Women in the Court: An examination of women’s trials heard in the Court of Quarter Sessions and the Supreme Court of Western Australia, 1830 - 1890.

This thesis investigates the trials of women in the upper courts of Western Australia between 1830and 1890 to determine how legal rules and institutions affected the outcome of women’s trials, the way in which the trials were gendered and the experience of Aboriginal women in the criminal justice system. It examines the use of defence counsel, multi-defendant trials, Aboriginal women as defendants and the use of mercy. It argues that, although legal rules and institutions determined many aspects of the outcome of a woman’s case, the cultural construct of gender often determined which women received advantages from these rules.