Law and Legality in the Colonial World

Undergraduate / Graduate

This seminar examines the myriad legal encounters which irrevocably shaped colonization around the globe. We will explore law as both a precursor to and instrument of colonization for a range of European empires in the early modern and modern periods. The course will also detail strategies of legal action among a range of colonized subjects including indigenous peoples of the Americas, Asia and Africa. With an eye to diverse theories of law across empires, we will discuss how key colonial legal institutions-including courts and penal spaces-molded both social life and cultural customs. Through an array of case studies, we will further examine themes of the nature of legal protagonism, sovereignty and its evolution, competing jurisdictions, and internationalism and its discontents. Each student will be asked to complete an analysis of a legal primary source of their choosing, as well as a longer historiographical essay pertaining to the course materials.