The Common Law in Colonial America:Volume I: The Chesapeake and New England 1607-1660: Volume I: The Chesapeake and New England...
- ISBN-10
- 0195327284
- ISBN-13
- 9780195327281
- Category
- History
- Pages
- 216
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2008-08-05
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press, USA
- Author
- William E. Nelson
Description
William E. Nelson here proposes a new beginning in the study of colonial legal history. Examining all archival legal material for the period 1607-1776 and synthesizing existing scholarship in a four-volume series, The Common Law in Colonial America shows how the legal systems of Britain's thirteen North American colonies--initially established in response to divergent political, economic, and religious initiatives--slowly converged into a common American legal order that differed substantially from English common law.Drawing on groundbreaking and overwhelmingly in-depth research into local court records and statutes, the first volume explores how the law of the Chesapeake colonies--Virginia and Maryland--diverged sharply from the New England colonies--Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut, New Haven, Plymouth, and Rhode Island--and traces the roots of these dissimilarities from their initial settlement until approximately 1660. Nelson pointedly examines the disparate motives of the legal systems in the respective colonies as they dealt with religion, price and labor regulations, crimes, public morals, the status of women, and the enforcement of contractual obligations. He reveals how Virginians' zeal for profit led to a harsh legal framework that efficiently squeezed payment out of debtors and labor out of servants; whereas the laws of Massachusetts were primarily concerned with the preservation of local autonomy and the moral values of family-centered farming communities. The law in the other New England colonies, Nelson argues, gravitated towards the Massachusetts model, while Maryland's law, gravitated toward that of Virginia.Comprehensive, authoritative, and extensively researched, The Common Law in Colonial America, Volume 1: The Chesapeake and New England, 1607-1660 is the definitive resource on the beginnings of the common law and its evolution during this vibrant era in America's history. William E. Nelson here proposes a new beginning in the study of colonial legal history.
Get the book
Similar books
-
The Common Law in Colonial America: Volume I: The Chesapeake and New England 1607-1660
By William E. NelsonIn this first volume, Nelson explores how the law of the Chesapeake colonies--Virginia and Maryland--differed from the New England colonies--Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut, New Haven, Plymouth, and Rhode Island--and looks at the differences ...
-
The Common Law in Colonial America: Volume IV: Law and the Constitution on the Eve of Independence, 1735-1776
By William E. NelsonVolume IV: Law and the Constitution on the Eve of Independence, 1735-1776 William E. Nelson. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16 ... England Dissent, 1630–1833: The 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. Notes to pages 47–52 173.
-
The Common Law in Colonial America: The Chesapeake and New England, 1660-1750
By William Edward NelsonIn this four-volume series, the author shows how the legal systems of Britain's 13 North American colonies - initially established in response to divergent political, economic, and religious initiatives - slowly converged into a common ...
-
Law and Religion in Colonial America: The Dissenting Colonies
By Scott Douglas Gerber... Loyal PROTESTANTS AND DANGEROUS PAPISTS : MARYLAND AND THE POLITICS OF Religion in the ENGLISH ATLANTIC , 1630–1690 ( 2015 ) ( an explor- ation of the impact of trans - Atlantic politics on colonial Maryland ) . The Maryland Historical ...
-
Making Legal History: Essays in Honor of William E. Nelson
By R. B. Bernstein, Daniel J. HulseboschThe Fourteenth Amendment: From Political Principle to Judicial Doctrine (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1988). The Literature of American Legal History (Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.: Oceana Publications, 1985) (New York University ...
-
New Horizons in Spanish Colonial Law: Contributions to Transnational Early Modern Legal History
By Heikki Pihlajamäki, Thomas DuveIn this volume, scholars from different parts of the Western world approach Spanish colonial law from the new perspectives of contemporary legal historical research."
-
A Companion to American Legal History
By Sally E. Hadden, Alfred L. BrophyThe Rural Face of White Supremacy: Beyond Jim Crow. ... The Aftermath of Slavery: A Study of the Condition and Environment of the American Negro. ... Roots of Disorder: Race and Criminal Justice in the American South, 1817−1880.
-
A Distinct Judicial Power: The Origins of an Independent Judiciary, 1606-1787
By Scott Douglas Gerber... American Journal of Legal History 50 (2008–2010): 305. Maryland Constitution of 1776. Nelson, William E. The Common Law in Colonial America: Volume 1: The Chesapeake and New England, 1607–1660. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008 ...
-
The Constitutional Origins of the American Revolution
By Jack P. GreeneChallenging those historians who have assumed that the British had the law on their side during the debates that led to the American Revolution, this volume argues that the empire had long exhibited a high degree of constitutional ...
-
Law and Sexual Misconduct in New England, 1650-1750: Steering Toward England
By Abby ChandlerMiddle-class Comfort Taylor's alleged rape by African slave Law and Sexual Misconduct in New England, 1650-1750 88 Conclusion.