Pierre Elliott Trudeau and Bill C-150: A Rational Approach to Homosexual Acts, 1968–69

Between 1968 and 1969, Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau sparked a controversy surrounding his liberal government's passage of Bill C-150, which not only decriminalized homosexual acts between consenting adults in private, but also polarized supporters of natural law and positive law. What tipped the balance in favor of a more secular analysis of homosexuality? In the post-World War II era, three events were particularly relevant to the successful passage of Bill C-150: the Kinsey (1948 Kinsey, A. C. 1948. Sexual behavior in the human male, Philadelphia: W.B. Sanders.  [Google Scholar]) studies, Britain's Wolfenden Report (1957), and the Supreme Court of Canada case Klippert v. The Queen (des Rivieres & Shipley, 1967 des Rivieres, F. and Shipley, M. 1967. “Canada law reports: The Supreme Court of Canada”. In Klippert v. The Queen, Ottawa: King's Printer.  [Google Scholar]). However, the Liberals, Conservatives, Social Credit Party, and the Ralliement Créditistes were all influenced by the social construction of inversion, openly expressing a Judeo-Christian natural law bias during Debates of the House of Commons (1968-69). Nonetheless, it was the Liberals that were identified as forces within Canadian politics that could separate legalism from moralism, even while retaining personal moral stances against homosexuals. It is this paradox that is often forgotten when discussing liberal policy in Canada during the late 1960s.     

中国最早外国邮局考论

中国邮政近代化与“客邮”有密切关系。1834年英国商务监督律劳卑在广州开办的“英国邮局”是中国最早的外国邮局,其目的并不仅仅是为了解决海外邮政的需求,更是为了突破清朝与英国的交涉体制及十三行通商制度。鸦片战争前后,“客邮”在中国不断发展,一方面侵犯了中国的邮权,另一方面又对中国传统邮政的进步有一定积极影响。在与“客邮”的长期竞争中,中国近代邮政得以逐步成熟。     

鸦片战争前英国在华客邮的衍变

广州在鸦片战争前是中国重要的通商口岸和信息中心,英国作为对华贸易的主要西方国家,为满足邮政通信的需求,推行了不同形式的客邮体制,对清代中期中英关系产生重要影响.这不仅是侵略中国邮权的见证,也为深入中外邮政史研究提供了珍贵的史料.