A Search For Sovereignty: Law And Geography In European Empires, 1400-1900

A Search for Sovereignty Law and Geography in European Empires, 1400–1900 A Search for Sovereignty maps a new approach to world history by examining the relation of law and geography in European empires between 1400 and 1900. Lauren Benton argues that Europeans imagined imperial space as networks of corridors and enclaves, and that they constructed sovereignty in ways that merged ideas about geography and law. Conflicts over treason, piracy, convict transportation, martial law, and crime created irregular spaces of law, while also attaching legal meanings to familiar geographic categories such as rivers, oceans, islands, and mountains. The resulting legal and spatial anomalies influenced debates about imperial constitutions and international law both in the colonies and at home. This original study changes our understanding of empire and its legacies and opens new perspectives on the global history of law. Lauren Benton is Professor of History and Affiliate Professor of Law at New York University. Her book Law and Colonial Cultures: Legal Regimes in World History, 1400–1900 (Cambridge University Press, 2002) won the Law and Society Association’s James Willard Hurst Book Prize, the World History Association Book Prize, and the PEWS Book Award from the American Sociological Association. A Search for Sovereignty Law and Geography in European Empires, 1400–1900 LAUREN BENTON New York University cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao ˜ Paulo, Delhi, Dubai, Tokyo Cambridge University Press 32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, ny 10013-2473, usa www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521707435 © Lauren Benton 2010 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2010 Printed in the United States of America A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication data Benton, Lauren A. A search for sovereignty : law and geography in European Empires, 1400–1900 / Lauren Benton. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-521-88105-0 (hardback) – isbn 978-0-521-70743-5 (pbk.) 1. Law and geography – Europe – History. 2. Europe – Boundaries – History. 3. Sovereignty. I. Title. kjc1337.b46 2010 341.4 2–dc22 2009015844 isbn 978-0-521-88105-0 Hardback isbn 978-0-521-70743-5 Paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls for external or third-party Internet Web sites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Web sites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. For my mother, Charlotte Russ Benton, with love and appreciation Contents List of Illustrations page ix Pre