Law as Politics: Chinese Litigants in Australian Colonial Courts
In: Journal of Chinese OverseasSearch for other papers by Mark Finnane in
Current site
Google Scholar
Abstract
The recent historiography of Chinese in Australia has emphasised their vigorous formation of a local identity and community even in the face of recurrent and expanding threats of exclusion from colonial life. In their ready embrace of legal remedies to redress what they saw as discrimination or other harms, the Chinese were exemplar colonial settlers who looked to the law to protect them. In colonial appeal courts, Chinese litigants challenged migration controls, contested convictions under opium restriction and gambling laws, sought equitable outcomes in property inheritance and challenged exclusionary regulation under the Factory Acts. In contrast to another kind of history of the Chinese in Australian law, as defendants in criminal prosecution, this article draws attention to the Chinese engagement in legal remedies as an assertion of their entitlement to recognition and fair play.
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
-
Bashford Alison & Gilchrist Catherine “The Colonial History of the 1905 Aliens Act” The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 2012 40 3 409 437
-
Bennett John Michael Sir John Pedder: First Chief Justice of Tasmania, 1824-1854. Lives of the Australian Chief Justices 2003 Annandale, N.S.W Federation Press
-
Bennett John Michael Colonial Law Lords: (The Judiciary and the Beginning of Responsible Government in New South Wales) 2006 Sydney Federation Press
-
Bennett John Michael George Higinbotham: Third Chief Justice of Victoria 1886-1892. Lives of the Australian Chief Justices 2007 Annandale, N.S.W Federation Press
-
Bolton Geoffrey Curgenven & Byrne Geraldine May it Please Your Honour: A History of the Supreme Court of Western Australia 1861-2005 2005 Perth Supreme Court of Western Australia
-
Cai Shaoqin Couchman Sophie, Macgregor Paul & Fitzgerald John “From Mutual Aid to Public Interest: Chinese Secret Societies in Australia” After the Rush: Regulation, Participation and Chinese Communities in Australia, 1860-1940 2004 Kingsbury, Vic. Otherland Literary Journal 133 152
-
Castles Alex Cuthbert An Australian Legal History 1982 Sydney Law Book Co.
-
Chan Sucheng Entry Denied: Exclusion and the Chinese Community in America, 1882-1943 1991 Asian American History and Culture, Philadelphia Temple University Press
-
Cronin Kathryn Colonial Casualties: Chinese in early Victoria 1982 Melbourne Melbourne University Press
-
Curthoys Ann Jayasuriya Laksiri, Walker David & Gothard Jan “Liberalism and Exclusionism: A Prehistory of the White Australia Policy” Legacies of White Australia: Race, Culture and Nation 2003 Crawley UWA Press 8 32 216 220 251 256
-
Curthoys Ann McCalman Iain, Cook Alexander & Reeveseds Andrew “Men of All Nations, Except Chinamen: Europeans and Chinese on the Goldfields of New South Wales” Gold: Forgotten Histories and Lost Objects of Australia 2001 Cambridge Cambridge University Press
-
Finnane Mark & Richards Jonathan “Aboriginal Violence and State Response: Histories, Policies, Legacies in Queensland 1860-1940” ANZ Journal of Criminology 2010 43 2 238 262
-
Fitzgerald John Big White Lie: Chinese Australians in White Australia 2007 Sydney University of New South Wales Press
-
Genovese Ann “Australian Communist Party of Australia v The Commonwealth: Histories of Australian Legalism” Australian Historical Studies 2013 44 1 6 22
-
Halliday Paul D. Habeas Corpus: From England to Empire 2010 Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
-
Holst Heather “Equal Before the Law?: The Chinese in the Nineteenth-century Castlemaine Police Courts” Journal of Australian Colonial History 2004 6 113 136
-
Huang Philip. C.C. Code, Custom, and Legal Practice in China: The Qing and the Republic Compared (Law, Society, and Culture in China) 2001 Stanford, Calif Stanford University Press
-
Jones Paul Alien Acts: The White Australia Policy, 1901 to 1939 1998 Ph. D thesis, University of Melbourne
-
Jones Paul Couchman Sophie, Macgregor Paul & Fitzgerald John “What Happened to Australia’s Chinese between the World Wars?” After the Rush: Regulation, Participation and Chinese Communities in Australia, 1860-1940 Kingsbury, Vic. Otherland Literary Journal 217 236
-
Kercher Bruce An Unruly Child: A History of Law in Australia 1995 St Leonards Allen & Unwin
-
Khoo Tseen & Noonan Rodney “Wartime Fundraising by Chinese Australian Communities” Australian Historical Studies 2011 42 1 92 110
-
Lake Marilyn & Reynolds Henry Drawing the Global Colour Line: White Men’s Countries and the International Challenge of Racial Equality 2008 Carlton, Vic Melbourne University Publishing
-
Macauley Melissa Ann Social Power and Legal Culture: Litigation Masters in Late Imperial China (Law, Society, and Culture in China) 1998 Stanford, Calif Stanford University Press
-
Macgregor Paul Histories of the Chinese in Australasia and the South Pacific: Proceedings of an International Public Conference Held at the Museum of Chinese Australian History, Melbourne, 8-10 October 1993 1995 Melbourne The Museum of Chinese Australian History
-
Markus Andrew Fear and Hatred: Purifying Australia and California, 1850-1901 1979 Sydney Hale & Iremonger
-
Markus Andrew Australian Race Relations 1788-1993 (Australian Experience) 1994 St Leonards, NSW Allen & Unwin
-
May Cathie Topsawyers, the Chinese in Cairns, 1870-1920 1984 Townsville James Cook University. History Department
-
McClain Charles J. & Wu McClain Laurence Sucheng Chan The Chinese Contribution to the Development of American Law Entry Denied: Exclusion and the Chinese Community in America, 1882-1943 1991 Asian American History and Culture, Philadelphia Temple University Press
-
McCoy Alfred W. Drug Traffic: Narcotics and Organized Crime in Australia 1980 Sydney Harper & Row
-
McKeown Adam Melancholy Order: Asian Migration and the Globalization of Borders 2008 Columbia University Press
-
McLaren John “The Early British Columbia Supreme Court and the ‘Chinese Question’: Echoes of the Rule of Law” Manitoba Law Journal 1991 20 107 147
-
McLaren John Dewigged, Bothered, and Bewildered: British Colonial Judges on Trial, 1800-1900 2011 University of Toronto Press
-
McPherson Bruce Harvey The Supreme Court of Queensland, 1859-1960: History Jurisdiction Procedure 1989 Sydney Butterworths
-
Ngai Mae. M. “Chinese Miners, Headmen, and Protectors on the Victorian Goldfields, 1853-1863” Australian Historical Studies 2011 42 1 10 24
-
Norris Ronald The Emergent Commonwealth: Australian Federation, Expectations and Fulfilment 1889-1910 1975 Carlton, Vic Melbourne University Press
-
New South Wales Parliament Report of the Royal Commission on Alleged Chinese Gambling and Immorality and Charges of Bribery Against Members of the Police Force, Appointed August 20, 1891 1891 accessed 25 June 2012 Available from: http://archive.org/details/cu31924023440187
-
O’Hara John A Mug’s Game: A History of Gaming and Betting in Australia 1988 Kensington New South Wales University Press
-
Ryan Jan Ancestors: Chinese in Colonial Australia 1995a Fremantle Fremantle Arts Centre
-
Ryan Jan Macgregor Paul “It’s a crime! Chinese Immigrants and the Law in Western Australia” Histories of the Chinese in Australasia and the South Pacific: Proceedings of an International Public Conference held at the Museum of Chinese Australian History, Melbourne, 8-10 October 1993 1995b Melbourne The Museum of Chinese Australian History 341 353
-
Salyer Lucy. E. Laws Harsh As Tigers: Chinese Immigrants and the Shaping of Modern Immigration Law 1995 The University of North Carolina Press
-
Strange Carolyn Qualities of Mercy: Justice, Punishment, and Discretion 1996 Vancouver, B.C. UBC Press
-
Welch Ian Alien Son: The Life and Times of Cheok Hong Cheong (Zhang Zhuoxiong) 1851-1928 2003 Ph. D thesis. ANU
-
Willard Myra History of the White Australian Policy to 1920 1967 Carlton South, Vic Melbourne University Press
-
Woods Gregory D. A History of Criminal Law in New South Wales: The Colonial Period, 1788-1900 2002 Annandale NSW Federation Press
-
Yarwood Alexander T. Asian Migration to Australia: The Background to Exclusion, 1896-1923 1964 Carlton, Vic Melbourne University Press
-
Yong Ching Fatt The New Gold Mountain: The Chinese in Australia, 1901-1921 1977 Richmond S. Aust, Raphael Arts
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 377 | 85 | 14 |
| Full Text Views | 229 | 11 | 2 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 94 | 24 | 0 |
Law as Politics: Chinese Litigants in Australian Colonial Courts
In: Journal of Chinese OverseasSearch for other papers by Mark Finnane in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
The recent historiography of Chinese in Australia has emphasised their vigorous formation of a local identity and community even in the face of recurrent and expanding threats of exclusion from colonial life. In their ready embrace of legal remedies to redress what they saw as discrimination or other harms, the Chinese were exemplar colonial settlers who looked to the law to protect them. In colonial appeal courts, Chinese litigants challenged migration controls, contested convictions under opium restriction and gambling laws, sought equitable outcomes in property inheritance and challenged exclusionary regulation under the Factory Acts. In contrast to another kind of history of the Chinese in Australian law, as defendants in criminal prosecution, this article draws attention to the Chinese engagement in legal remedies as an assertion of their entitlement to recognition and fair play.
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 377 | 85 | 14 |
| Full Text Views | 229 | 11 | 2 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 94 | 24 | 0 |