cases. Crane argues that the men and women involved in slander cases took the words critically because many were concerned about the repercussions a reputation of being a “whore”, “thief”, or “rouge”. It was commonly believed that words mattered because all words have consequences. The reputations caused by these types of accusations could damage someone’s business dramatically by making them appear less respectable and could have a severe economic impact. Honor was considered to be an important concept in the seventeenth century world, and cases of defamation often embarrassed those accused and made them seem dishonorable. The next chapter explores the witchcraft cases in Bermuda. Bermuda’s witchcraft breakout between 1651 and 1655 resembles the worst of the seventeenth century with twelve people accused and five executed in a population of only three thousand. There were many similarities between the witch trials in Bermuda and those across the world in places like England and colonial America, most commonly a witch cursing their neighbor and the neighbor becoming ill soon after. Crane successfully shows in this chapter that allegations of witch craft were common not only in Bermuda, but also England and New England during the same time period with many of the same results, including a decline in witch craft accusations. The third chapter returns to New England with emphasis placed on family violence. Crane argues that typically battered wives avoided the legal processes and it was often the eyes and ears of neighbors, friends, family, and servants that acted on the knowledge of spousal abuse. “There is considerable evidence that community response to such public and private brutality was both anticipated and expected.” (84) Due to the longstanding patriarchal attitudes, authorities were slow to intervene even though they were frequently aware of the situations. Unfortunately, often the women were killed at the hands of their husbands before seeking legal counsel. It was then the friends and neighbors that sought justice for the dead women by revealing the previous abuse. Often these testimonies would result in murder convictions. Crane contends that there are many reasons that the women may have chosen to keep the abuse away from the courts, including fear of the family dispute being ignored leaving her to struggle along with a husband angrier than before now that he was publically denounced. The subsequent section, “Cold Comfort: Race and Rape in Rhode Island”, explores the case of where Comfort Dennis Taylor accused a slave, Cuff, of attempted rape. Comfort stated that Cuff came upon her during a sail and began kissing her before moving on to sexually assault her. Conversely, Cuff denied the charges against him and said “I did not touch her.” (126) Due to the racial nature of the case, Cuff was assumed to be guilty, however. He then spent the many days awaiting his trial in jail. He was then found guilty and sentenced to pay a fine, but as a slave he remained in jail and it was up to his owner to pay the debt. Instead, Cuff was sold at auction to repay the court costs and financial award. Chapter five details the story of the eviction of Samuel Banister which quickly escalated to him killing one of the men performing the eviction. Banister was acquitted of killing the man because it was unclear through evidence whether the firing of the gun was intention or accidental. However, this incident was not Samuel Banister’s first time in court. Over the years, his name appeared many times as both a creditor and a debtor in legal disputes involving money. The legal system was often a standard for resolving issues that could not be settled between the two parties outside of the courtroom. The final chapter, titled “A Ghost Story”, takes place in Maryland in the late 1790s.
Thomas Harris and Ann Goldsborough shared four children despite the fact that they were never married. After the passing of Thomas Harris, his brother attempted to take control of his estate instead of allowing his children to maintain ownership as Harris stated in his will. Harris’s friend insisted that he was visited by Thomas Harris’s ghost and he demanded the situation be rectified. However, James Harris, the brother of Thomas, passed away before he returned the children’s inheritance and was left to his wife. The wife had no intentions of returning the estate to the children which led to a long legal battle. The battle included the testimony of the ghost of Thomas Harris as told by his friend, William
Briggs. Witches, Wife Beaters, and Whores: Common Law and Common Folk in Early America utilizes “microhistory as the lens through which aspects of early American legal culture will be explored.” (3) Because it is the intensive investigation of a particular event, community, or individual, microhistory provides a humanized look at traditional studies and often makes them more relatable for audiences. It is by collecting evidence from a variety of sources and the analysis of legal documents and case reports, including juror list, names of judges, and statements from witnesses, that Crane produces a convincing assertion to the effects of the legal procedures in early America. She also utilizes published volumes and handwritten document archives as a means to solidify her argument that the legal process and daily life of early American’s were closely tied together and law was a matter of deep concern among settlers. In addition to each of the book’s microhistories containing evidence from court records and cases, Crane uses information from a variety of locations and a significant time span as indication that the knowledge of legal processes and the “issues themselves are not bound by either chronology or geography.” (4) The individual accounts are set in many diverse geographical regions, including New Amsterdam, Bermuda, Maryland, and Rhode Island along with the occasional mention of other places in the New World. The knowledge of laws, legal processes, and the use of the law was widespread throughout the Atlantic world. It is through the use of laws to solve the issues that the work connects all of the cases regardless of the distance between locations. Furthermore, the time period explores spans over more than one hundred and fifty years with the first chapter taking place in the 1640s and the last in the late 1790s. Through the significant span of time, Crane is able to demonstrate the procedures of legal processes over the years. Witches, Wife Beaters, and Whores: Common Law and Common Folk in Early America emphasizes numerous different offenses ranging from slander, rape, and murder. Crane also examined the unexpected when a ghost was a witness in a court case. She probes deep into many historical documents to present stories of illegal activities and the way that courts prosecuted the cases. The intertwined microhistories Crane observed paints a portrait of a time that the legal culture and daily lives of citizens were closely linked together. Moreover, through the use of legal document and other primary documents, Crane strengthens her claims that through the legal process early Americans created new laws from old customs.