Acts of the “Most Sanguinary Rage”: Spousal Murder in Montreal, 1825-1850

This study examines the 11 cases of wife murder (uxoricide) and 3 cases of husband murder (mariticide) identified in the judicial district of Montreal between 1825-1850, a period of considerable social flux.Through examination of judicial archives and primary sources, supplemented … Continue reading

Article on Petit Treason (from the Montreal Gazette and the Ottawa Citizen, January 16, 2016)

An article based on my research related to spousal murders in early nineteenth-century Montreal: Petit Treason Threatened the Social Order (Montreal Gazette, January 8, 2016) … Continue reading

‘To shudder at the bare recital of those acts’: Child Abuse, Family, and Montreal Courts in the Early Nineteenth Century

‘To shudder at the bare recital of those acts‘: Child Abuse, Family, and Montreal Courts in the Early Nineteenth Century, in G. Blaine Baker and Donald Fyson, eds., Essays in the History of Canadian Law, vol. XI, Quebec and the Canadas … Continue reading

A Long Time Coming…But Back in Print!

Hello, gentle readers!  My next blog post will be up in a week or two, but I wanted to mention my latest work. It is a bit surreal to me to mention it, really, since I completed this as a … Continue reading

‘So Foul A Deed’: Infanticide in Montreal, 1825-1850

From the introduction to the issue: “Our final article, by Ian Pilarczyk, examines the phenomemon of infanticide and the legal responses to [it] in Montreal from 1825 to 1850, a period marked by significant economic, social, political, and legal flux. … Continue reading