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Distributed for National University of Singapore Press
Colonial Law Making
Cambodia under the French
An important case study in the history of law under colonialism.
Covering a previously neglected area of Cambodian history, Colonial Law Making explores the structural forces and contingent exchanges that shaped colonial law in Cambodia and examines its post-independence colonial legacy.
The court of King Norodom and the temples of Angkor Wat became orientalist icons in the French colonial imagination, perpetuating an image of the Protectorate (1863–1953) as special and worthy of preservation. This contributed to exceptionalism in the way the Kingdom was colonized, including through law. Drawing on previously unexamined archival material, Sally Low presents a comparative case study of French approaches to colonial law, jurisdiction, and protection. Although the voices of non-elite Cambodians are largely absent from the archives, their influence on colonial law is evident as they resisted efforts to regulate their lives and their land. Low argues that the result was a set of state legal institutions and an indigenous jurisdiction that blended Cambodian and French notions of patronage and royal power as the source and authority for law.
This work is a case study of colonial law as an instrument of control and administration in an indirectly ruled colony. It adds depth to our understanding of the impact of European colonial law and the significance of different forms of colonial rule—direct, indirect, and unofficial. It is easily accessible for non-lawyers and is a must-read for those interested in the recent past of Southeast Asia and the countries that were previously colonized as French Indochina.
Covering a previously neglected area of Cambodian history, Colonial Law Making explores the structural forces and contingent exchanges that shaped colonial law in Cambodia and examines its post-independence colonial legacy.
The court of King Norodom and the temples of Angkor Wat became orientalist icons in the French colonial imagination, perpetuating an image of the Protectorate (1863–1953) as special and worthy of preservation. This contributed to exceptionalism in the way the Kingdom was colonized, including through law. Drawing on previously unexamined archival material, Sally Low presents a comparative case study of French approaches to colonial law, jurisdiction, and protection. Although the voices of non-elite Cambodians are largely absent from the archives, their influence on colonial law is evident as they resisted efforts to regulate their lives and their land. Low argues that the result was a set of state legal institutions and an indigenous jurisdiction that blended Cambodian and French notions of patronage and royal power as the source and authority for law.
This work is a case study of colonial law as an instrument of control and administration in an indirectly ruled colony. It adds depth to our understanding of the impact of European colonial law and the significance of different forms of colonial rule—direct, indirect, and unofficial. It is easily accessible for non-lawyers and is a must-read for those interested in the recent past of Southeast Asia and the countries that were previously colonized as French Indochina.
288 pages | 6 halftones, 2 maps, 1 diagram, 2 tables | 6 x 9 | © 2023
History: Asian History
Law and Legal Studies: Law and Society, Legal History
Reviews
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Note on References
Glossary of Khmer Transliterations
Preface
Chapter 1: Colonial narratives of protection and civilisation
Chapter 2: Fonctionnaires, mandarins and cosmologies of law
Chapter 3: The jurisdictional dispossession of King Norodom
Chapter 4: Cambodian codes and court reform begins
Chapter 5: Rural jurisdictions and the 1916 Affair
Chapter 6: The Cambodian courts after 1922
Chapter 7: Lawyers and other critics
Chapter 8: Constitutions and independence
Chapter 9: Making law in colonial protectorates
Bibliography
Index
Note on References
Glossary of Khmer Transliterations
Preface
Chapter 1: Colonial narratives of protection and civilisation
Chapter 2: Fonctionnaires, mandarins and cosmologies of law
Chapter 3: The jurisdictional dispossession of King Norodom
Chapter 4: Cambodian codes and court reform begins
Chapter 5: Rural jurisdictions and the 1916 Affair
Chapter 6: The Cambodian courts after 1922
Chapter 7: Lawyers and other critics
Chapter 8: Constitutions and independence
Chapter 9: Making law in colonial protectorates
Bibliography
Index