In early nineteenth century Lower Canada, a direct relationship existed between the colony's laws of employment and the nature of its economy. As the artisanal and manufacturing centre of British North America, Montreal, in the first third of the century, had a pre-industrial economy. Its legal treatment of the master/servant relationship was established and directed by masters, and drew heavily upon the spirit of the pre-industrial traditions of English common law, emphasizing the criminal liability of servants failing to respect contractual obligations. Montreal's domestic servants, who were drawn from the poor and popular classes, and included mostly women and minors, were often at the greatest disadvantage in this legal system, because of their gender and economic backgrounds. Not only did their masters and mistresses have economic and social advantages, but they also controlled the legal system.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.59245 |
| Date | January 1989 |
| Creators | Hogg, Grace Laing |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Arts (Department of History.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001076113, proquestno: AAIMM63426, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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