The "equivocal spirit" of law : property, agency and the contract in the English Jacobin novel

• Main Author: Johnson, Nancy E. (Nancy Edna), 1956-
• Other Authors: Hensley, David C. (advisor)
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: McGill University 1995
• Subjects: English fiction > 18th century > History and criticism
• Online Access: http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=29054

In the 1790s, the English Jacobin novelists became vital participants in the fiery debates over natural and civil rights. Energized by the success of the American Revolution and inspired by the calls for l'egalite, la liberte, la surete, and la propriete in France, the Jacobin authors contributed their narratives to the British campaigns for reform of parliament and extension of the franchise. In this dissertation, I argue that the Jacobin novel furnishes crucial insights into the development of a theory of juridical rights in the late eighteenth century. Working in the early modern traditions of contract theory, writers such as Thomas Holcroft, Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin embraced the concept of inalienable natural rights. In their novels, they identified the critical role property played in determining the individual's relationship to the law, and they celebrated the emergence of a new kind of citizen distinguished by economic independence, inalienable rights and political agency. But they also offered an important critique of contractarian thought. The Jacobins' narratives revealed the exclusion of certain segments of the population from participation in government formed by contract. Their analyses of the origins of political authority and the constitution of the legal subject render the Jacobin novel a critical component of the history of juridical rights.