Criminal proceedings and the transformative potential of law: Taking historical experiences seriously

Consideration of counter-hegemonic and transformative strategies should be informed by actual experience with the legal system and by careful attention to the particular features of different types of legal proceedings. Sedition procecutions, the main encounter organized progressive social movements had with the criminal law in early 19th century Upper Canada, are analysed to demonstrate these points. The patterns found in these proceedings provide clues about the dynamics, as well as the limits and potential, of legal struggles through the criminal law.