Synopses & Reviews
A Jurisprudence of Power reconstructs the martial law suppression of the Jamaica uprising of 1865, and the subsequent debate and litigation these events spawned in England. The book addresses questions of legality, and the integrity of political ideals arising from the most important conflict over martial law and the rule of law in the history of England in the nineteenth century.
About the Author
R.W. Kostal is an Associate Professor of Law and History at the University of Western Ontario. His research focuses on the history of modern law and society in England and the United States. His first book,
Law and English Railway Capitalism 1825-1875 , was awarded the Ferguson Prize of the Canadian Historical Association in 1995.
Table of Contents
Introduction 1. "The Country of Law": Reconstructing the Morant Bay Uprising in England
2. "The Blood that Testifies": The Jamaica Controversy in Jamaica
3. The Drawing Room Men: The Jamaica Controversy in 1866
4. The Tenets of Terror: Reinventing the Law of Martial Law
5. Marshalling Martial Law: Litigating the Jamaica Controversy
6. "The Alphabet of Our Liberty": Chief Justice Cockburn in the Old Bailey
7. "The Most-Law Loving People in the World": The denouement of the Jamaica litigation
Epilogue
Epilogue: Phillips v. Eyre and the Problem of Martial Law
Conclusion
A Jurisprudence of Power: Law, Empire, and the Jamaica Controversy
Appendix
The Jamaica Controversy as Historiography
Bibliography