Relying primarily on the records of the Assize and Supreme Court records between 1756 and 1856 , the volume introduces the little known and largely ignored aspect of Jamaican social history - the judicial arm of the colonial state. Insofar as these courts dealt only with the cases of whites and coloureds before 1834, the book provides an opportunity to view the largely hidden world of 'offensive' whites and coloureds. With the emancipation of the slaves, the Jamaican judicial system, which was based on the English system, was faces with an additional 350,000 persons who were theoretically equal before the same laws that had bound their former masters. The book examines the processes of prosecution, trial , indictment and the delivery of the verdict as well as the circumstances when inquests and pardons or commutations were applied.

(Price J$650/ US$15 plus postage)