Habeas Corpus, the Rule of Law and the Second British Empire: A Case Study of Colonial New South Wales
The law of habeas corpus is traditionally touted as one of the most prized gifts of the British Empire to be bestowed on colonial subjects. And yet a growing number of studies have started to expose the contingency of the law’s protective force for colonial inhabitants, and the numerous ways in which the law’s protective value could be reduced, suspended or bypassed in the various parts of the Empire in which the writ was set to work. This thesis contributes to that growing body of scholarship by critically evaluating the protective value of the law within colonial NSW over the course of the nineteenth century. The thesis begins by tracing the development of the law of habeas corpus in England up until the point that it became part of the bundle of inherited law received in NSW. The thesis then turns to examine the way in which the law’s trajectory within the colony of NSW was shaped by local actors (judges, the executive and legislature) and colonial overseers at Westminster.
Habeas Corpus, British Empire, Rule of Law, New South Wales
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