Cruel Injustice”
Infanticide and Compassion in Upper Canada, 1791–1831
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9080904 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jane Nicholas (0000-0002-7657-6837, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 59 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 84-108 |
| Publication date | 2025-10-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Social History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-4529 • E-ISSN: 1527-1897 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/jsh/shae044 |
| OpenAlex | W7116630547 |
| Language | EN |
Using two comparatively well documented cases of suspected infanticide in Upper Canada, this article considers the role of compassion. In re-examining infanticide in Upper Canada (1791–1841) to 1831 when the statutory law on infanticide changed to try newborn murders exclusively as homicide, I focus here on a small number of newborn murder cases tried as either infanticide or homicide centering on the comparatively well documented cases of Angelique Pilotte and Mary Thompson. The article builds on recent historiographical developments in understanding English infanticide law as well as new research on the history of emotions and race to suggest that compassion can be understood as a vector for power and a part of an affective domain of domination
Compassion · Focus (optics) · Historiography · Homicide · Power (physics) · Statutory law · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · History of Emotions Research · Homicide, Infanticide, and Child Abuse
| Highly cited | No |
|---|