This article uncovers and investigates the vision of the world behind Max Weber's sociology of law. Taking a stand against Weber's epistemological nominalism, ethical relativism and political decisionism, the author critically analyses Weber's vision of science as a vocation and shows that his defense of axiological neutrality is not axiologically neutral. It represents rather a particular position within ethics, which affects his account of the disenchantment of the world, his vision of the rationalization of law and his decisionistic appeal for a strong political leader.

Throughout Canadian history, there has only been a single woman hanged contrary to the jury's recommendation : Elizabeth Workman. Hanged in 1873 in Sarnia, Ontario, she was a working-class immigrant mother, who had been convicted of the murder of her husband. This article seeks to advance our understanding of the hanging of Elizabeth Workman by reporting on a comprehensive study of a series of interrelated questions : why was Elizabeth Workman convicted? Why was she recommended for mercy? Why was this recommendation not accepted? To best answer these questions, a wide range of primary and secondary sources were consulted, including the capital case file, census records, local newspapers, and more recent scholarship on the social and legal context in which her trial and execution took place. The answers to these questions suggest that Elizabeth Workman thus became the only woman ever hanged in Canada contrary to a jury's recommendation for mercy as a result of the specific convergence of individual actions, social context, and legal culture and practice.