Details

Subject(s)

• Crane, John, Jr., -1792—Trials, litigation, etc [Browse]
• Trials (Murder)—Virginia [Browse]
• Murder—Virginia—Shenandoah—History—18th century [Browse]
• Equality before the law—United States—History [Browse]

Series

Studies in legal history [More in this series]

Summary note

On July 4, 1791, the fifteenth anniversary of American Independence, John Crane, a descendant of prominent Virginian families, killed his neighbor's harvest worker. Murder in the Shenandoah traces the story of this early murder case as it entangled powerful Virginians and addressed the question that everyone in the state was heatedly debating: what would it mean to have equality before the law - and a world where 'law is king'? By retelling the story of the case, called Commonwealth volume Crane, through the eyes of its witnesses, families, fighters, victims, judges, and juries, Jessica K. Lowe reveals how revolutionary debates about justice gripped the new nation, transforming ideas about law, punishment, and popular government.

Notes

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Feb 2019).

Contents

• The facts of the fight
• The making of a Republican judge
• Examination : class, procedure, and local courts in Crane's Virginia
• The bloody code and the logic of legal reform
• Indictment : power shifts and power continuities in Virginia's courts
• Crane's trial and its "imperfect" verdict
• That stigma on my character : judges, judicial review, and "Republican" interpretation of the laws
• Murder or manslaughter? : Crane's special verdict at the general court
• Pardon request : mercy and Crane's "lunatic fits".

Show 6 more Contents items

ISBN

9781108377812 (ebook)

Statement on language in description

Princeton University Library aims to describe library materials in a manner that is respectful to the individuals and communities who create, use, and are represented in the collections we manage. Read more...