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UBC Theses and Dissertations
The 1838-1839 courts-martial of patriotes in Lower Canada : were they "constitutional"? Thorburn, Mark Allen
Abstract
The thesis primarily examines the legality of the courtsmartial that followed the 1838-1839 rebellion in Lower Canada against the contemporary principles of British jurisprudence and concludes that Sir John Colborne, the acting governor of the colony, and others within the governing political elite of Lower Canada exceeded their authority and violated the British Constitution in order to obtain convictions and executions of Patriotes for the purpose of satisfying their perception of justice and to deter another rebellion. The paper also concludes that what happened in Lower Canada is an example of the "law" being created by one or more of society's segments in favour of the interest of the dominant class or groups over the rest of society. Furthermore, fundamental legal rights are tossed aside when they are deemed an impediment by the dominant class or groups and the rule of law will only prevail when those in authority feel secure from serious threats. The work looks at the nature of law, its social contexts, and its relationship to power. It also discusses the history of the prohibition in Great Britain against the court-martial of civilians, the entitlement of British colonists and the inhabitants of "conquered colonies" to the legal rights of British subjects, and the use of courts-martial in the early nineteenth century in Upper Canada, South Africa, and the British Caribbean. All of the materials used herein were found in the University of British Columbia's Main Library, Law Library, and Sedgewick Library.
Item Metadata
Title |
The 1838-1839 courts-martial of patriotes in Lower Canada : were they "constitutional"?
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Creator | |
Publisher |
University of British Columbia
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Date Issued |
1996
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Description |
The thesis primarily examines the legality of the courtsmartial that followed the 1838-1839 rebellion in Lower Canada against the contemporary principles of British jurisprudence and concludes that Sir John Colborne, the acting governor of the colony, and others within the governing political elite of Lower Canada exceeded their authority and violated the British
Constitution in order to obtain convictions and executions of Patriotes for the purpose of satisfying their perception of justice and to deter another rebellion. The paper also concludes that what happened in Lower Canada is an example of the "law" being created by one or more of society's segments
in favour of the interest of the dominant class or groups over the rest of society. Furthermore, fundamental legal rights
are tossed aside when they are deemed an impediment by the dominant class or groups and the rule of law will only prevail
when those in authority feel secure from serious threats. The work looks at the nature of law, its social contexts,
and its relationship to power. It also discusses the history of the prohibition in Great Britain against the court-martial
of civilians, the entitlement of British colonists and the inhabitants of "conquered colonies" to the legal rights of British subjects, and the use of courts-martial in the early nineteenth century in Upper Canada, South Africa, and the British Caribbean. All of the materials used herein were found in the University of British Columbia's Main Library, Law Library,
and Sedgewick Library.
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Extent |
4311357 bytes
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Genre | |
Type | |
File Format |
application/pdf
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Language |
eng
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Date Available |
2009-03-14
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Provider |
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
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Rights |
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.
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DOI |
10.14288/1.0058178
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URI | |
Degree | |
Program | |
Affiliation | |
Degree Grantor |
University of British Columbia
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Graduation Date |
1996-11
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Campus | |
Scholarly Level |
Graduate
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Aggregated Source Repository |
DSpace
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Item Media
Item Citations and Data
Rights
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.