'To Shudder at the Bare Recital of Those Acts': Child Abuse, Family, and Montreal Courts in the Early Nineteenth Century
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| Authors/collaborators |
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| Title |
'To Shudder at the Bare Recital of Those Acts': Child Abuse, Family, and Montreal Courts in the Early Nineteenth Century
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| Abstract |
The author 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 author argues that 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. He points out that 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).
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| Book Title |
Essays in the History of Canadian Law, vol. XI: Quebec and the Canadas
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| Place |
Toronto, ON
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| Publisher |
University of Toronto Press for the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History
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| Date |
2013
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| Pages |
370-426
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| Language |
en
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| Citation |
Pilarczyk, Ian C. “‘To Shudder at the Bare Recital of Those Acts’: Child Abuse, Family, and Montreal Courts in the Early Nineteenth Century.” In Essays in the History of Canadian Law, Vol. XI: Quebec and the Canadas, edited by G. Blaine Baker and Donald Fyson, 370–426. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press for the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History, 2013.
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