Murray (Univ. of Guelph), who has written on slavery and colonial law and supervised a few of the large number of recent theses on this subject, is the first to examine how the Upper Canadian legal system operated in the early 19th century, based on systematic research in court records of the Niagara district. He concentrates on everyday legal administration by court officials and corrects a number of conceptions about Upper Canadian law that have arisen in works written from the perspective of colonial governors at society's top. Murray finds that the system was a cooperative activity of the people, grand juries, and legal officers, and was not riddled with corruption. The author builds such conclusions on close study of largely post-1830 actual cases, thus ignoring the high-profile political prosecutions of radicals such as Robert Gourlay. Upper Canadian law in Niagara attempted to enforce sabbatarian observances, control interpersonal violence, provide for the mentally handicapped, and, in the absence of a poor law, allocate charity to widows, the aged, and infirm. Above all, the law protected property. Murray also studied other subjects, such as escaped slaves and the inequitable application of law to women. This valuable book should be in all libraries concerned with legal or Canadian history. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through researchers/faculty. M. J. Moore Appalachian State University