Law Justice And Empire: The Colonial Career Of John Gorrie 1829-1892 (Press Uwi Biography Series,)

Description

This work is a biographical study of Sir John Gorrie, a Scottish lawyer born in 1797, who served as a judge and as chief justice in several multi-racial British colonies (Mauritius, Fiji, the Leeward Islands, Trinidad and Tobago) in the second half of the nineteenth century. Holding radical political and social views, especially a conviction that persons of all ethnic and class backgrounds should enjoy equal justice under the British Crown, he was a controversial jurist who inspired both bitter opposition from colonial elites and intense admiration from the 'subject races' in each place where he served. A maverick official of the British Crown, Gorrie tried to use his judicial office to secure justice and protection for ex-slaves, indentured labourers, indigenous peoples and other nonwhite groups in the empire. Moreover, Gorrie's beliefs led him to intervene in political issues and debates in a way which was unusual for a colonial judge and which ensured that he would often be the focus of public comment and criticism. Brereton assesses the impact of Gorrie's interventions on the colonies where he served and examines how the Colonial Office in London dealt with the persistent agitation against his actions organized by the colonial elites which felt threatened by them. "Law, Justice and Empire" is an original contribution to the comparative history of the nineteenth century British empire, as well as to the history of the Caribbean, Mauritius and Fiji in that period. It extends our understanding of the empire and how it was administered.