Law, Society, and the State: Essays in Modern Legal History

Henri R. Pallard is a professor of law and justice and Laurentian
University.

This collection of papers, originally presented at a conference in 1992,
is divided into four parts: “The Colonial Legal Experience,”
“Disorder, Dissent and the State,” “Gender and the Law,” and
“Archival Sources in Legal History.” In each section, one finds
papers from several jurisdictions; for example, in Part 1, papers
discuss issues emanating from Canada, England, Newfoundland, Trinidad,
and Hong Kong. Each paper deals with a different issue that really has
no intrinsic relationship to the others within the same section, and the
timeframes within which they treat their subject matter are quite
disparate. Furthermore, it is difficult to understand the relationship
that exists between the four sections.

The papers do make new material available to readers and do provide
them with an opportunity to compare the approaches used by Canadian
scholars with those used by scholars in other common law jurisdictions.
On a stand alone basis, the papers are very good.

While the papers in Parts 1, 2, and 3 are grouped together by themes,
those in Part 4 touch upon research methodology. Traditionally, Canadian
legal history has relied upon materials found in government archives,
case reports, or statute books. Legal historians are now examining other
sources, such as law firms. However, professional codes of ethics that
require lawyers to respect client confidentiality severely limit access
to these private legal materials. This volume is perhaps the first in
Canada to take up the problems associated with this type of research,
and it is here that it makes the best contribution.