Law, life, and government at Red River. settlement and governance, 1812-1872 Volume 1

Gibson, Dale. (Author). Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History. (Issuing body).

Summary: Inhabited by a diverse population of First Nations peoples, Métis, Scots, Upper and Lower Canadians, and Americans, and dominated by the commercial and governmental activities of the Hudson’s Bay Company, Red River - now Winnipeg - was a challenging settlement to oversee. This illuminating account presents the story of the unique legal and governmental system that attempted to do so and the mixed success it encountered, culminating in the 1869-70 Red River Rebellion and confederation with Canada in 1870. In Law, Life, and Government at Red River, Dale Gibson provides rich, revealing glimpses into the community, and its complex relations with the Hudson’s Bay Company, which was the colony’s owner, and primary employer. Volume 1 details the history of the settlement’s establishment, development, and ambivalent relationship with the legal and undemocratic, as well as ways in which more representative governmental institutions gradually and grudgingly formed in the area, and how the legal system’s engagement with the Aboriginal population evolved.

Record details

ISBN: 9780773545229
Physical Description: xxi, 549 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm.
Publisher: Montreal, QC : McGill-Queens University Press; 2015.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographic references and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

Origins, 1670-1821 -- Colony without court, 1822-34 -- Court without judge, 1835-38 -- Judge without experience, 1838-44 -- Recorder Thom at his peak, 1844-48 -- Court compromised, recorder dethroned, 1848-54 -- Scrutiny, growth, uncertainty, 1855-60 -- Upheaval abroad, slow progress at home, 1861-65 -- Confederation and insurrection, 1866-69 -- Governing provisionally, 1870 -- Provincehood, 1870-72 -- Was justice served? 1835-69.