When a solicitor rose to address the court and argued than an emu could not be considered food under English law, he was arguing legal technicalities in an English mode. His audience consisted not only of the officers of the court but also a ragged collection of the public who may have come only to see a good performance, a custom which was also English in origin. Apart from the shufflings and whispering of the public, the process of trial was carried on with careful regard for proper speech and proper silence. To us, the courtroom is a scene; it has a careful balance.

This is unlike the series of actions that led to this courtroom scene. While the concerns of the accused may centre oh conviction, they need not be our concerns. The point at which a criminal case begins to emerge is fraught with power relations. Complainants, informers, witnesses and defendants, together with constables, made colonial law. There is no careful balance here.

Law has a peculiar relationship to everyday life: in law the historian deals with a realm of symbol, speech and silence that arises in situations of conflict or crisis. But law is not universal: it relates to specific social conditions. A convict and indeed a convict's person was most affected by the loss of rights entailed in transportation. However, transportation involved the valuing of labour. It was this valuing which determined how the law would intervene in the person of the convict.