This project concerns what happened to English laws when they mixed in complex ways with Dutch and native legal practices in 19th-century Sri Lanka. How did this work? What happened to English laws when they encountered new circumstances; how did they adapt? Providing answers will help us understand what happens in imperial environments when judges and other government officers clash (separation of power conflicts); how courts and laws contribute to transforming the social world; how local people used foreign laws for their own purposes; how law was used as an instrument of control in the wake of rebellion; and how law participated in ending slavery in the island.
This project concerns what happened to English laws when they mixed in complex ways with Dutch and native legal practices in 19th-century Sri Lanka. How did this work? What happened to English laws when they encountered new circumstances; how did they adapt? Providing answers will help us understand what happens in imperial environments when judges and other government officers clash (separation of power conflicts); how courts and laws contribute to transforming the social world; how local people used foreign laws for their own purposes; how law was used as an instrument of control in the wake of rebellion; and how law participated in ending slavery in the island.
• Curiosity and creativity
• familiarity with MS WORD and EXCEL
• patience, attention to detail, and an ability to follow instructions carefully
• an interest in learning how to read 19th-century handwriting (which is not as hard as it may sound, but it will be crucial)
The student will gain:
• an understanding of British imperial and South Asian history in the 19th century;
• an understanding of global legal history and legal/constitutional improvisation in the period when Americans were also figuring out how their own constitutional and judicial and practices worked;
• and a broad understanding of how to read and interpret legal and historical documents and how one organizes such research and writes about it.