Fous, Prodigues, Ivrognes : Famille et Déviance à Montréal au 19è Siecle

An alcoholic, insane, or financially reckless relative could spell disaster for families struggling to adapt to industrial capitalism in nineteenth-century Montreal. Faced with the possible decline of their social status and fearing for their respectability, many households filed for judicial interdictions depriving deviant members of civil capacity and sometimes confining them to institutions. Based on an analysis of over five hundred interdiction proceedings initiated between 1820 and 1895, Fous, Prodigues, Ivrognes examines the interactions between the families, the legal system, and doctors involved in the regulation of deviance in nineteenth-century Montreal. Moving away from the traditional focus on institutions, Thierry Nootens looks at the family - rather than the state, the medical profession, or the asylum - as the primary site for defining and regulating a range of deviant behaviours."