New Books Network Alastair McClure, "Trials of Sovereignty: Mercy, Violence, and the Making of Criminal Law in British India, 1857-1922" (Cambridge UP, 2024)
Dec 27, 2025
In this engaging discussion, Alastair McClure, an Assistant Professor specializing in legal histories of colonial India, explores the intricate relationships between mercy, violence, and criminal law from 1857 to 1922. He reveals how colonial officials wielded mercy as a tool for governance, reflecting both power and vulnerability. The episode highlights the impact of high-profile trials, including that of Bahadur Shah II, and examines figures like Tilak and Gandhi who transformed the rejection of mercy into a powerful anti-colonial stance.
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Mercy As A Tool Of Sovereignty
- Mercy and discretion were not exceptions but core techniques of colonial sovereignty.
- They regulated violence, managed social difference, and helped legitimize British rule.
Bahadur Shah's Trial As a Political Problem
- The trial of Bahadur Shah Zafar II became a public spectacle that the British used to avoid executing a recognized sovereign.
- Officials exiled him to Burma instead, using mercy to mask the state's weakness in confronting popular legitimacy.
Amnesty As Political Rewriting
- The Queen's Proclamation offered a conditional amnesty that rewrote the uprising as the work of a few instigators.
- Mercy functioned to erase popular political agency and reorder loyalty through graded punishments and rewards.