{"id":{"repo_id":"unsw","oai_identifier":"oai:unsworks.library.unsw.edu.au:1959.4/101667"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/unsw/oai:unsworks.library.unsw.edu.au:1959.4/101667","repository":{"repo_id":"unsw","name":"University of New South Wales","base_url":"https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/oai/provider"},"display":{"title":"Rights without law: The role of privileges in convict rehabilitation in early colonial New South Wales (1788-1819)","abstract":"This thesis is about the role of privileges in the rehabilitation of convicts in the British colony of New South Wales from 1788 until 1819. Privileges were special rights and benefits granted by the Crown to its subjects. They included pardoning a convict from serving the balance of their sentence. The Crown hoped that granting such privileges would help transform the convicts it sent to New South Wales into useful colonists. In addition to grants of freedom, the Crown supported the social and economic rehabilitation of former convicts, generally known as ‘emancipists’, by granting them further privileges, some of which bestowed legal rights. They included property rights, such as leases or grants of Crown land and commercial rights, such as licences to be bakers or butchers or to sell wine. While privileges played a significant role in the transformation of convicts into colonists, their part in that process is under-reported in the Colony’s legal history. Earlier writers described how the reception and local adaptation of English law provided convicts and emancipists with the legal rights they needed to establish themselves, including property rights and civil rights. They generally overlooked how privileges functioned separately from, but alongside, English law as a source of both customary rights and legal rights. As Hannah Muller observes, the rights and privileges of British colonists were both underwritten by the concept of subjecthood. I build on Muller’s insights by analysing the role of privileges as a source of customary and legal rights in the early Colony. I do this by examining the basis on which privileges were claimed and granted and how those processes were mediated by social relationships of mutual obligation, including subjecthood and patronage. I argue that the expectations, practices and customs which emerged around claiming and granting privileges (collectively, ‘the customs’) became a source of customary rights separate to the legal rights available under English law. This occurred because the customary and legal rights afforded by privileges became central to the version of subjecthood which emerged in New South Wales. The Governors of the Colony, as the Crown’s local representative, exhorted the convicts to be well-behaved subjects and serve the Colony diligently. Those who did so expected that their loyalty would be recognised. The Governors provided this recognition by granting them privileges, some of which granted property and commercial rights. Further, the Governors used their legislative powers to incorporate some customary rights into the Colony’s official law. By doing so the Governors, as local sovereign, indicated their acceptance of those customary rights as legal rights. As the civil, property and commercial rights available to the convicts (and, at times, to the Colony’s emancipists and free settlers) were brittle, securing privileges was their main avenue for improving their social and economic status. I conclude that this ‘contractual’ version of local subjecthood survived until 1819. From then, the Liverpool Ministry began to re-orient the Colony’s function from rehabilitating convicts to subjecting them to stricter forms of punishment and reducing their opportunities for social and economic mobility.","abstract_html":"This thesis is about the role of privileges in the rehabilitation of convicts in the British colony of New South Wales from 1788 until 1819. Privileges were special rights and benefits granted by the Crown to its subjects. They included pardoning a convict from serving the balance of their sentence. The Crown hoped that granting such privileges would help transform the convicts it sent to New South Wales into useful colonists. In addition to grants of freedom, the Crown supported the social and economic rehabilitation of former convicts, generally known as ‘emancipists’, by granting them further privileges, some of which bestowed legal rights. They included property rights, such as leases or grants of Crown land and commercial rights, such as licences to be bakers or butchers or to sell wine. While privileges played a significant role in the transformation of convicts into colonists, their part in that process is under-reported in the Colony’s legal history. Earlier writers described how the reception and local adaptation of English law provided convicts and emancipists with the legal rights they needed to establish themselves, including property rights and civil rights. They generally overlooked how privileges functioned separately from, but alongside, English law as a source of both customary rights and legal rights. As Hannah Muller observes, the rights and privileges of British colonists were both underwritten by the concept of subjecthood. I build on Muller’s insights by analysing the role of privileges as a source of customary and legal rights in the early Colony. I do this by examining the basis on which privileges were claimed and granted and how those processes were mediated by social relationships of mutual obligation, including subjecthood and patronage. I argue that the expectations, practices and customs which emerged around claiming and granting privileges (collectively, ‘the customs’) became a source of customary rights separate to the legal rights available under English law. This occurred because the customary and legal rights afforded by privileges became central to the version of subjecthood which emerged in New South Wales. The Governors of the Colony, as the Crown’s local representative, exhorted the convicts to be well-behaved subjects and serve the Colony diligently. Those who did so expected that their loyalty would be recognised. The Governors provided this recognition by granting them privileges, some of which granted property and commercial rights. Further, the Governors used their legislative powers to incorporate some customary rights into the Colony’s official law. By doing so the Governors, as local sovereign, indicated their acceptance of those customary rights as legal rights. As the civil, property and commercial rights available to the convicts (and, at times, to the Colony’s emancipists and free settlers) were brittle, securing privileges was their main avenue for improving their social and economic status. I conclude that this ‘contractual’ version of local subjecthood survived until 1819. From then, the Liverpool Ministry began to re-orient the Colony’s function from rehabilitating convicts to subjecting them to stricter forms of punishment and reducing their opportunities for social and economic mobility.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Cahill, Justin"],"institution":"UNSW, Sydney","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2023,"date_issued":"2023","date_published":"2023","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:32:40Z","subjects":["New South Wales","privileges","rights","anzsrc-for: 43 HISTORY, HERITAGE AND ARCHAEOLOGY","anzsrc-for: 48 LAW AND LEGAL STUDIES"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["open access","CC BY 4.0","free_to_read"],"rights_urls":["https://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2","https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/25374"],"render_values":[{"text":"https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/25374","href":"https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/25374","code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/101667","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Cahill, Justin"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2023"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["UNSW, Sydney"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["doctoral thesis","http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["New South Wales","privileges","rights","anzsrc-for: 43 HISTORY, HERITAGE AND ARCHAEOLOGY","anzsrc-for: 48 LAW AND LEGAL STUDIES"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["open access","https://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2","CC BY 4.0","https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","free_to_read"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/101667","https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/bitstreams/e429cb6e-3003-479a-9c86-363f5caea9a9/download","https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/25374"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["This thesis is about the role of privileges in the rehabilitation of convicts in the British colony of New South Wales from 1788 until 1819. Privileges were special rights and benefits granted by the Crown to its subjects. They included pardoning a convict from serving the balance of their sentence. The Crown hoped that granting such privileges would help transform the convicts it sent to New South Wales into useful colonists. In addition to grants of freedom, the Crown supported the social and economic rehabilitation of former convicts, generally known as ‘emancipists’, by granting them further privileges, some of which bestowed legal rights. They included property rights, such as leases or grants of Crown land and commercial rights, such as licences to be bakers or butchers or to sell wine. While privileges played a significant role in the transformation of convicts into colonists, their part in that process is under-reported in the Colony’s legal history. Earlier writers described how the reception and local adaptation of English law provided convicts and emancipists with the legal rights they needed to establish themselves, including property rights and civil rights. They generally overlooked how privileges functioned separately from, but alongside, English law as a source of both customary rights and legal rights. As Hannah Muller observes, the rights and privileges of British colonists were both underwritten by the concept of subjecthood. I build on Muller’s insights by analysing the role of privileges as a source of customary and legal rights in the early Colony. I do this by examining the basis on which privileges were claimed and granted and how those processes were mediated by social relationships of mutual obligation, including subjecthood and patronage. I argue that the expectations, practices and customs which emerged around claiming and granting privileges (collectively, ‘the customs’) became a source of customary rights separate to the legal rights available under English law. This occurred because the customary and legal rights afforded by privileges became central to the version of subjecthood which emerged in New South Wales. The Governors of the Colony, as the Crown’s local representative, exhorted the convicts to be well-behaved subjects and serve the Colony diligently. Those who did so expected that their loyalty would be recognised. The Governors provided this recognition by granting them privileges, some of which granted property and commercial rights. Further, the Governors used their legislative powers to incorporate some customary rights into the Colony’s official law. By doing so the Governors, as local sovereign, indicated their acceptance of those customary rights as legal rights. As the civil, property and commercial rights available to the convicts (and, at times, to the Colony’s emancipists and free settlers) were brittle, securing privileges was their main avenue for improving their social and economic status. I conclude that this ‘contractual’ version of local subjecthood survived until 1819. From then, the Liverpool Ministry began to re-orient the Colony’s function from rehabilitating convicts to subjecting them to stricter forms of punishment and reducing their opportunities for social and economic mobility."]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Rights without law: The role of privileges in convict rehabilitation in early colonial New South Wales (1788-1819)"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Cahill, Justin"],"dc:date":["2023"],"dc:description":["This thesis is about the role of privileges in the rehabilitation of convicts in the British colony of New South Wales from 1788 until 1819. Privileges were special rights and benefits granted by the Crown to its subjects. They included pardoning a convict from serving the balance of their sentence. The Crown hoped that granting such privileges would help transform the convicts it sent to New South Wales into useful colonists. In addition to grants of freedom, the Crown supported the social and economic rehabilitation of former convicts, generally known as ‘emancipists’, by granting them further privileges, some of which bestowed legal rights. They included property rights, such as leases or grants of Crown land and commercial rights, such as licences to be bakers or butchers or to sell wine. While privileges played a significant role in the transformation of convicts into colonists, their part in that process is under-reported in the Colony’s legal history. Earlier writers described how the reception and local adaptation of English law provided convicts and emancipists with the legal rights they needed to establish themselves, including property rights and civil rights. They generally overlooked how privileges functioned separately from, but alongside, English law as a source of both customary rights and legal rights. As Hannah Muller observes, the rights and privileges of British colonists were both underwritten by the concept of subjecthood. I build on Muller’s insights by analysing the role of privileges as a source of customary and legal rights in the early Colony. I do this by examining the basis on which privileges were claimed and granted and how those processes were mediated by social relationships of mutual obligation, including subjecthood and patronage. I argue that the expectations, practices and customs which emerged around claiming and granting privileges (collectively, ‘the customs’) became a source of customary rights separate to the legal rights available under English law. This occurred because the customary and legal rights afforded by privileges became central to the version of subjecthood which emerged in New South Wales. The Governors of the Colony, as the Crown’s local representative, exhorted the convicts to be well-behaved subjects and serve the Colony diligently. Those who did so expected that their loyalty would be recognised. The Governors provided this recognition by granting them privileges, some of which granted property and commercial rights. Further, the Governors used their legislative powers to incorporate some customary rights into the Colony’s official law. By doing so the Governors, as local sovereign, indicated their acceptance of those customary rights as legal rights. As the civil, property and commercial rights available to the convicts (and, at times, to the Colony’s emancipists and free settlers) were brittle, securing privileges was their main avenue for improving their social and economic status. I conclude that this ‘contractual’ version of local subjecthood survived until 1819. From then, the Liverpool Ministry began to re-orient the Colony’s function from rehabilitating convicts to subjecting them to stricter forms of punishment and reducing their opportunities for social and economic mobility."],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/101667","https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/bitstreams/e429cb6e-3003-479a-9c86-363f5caea9a9/download","https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/25374"],"dc:language":["en"],"dc:publisher":["UNSW, Sydney"],"dc:rights":["open access","https://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2","CC BY 4.0","https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","free_to_read"],"dc:subject":["New South Wales","privileges","rights","anzsrc-for: 43 HISTORY, HERITAGE AND ARCHAEOLOGY","anzsrc-for: 48 LAW AND LEGAL STUDIES"],"dc:title":["Rights without law: The role of privileges in convict rehabilitation in early colonial New South Wales (1788-1819)"],"dc:type":["doctoral thesis","http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:32:40Z"}