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An Exceptional Law showcases how the emergency law used to repress labour activism during the First World War became normalized with the creation of Section 98 of the Criminal Code, following the Winnipeg General Strike. Building on the theoretical framework of Agamben, Molinaro advances our understanding of security as ideology and reveals the intricate and codependent relationship between state-formation, the construction of liberal society, and exclusionary practices.
Ranked Number 3 on The Hill Times 100 Best Books of 2017.
https://www.hilltimes.com/2017/12/18/hill-times-list-100-best-books-2017/128829
Reviews are in:
"An Exceptional Law: Section 98 & The Emergency State 1919-1936 is a very readable, incredibly well-researched study of Canada’s wartime-derived, but peacetime-continued sedition laws of early 20th century. But the book is of much more than historical interest. As they said in Battlestar Galactica: All this has happened before and will happen again. My copy is marked-up where I noted parallels to current immigration and anti-terror laws. … I highly recommend this book."
(Craig Forcese #Sundayscholar Pick, Twitter, Posted May 21, 2017)
"An Exceptional Law is a fascinating, useful contribution to not only the discipline of history, but also to criminal law and legal studies, sociology and criminology, political science, international affairs, and even anthropology. Not only is this book suitable for both relevant upper year undergraduate courses and graduate students, but scholars researching a wide variety of topics related to security, national identities, surveillance, and social movements will find it tremendously useful… An Exceptional Law is both captivating and deeply informative…[it] is now one of my favorite treatments of legal history and I would recommend it to any student, academic, activist, lawyer, or anyone interested in broad questions of public law, security, and society." – Professor Derek M.D. Silva in Surveillance & Society
Full review here
