Law as Politics: Chinese Litigants in Australian Colonial Courts

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Author(s)
Finnane, Mark
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2013
Metadata
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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 ...
View more >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.
View less >
View more >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.
View less >
Journal Title
Journal of Chinese Overseas
Volume
9
Issue
2
Copyright Statement
© 2013 Brill Academic Publishers. This is the author-manuscript version of this paper. Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. Please refer to the journal website for access to the definitive, published version.
Subject
Human society
Law and society and socio-legal research
Language, communication and culture
History, heritage and archaeology
Asian history
Australian history