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Between the Ancien Régime and Liberal Modernity: Law, Justice and State Formation in colonial Quebec, 1760–1867[Note 1. My thanks to Blaine Baker, Nancy Christie, Brian Young ...]
Author(s) -
Fyson Donald
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
history compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.121
H-Index - 1
ISSN - 1478-0542
DOI - 10.1111/hic3.12154
Subject(s) - colonialism , historiography , ancien regime , state (computer science) , conquest , modernity , law , economic justice , state formation , political science , history , economic history , ancient history , politics , algorithm , computer science
This article surveys the historiography of state formation in colonial Quebec, from the British Conquest of 1759/1760 to Canadian Confederation in 1867, focussing on law and justice. It is structured around three key themes: the Conquest as a point of rupture, with the imposition of a British colonial state and English law on top of a largely French‐origin society; the nature of the ancien‐régime state over the 80 years that followed; and the historiographical debate over the creation of a new liberal order in Canada and Quebec from the 1840s onwards. The article ends with a discussion of six factors, both local and transnational, which help account for legal change and state formation in Quebec in the period.