Finding judicial conciliation in the nineteenth century Pacific Northwest
Date
2003
Authors
Flewelling, Dennis Wayne
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Abstract
This thesis argues that during the nineteenth century in the Pacific Northwest English systems of law and order were significantly influenced by Aboriginal law-ways. Several homicide cases and one incidence of civil disobedience are examined beginning in the second decade of the century and ending in the 1890s. It is argued that the response of English law depended on geographical factors as well as the potential for economic advancement. Where English law could prevail it did. However, in the case of criminal offences that took place in remote regions or areas of little economic interest, Aboriginal systems of justice prevailed. In situations where the races interacted with each other, solutions of judicial conciliation were arrived at that were of significant utility and endurance. The degree of influence each had on the other depended on underlying power balances.