Theoria

I’m teaching a “first year seminar” during the Fall 2008 and Winter 2009 semesters. It is technically “Special Topics in Legal Studies” and the topic I have chosen is “The State, Law and Violence in History.” The second semester will likely look at various particular cases – bread riots in 18th century England, piracy, criminal prosecution and capital punishment of animals, relation between property crimes and capital punishment during primitive accumulation, etc. I should likely throw in a few “Canadian” topics – unfortunately I’m not especially familiar with the literature on the history of crime in Canada. But that is something to worry about at a later time.

What I am worried about now – or, at least, wondering about – is how to organize the first few weeks of the course. I think I’d like to begin with some overviews of state formation (e.g., Tilly’s paper in Bringing the State Back In) that while not necessarily the best arguments ever, are fairly easy for eighteen year olds to read (e.g., Giddens’ Nation-State and Violence). Following the introduction to the state, I think I’ll introduce “thinking about the law” – a section on the sociology of law and some legal theory; again using rather easy to understand material (Durkheim’s “Two Laws of Penal Evolution,” perhaps Marx’s “Preface,” etc).

Any suggestions for either easy to read/easy to understand state formation/sociology of the law/legal theory readings or, for that matter, awesome episodes in the history of law and violence? Given that it is the 175th anniversary of the last fatal duel fought in Canada (between Robert Lyon and the victorious John Wilson in non other than Perth, where I currently reside), I’d be especially interested in material on duels – especially in Upper Canada.