'To Shudder at the Bare Recital of Those Acts': Child Abuse, Family, and Montreal Courts in the Early Nineteenth Century

dc.contributor.authorPilarczyk, I. C.
dc.date.accessioned2014-04-08T18:27:50Z
dc.date.available2014-04-08T18:27:50Z
dc.date.issued2013
dc.description.abstractThis paper uses archival and other primary sources to reanimate the judicial response to child abuse by family members in Montreal for the period 1825-1850. In a period before the operation of child protection agencies, the records reveal a tentative but growing engagement with issues related to child abuse and a limited judicial response to impose limitations on parental authority. Parents and guardians were prosecuted and imprisoned for a range of offences, including assault, aggravated assault, ill-usage, and attempted murder. While incest was not a cognizable offence during this period, the judicial archives also reveal some evidence of the existence of incest as a social phenomenon, as well as some prosecutions (generally brought under the charge of ravishment or, more unusually, abduction). This paper contributes to our understanding of Quebec socio-legal history for an understudied time period, and adds dimension to our understanding of the manner in which the legal system grappled with compelling social phenomena before widespread legislative or public action on these issues.en_US
dc.identifier.citationPilarczyk, I. C. (2013). 'To Shudder at the Bare Recital of Those Acts': Child Abuse, Family, and Montreal Courts in the Early Nineteenth Century. Essays in the History of Canadian Law, 11, 370-426.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID2359732_code1622008.pdf?abstractid=2359732&mirid=1
dc.identifier.urihttp://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID2359732_code1622008.pdf?abstractid=2359732&mirid=1
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11212/1358
dc.publisherEssays in the History of Canadian Lawen_US
dc.subjectCriminal lawen_US
dc.subjectInternational Resourcesen_US
dc.subjectCanadaen_US
dc.subjecthistoryen_US
dc.subjectchild abuseen_US
dc.subjectincesten_US
dc.title'To Shudder at the Bare Recital of Those Acts': Child Abuse, Family, and Montreal Courts in the Early Nineteenth Centuryen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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