| dc.contributor.author | Brown, R. Blake. | en_US |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2014-10-21T12:36:00Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2005 | |
| dc.date.issued | 2005 | en_US |
| dc.identifier.other | AAINR08406 | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10222/54736 | |
| dc.description | This dissertation examines reforms to jury systems in Nova Scotia and Upper Canada between 1825 and 1867. In this period, citizens debated fiercely the merits and roles of juries, and legislators in the two colonies passed a series of jury acts. This dissertation contributes to the historiographies addressing legal culture in British North America, state formation at mid-century, the expansion and impact of liberal principles, and the effect of responsible government and political 'parties' on the justice system. | en_US |
| dc.description | Juries served as a nexus between law and politics in the mid-nineteenth century. Nova Scotia and Upper Canada received from England the belief that juries acted as the protector of individual freedom from state oppression. However, local conditions affected the relative popularity of juries. Citizens complained continuously about the inconvenience of jury duty, and many citizens avoided acting as jurors and called for limits on the frequency of jury service. | en_US |
| dc.description | Nova Scotia and Upper Canada created complex jury selection systems, but Upper Canada proved more adept at implementing new jury structures. Upper Canada established methods of data collection and reporting that helped ensure uniform application. In comparison, Nova Scotia failed to guarantee that officials followed new jury acts, in part because the colony relied on the administrative tools of the ancien regime---magistrates and sheriffs---to carry out jury legislation. | en_US |
| dc.description | By the mid-nineteenth century, many citizens, inspired by the liberal spirit of the age, believed that the justice system had to be accessible and certain. They accused jurors of possessing local biases that made jury decisions unpredictable. They advocated legal systematization and the careful application of 'scientific' legal rules, and felt that jurors, untrained in the law, were unable to apply legal principles impartially. | en_US |
| dc.description | Political parties became an accepted aspect of political life in this period, and reformers demanded 'responsible government.' As the colonies divided into political camps, patronage ensured that every office became a spoil for the winner of provincial elections. As a result, politics seeped its way into the justice system, including the jury system. Every trial could thus easily become a 'political' trial in mid-nineteenth century British North America. This was especially important because of the rapid growth of the press in this period. Freedom of the press required that newspaper publishers have some liberty from libel suits. Charges of jury packing were especially prevalent in such libel cases, and thus jury reforms had special importance to the development of liberal democracy in British North America. | en_US |
| dc.description | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Dalhousie University (Canada), 2005. | en_US |
| dc.language | eng | en_US |
| dc.publisher | Dalhousie University | en_US |
| dc.publisher | | en_US |
| dc.subject | History, Canadian. | en_US |
| dc.subject | Law. | en_US |
| dc.title | The jury, politics, and the state in British North America: Reforms to jury systems in Nova Scotia and Upper Canada, 1825--1867. | en_US |
| dc.type | text | en_US |
| dc.contributor.degree | Ph.D. | en_US |
