This book introduces larger-the-life characters from Nova Scotia's past who broke the law and defied authority. These true tales of crimes are drawn from almost two centuries of Nova Scotia's history, from the province's first murder case in 1749 to its last execution in Shelburne in 1937. The crime scenes crisscross the province, from the provincial capital of Halifax to the hamlet of Green Oak, near Truro; from the LaHave River near Bridgewater to the village of Tracadie in Antigonish County; from the port of Windsor on the Minas Basin northward to Moose Island, largest of the Five Islands chain on the opposite shore of the Bay of Fundy. But many of these stories begin or end far beyond Nova Scotia. These are stories and crime and punishment, tragedy and redemption, justice done and justice denied. They show how laws, police procedures, and the justice system developed and modernized in the first province to import British common law into Canada. And capital punishment casts a shadow over every murder trial in this collection. These long-ago cases also remind us how easily race, privilege, religion, prejudice, and politics could invade the courtroom. Tipping the scales of justice.