Philip Girard, Jim Phillips, and R. Blake Brown A History of Law in Canada: Volume One—Beginnings to 1866. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2018. 928 pp.

Abstract

This publication makes a significant contribution to a field of inquiry that has been hugely enriched through the encouragement of the Osgoode Society which, in 1981, inaugurated what is now a collection of over one hundred titles. This latest contribution offers stimulus to further research and should be of interest to several constituencies. A History of Law in Canada might arouse interest within the legal profession, as well as among instructors of legal history, and their students, upon whose curiosity we depend for ongoing exploration of the subject matter, and on the part of those generally intrigued about the evolution of Canadian society, institutions, or the economy. The factors that make the field of legal history of ongoing general importance include the opportunity to understand how societies implement systems of law and governance, how choices are made among alternative institutions and decisionmaking procedures, how changes are introduced, continuities preserved, and how legal systems interact. Choices and changes (frequently the outcome of conflict or resulting from contested reform initiatives) underpin the dynamic of the narrative, a narrative emphasizing legal pluralism—common law, civil law, and Indigenous law. The authors summarize the “story” line as “a search for a balance between liberty and order in a context of continuing legal pluralism” (p. 5). The enduring and evolving relationship between liberty and order is indeed a staple of legal historical analysis. Legal pluralism, variously described in this volume as a “hybrid legal order” (occasionally “culture”) or a “polyglot legal environment,” or even an “amphibious zone,” adds further complexity. The emergence in the period after 1760 of a “mixed legal tradition”—British and French—involved controversy and acrimony when established arrangements and efforts directed towards preservation confronted measures directed towards replacement, innovation, and the creation of new institutions. Among less familiar examples of interaction between societies, as illustrated by the evolution of Canada’s legal arrangements, is an elaborate discussion of “intercultural legal relations” involving nineteenth-century Indigenous and European communities. In reference towritten codes adopted byMohawk chiefs, and elsewhere, the authors are careful to acknowledge and discuss challenging methodological and theoretical issues associated with research into Indigenous legal traditions. The scope of the law that constitutes the subject matter of A History of Law in Canada encompasses the broad realms of public and private law. On the institutional and constitutional side, the volume reviews the evolution of foundational governance arrangements and law-making procedures while simultaneously assessing changes in court structure, judicial appointments, and the separation of powers and independence, among other principles affecting the intersection of order and liberty. The evolution of criminal law and procedure as well as