The Meanings of Mercy: Wife Assault and Spousal Murder in Post-Second World War Canada

Abstract

This article analyzes the 1948 case of a British war bride convicted of manslaughter in the death of her abusive husband as a means of exploring the connection between social views of domestic violence and the legal treatment of wives charged with spousal murder. The case of Jean McAllister allows us an entrée to the legal responses to women's use of violence against abusive partners in the period in between “first” and “second” wave feminism. By examining responses to this high-profile trial, set against the background of other trials of battered wives, we can draw conclusions about the regulatory role of law vis-à-vis domestic violence and the ways in which the mercy accorded female defendants varied considerably with gender ideologies and class and ethnic relations. The article suggests other cases like McAllister's also ended in manslaughter convictions, which are less easily traced in the archives, and it also questions the idealized immigration narrative of war brides in the Canadian press.