Murder, Manslaughter, or Justified Retribution? Tom Williams, Mi’kmaw Law, and Colonial Justice on Prince Edward Island, 1839
In 1839, in the British North American colony of Prince Edward Island, Tom Williams, a Mi’kmaw man, was convicted of murdering another Mi’kmaw man, Joe Louis, and sentenced to hang. Williams, however, did not hang. This article suggests possible reasons the colonial government chose to commute Willi...
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Department of History at the University of New Brunswick
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fterudit:oai:erudit.org:1092966ar 2023-05-15T17:12:55+02:00 Murder, Manslaughter, or Justified Retribution? Tom Williams, Mi’kmaw Law, and Colonial Justice on Prince Edward Island, 1839 Jarvis, Anna K.G. 2022 http://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1092966ar en eng Department of History at the University of New Brunswick Érudit Acadiensis : Journal of the History of the Atlantic Region vol. 51 no. 1 (2022) http://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1092966ar All Rights Reserved ©, 2022Anna K.G.Jarvis text 2022 fterudit 2022-10-22T23:12:24Z In 1839, in the British North American colony of Prince Edward Island, Tom Williams, a Mi’kmaw man, was convicted of murdering another Mi’kmaw man, Joe Louis, and sentenced to hang. Williams, however, did not hang. This article suggests possible reasons the colonial government chose to commute Williams’s sentence, linking the case to the dispossession of the Mi’kmaq and their subsequent marginalization by settler society as well as the “land question” then dominating the Island. The case epitomizes the ascendancy of British colonial law and the concurrent weakening of Mi’kmaw law in the colony. En 1839, dans la colonie britannique nord-américaine de l’Île-du-Prince-Édouard, Tom Williams, un Mi’kmaq, fut reconnu coupable du meurtre d’un autre Mi’kmaq et condamné à la pendaison. Toutefois, Williams ne fut pas pendu. Cet article avance des raisons possibles pour lesquelles le gouvernement colonial décida de commuer la peine de Williams, en établissant un lien entre cette affaire et la dépossession des Mi’kmaq et leur marginalisation subséquente par la société coloniale, ainsi que la « question des terres » qui dominait alors la vie dans l’île. Cette affaire incarnait la prépondérance du droit colonial britannique et le déclin concomitante du droit mi’kmaq dans la colonie. Text Mi’kmaq Mi’kmaw Prince Edward Island Érudit.org (Université Montréal) Peine ENVELOPE(-54.683,-54.683,-63.417,-63.417) Pendu ENVELOPE(140.011,140.011,-66.665,-66.665) |
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In 1839, in the British North American colony of Prince Edward Island, Tom Williams, a Mi’kmaw man, was convicted of murdering another Mi’kmaw man, Joe Louis, and sentenced to hang. Williams, however, did not hang. This article suggests possible reasons the colonial government chose to commute Williams’s sentence, linking the case to the dispossession of the Mi’kmaq and their subsequent marginalization by settler society as well as the “land question” then dominating the Island. The case epitomizes the ascendancy of British colonial law and the concurrent weakening of Mi’kmaw law in the colony. En 1839, dans la colonie britannique nord-américaine de l’Île-du-Prince-Édouard, Tom Williams, un Mi’kmaq, fut reconnu coupable du meurtre d’un autre Mi’kmaq et condamné à la pendaison. Toutefois, Williams ne fut pas pendu. Cet article avance des raisons possibles pour lesquelles le gouvernement colonial décida de commuer la peine de Williams, en établissant un lien entre cette affaire et la dépossession des Mi’kmaq et leur marginalisation subséquente par la société coloniale, ainsi que la « question des terres » qui dominait alors la vie dans l’île. Cette affaire incarnait la prépondérance du droit colonial britannique et le déclin concomitante du droit mi’kmaq dans la colonie. |
format |
Text |
author |
Jarvis, Anna K.G. |
spellingShingle |
Jarvis, Anna K.G. Murder, Manslaughter, or Justified Retribution? Tom Williams, Mi’kmaw Law, and Colonial Justice on Prince Edward Island, 1839 |
author_facet |
Jarvis, Anna K.G. |
author_sort |
Jarvis, Anna K.G. |
title |
Murder, Manslaughter, or Justified Retribution? Tom Williams, Mi’kmaw Law, and Colonial Justice on Prince Edward Island, 1839 |
title_short |
Murder, Manslaughter, or Justified Retribution? Tom Williams, Mi’kmaw Law, and Colonial Justice on Prince Edward Island, 1839 |
title_full |
Murder, Manslaughter, or Justified Retribution? Tom Williams, Mi’kmaw Law, and Colonial Justice on Prince Edward Island, 1839 |
title_fullStr |
Murder, Manslaughter, or Justified Retribution? Tom Williams, Mi’kmaw Law, and Colonial Justice on Prince Edward Island, 1839 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Murder, Manslaughter, or Justified Retribution? Tom Williams, Mi’kmaw Law, and Colonial Justice on Prince Edward Island, 1839 |
title_sort |
murder, manslaughter, or justified retribution? tom williams, mi’kmaw law, and colonial justice on prince edward island, 1839 |
publisher |
Department of History at the University of New Brunswick |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1092966ar |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-54.683,-54.683,-63.417,-63.417) ENVELOPE(140.011,140.011,-66.665,-66.665) |
geographic |
Peine Pendu |
geographic_facet |
Peine Pendu |
genre |
Mi’kmaq Mi’kmaw Prince Edward Island |
genre_facet |
Mi’kmaq Mi’kmaw Prince Edward Island |
op_relation |
Acadiensis : Journal of the History of the Atlantic Region vol. 51 no. 1 (2022) http://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1092966ar |
op_rights |
All Rights Reserved ©, 2022Anna K.G.Jarvis |
_version_ |
1766069798340395008 |