Murder, Manslaughter, or Justified Retribution? Tom Williams, Mi’kmaw Law, and Colonial Justice on Prince Edward Island, 1839

• Main Author: Jarvis, Anna K.G.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Department of History at the University of New Brunswick 2022
• Subjects: Peine; Pendu; Mi’kmaq; Mi’kmaw; Prince Edward Island
• Online Access: http://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1092966ar

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...