This third volume of Essays in the History of Canadian Law presents thoroughly researched, original essays in Nova Scotian legal history. An introduction by the editors is followed by tenessays grouped into four main areas of study. The first is the legal system as a whole: essays inthis section discuss the juridical failure of the Annapolis regime, present a collective biographyof the province’s superior court judiciary to 1900, and examine the property rights of marriedwomen in the nineteenth century. The second section deals with criminal law, exploringvagrancy laws in Halifax in the late nineteenth century, aspects of prisons and punishmentsbefore 1880, and female petty crime in Halifax.

The third section, on family law, examines the issues of divorce from 1750 to 1890 and child custody from 1866 to 1910. Finally, two essays relate to law and the economy: one examines the Mines Arbitration Act of 1888; the other considers the question of private property and public resources in the context of the administrative control of water in Nova Scotia.