White Man's Law: Native People in Ninteenth-Century Canadian Jurisprudence

David Mardiros is a lawyer and anthropological consultant in Terrace,
British Columbia.

While a book on Canadian law pronounced over 100 years ago might seem to
have only passing relevance to the present, in the developing area of
aboriginal law, law and history are intertwined in a complex and
sometimes confusing way. Recent Supreme Court of Canada cases concerning
Native rights have depended on the consideration of complex arguments
about the historical relationships between aboriginal and nonaboriginal
peoples. The time frames at issue have ranged from slightly more than
100 years (in the Delgamuuk’s case) to more than 300 years (in the
Marshall case). The 19th century was a particularly important time in
the course of the development of those relationships that continue to be
at issue today, and this book provides a useful compilation of major
developments from all regions of the country.

Aside from legal history, White Man’s Law contains considerable
social comment on the times—the discussion of the “wendigo”
murders that occurred in northwestern Ontario and the trials that
followed the North-West Rebellion particularly stand out in this regard.
While the author’s gloss on the cases presented can sometimes be
criticized, he always provides enough contextual references to allow
readers to research the situation on their own. Overall, Harring
provides a useful summary of the history of Native affairs in Canada
over a 100-year period and, through abundant references, he also
provides easy access to the extensive literature on the topic.
Stylistically, the author is to be commended on the way that he
restricts much of the detailed and extraneous information to footnotes.
This approach renders the book much more appealing to a general
readership by not breaking the flow of the narrative—a narrative that
must move sharply along to cover the legal and historical territory.