Book Review: Across Oceans of Law: The Komagata Maru and Jurisdiction in the Time of Empire by Renisa Mawani

In Across Oceans of Law: The Komagata Maru and Jurisdiction in the Time of Empire, Renisa Mawani tells the story of the 1914 voyage of the Komagata Maru, which not only drew attention to the racially and politically unequal character of the British Empire and its Dominions, colonies and territories, but also raises important contemporary questions concerning how the ‘free sea’ is conceptualised, claimed, regulated and disputed. This is a convincing and elegantly argued analysis that positions this historical voyage as a lens through which to scrutinise broader issues of race, migration, jurisdiction and power, writes Jen Hendry.