Hamar Foster is a professor of law at the University of Victoria. Benjamin L. Berger an assistant professor of law at the University of Victoria. A.R. Buck is a professor of law and Co-Director of the Centre for Comparative Law, History and Governance at Macquarie University, Australia.Contributors: Simon Bronitt, Lyndsay M. Campbell, Jeremy Finn, Philip Girard, Ian Holloway, Bruce Kercher, Greg Marquis, John P.S. McLaren, Stefan Petrow, Jim Phillips, Janna Promislow, Jonathan Swainger, David V. Williams, John Williams, Barry Wright, and Nancy E. Wright

• ForewordIntroduction: Does Law Matter? The New Colonial Legal History / Benjamin L. Berger, Hamar Foster, and A.R. BuckPart 1: Authority at the Boundaries of Empire1 Libel and the Colonial Administration of Justice in Upper Canada and New South Wales, c. 1825-30 / Barry Wright2 The Limits of Despotic Government at Sea / Bruce Kercher3 One Chief, Two Chiefs, Red Chiefs, Blue Chiefs: Newcomer Perspectives on Indigenous Leadership in Rupert's Land and the North-West Territories / Janna Promislow4 Rhetoric, Reason, and the Rule of Law in Early Colonial New South Wales / Ian Holloway, Simon Bronitt, and John Williams5 Sometimes Persuasive Authority: Dominion Case Law and English Judges, 1895-1970 / Jeremy FinnPart 2: Courts and Judges in the Colonies6 Courts, Communities, and Communication: The Nova Scotia Supreme Court on Circuit, 1816-50 / Jim Phillips and Philip Girard7 Fame and Infamy: Two Men of the Law in Colonial New Zealand / David V. Williams8 Moving in an "Eccentric Orbit": The Independence of Judge Algernon Sidney Montagu in Van Diemen's Land, 1833-47 / Stefan Petrow 9 "Not in Keeping with the Traditions of the Cariboo Courts": Courts and Community Identity in Northeastern British Columbia, 1920-50 / Jonathan Swainger Part 3: Property, Politics, and Petitions in Colonial Law 10 Starkie's Adventures in North America: The Emergence of Libel Law / Lyndsay M. Campbell11 The Law of Dower in New South Wales and the United States: A Study in Comparative Legal History / A.R. Buck and Nancy E. Wright12 Contesting Prohibition and the Constitution in 1850s New Brunswick / Greg Marquis13 From Humble Prayers to Legal Demands: The Cowichan Petition of 1909 and the British Columbia Indian Land Question / Hamar Foster and Benjamin L. Berger Afterword: Looking from the Past into the Future / John P.S. McLarenNotes Selected Bibliography Index