. Focusing on practices rather than doctrines, Bilder describes how the pragmatic and flexible conversation about this constitution shaped colonial law: the development of the legal profession; the place of English law in the colonies; the existence of equity courts and legislative equitable relief; property rights for women and inheritance laws; commercial law and currency reform; and laws governing religious establishment. Using as a case study the corporate colony of Rhode Island, which had the largest number of appeals of any mainland colony to the English Privy Council, she reconstructs a largely unknown world of pre-Constitutional legal culture Frontmatter Acknowledgments (page vii) A Note on Legal Terms (page xi) Introduction: The Transatlantic Constitution and the Colonial World (page 1) I THE TRANSATLANTIC LEGAL WORLD 1 Legal Practitioners and Legal Literates (page 15) 2 The Laws of England (page 31) 3 The Laws of Rhode Island (page 51) II TRANSATLANTIC LEGAL PRACTICE 4 The Transatlantic Appeal (page 73) 5 Women, Family, Property (page 91) 6 Personnel and Practices (page 116) III VISIONS OF THE TRANSATLANTIC CONSTITUTION 7 Religious Establishment and Orthodoxy (page 145) 8 Commerce and Currency (page 168) 9 The Transatlantic Constitution and the Nation (page 186) Notes (page 199) Index (page 283)