For the civil administration of justice there were the Courts of Common Pleas established by ordinance passel under the Quebec Act (17 Geo. iii. c. 1); and a Superior Court, the Court of King's Bench, held sittings at Montreal. After some years, by ordinance of 30th April, 1785 (25 Geo. iii. c. 5), provision was made for the holding also of Courts by two Justices of the Peace in the more remote parts of the Province for the determination of causes involving sums between 40s. and £5.

In all such Courts the law administered was the law of Canada, and the necessity for resorting to Montreal, as the judicial centre, in an age when communication was difficult and slow, soon became a sensible inconvenience. Both these circumstances became every year an increasing grievance in the eyes of settlers who had established themselves along the western lakes remote from Montreal, and were accustomed to, and had, in fact, in some districts locally assumed, British law. Agitation for the relief of these grievances produced at length, in 1791, the Constitutional Act (31 Geo. iii. c. 31).

That Act recited the Royal intention to divide the Province of Quebec into two separate Provinces, and proceeded to provide a constitution for the new Provinces. No provision was by it made for local administration or taxation, and no change was made in the methods of administering civil and criminal justice. Such matters were left to be dealt with by the Governors or Lieutenant-Governors of the Province, acting by and with the advice of the Legislative Council and Assembly, provided for by the Act, except that the Governor. or Lieutenant-Governor in Council, was constituted a Court of Appeal for hearing appeals in like causes as might under the Quebec Act have been heard by the Governor in Council in the former Province of Quebec (s. 34).

By Imperial Order in Council of August, 1791, the Province of Quebec was accordingly divided into two Provinces, Upper Canada and Lower Canada, and by Royal proclamation, which took effect within each Province on 26th December, 1791, Upper Canada was declared to consist of that part of the former Province of Quebec (as modified in 1783 by the treaty made at the conclusion of the war with the American

colonies) which lay to the west of what is to-day the boundary between Quebec and Ontario.

On the 16th July, 1792, the Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, John Graves Simcoe, by proclamation divided Upper Canada into nineteen counties. These counties were, however, not for municipal purposes, but for the purpose of supplying representatives in the Legislative Assembly of the new Province, and the same proclamation gave to the nineteen counties sixteen members.

The first Parliament of Upper Canada was held in the same year, 1792, at Newark (afterwards Niagara), and sat between 17th September and 14th October of that year. The Acts of the first session introduced the law of England in regard to property and civil rights, and trial by jury, and provided for other of the more pressing needs of the Province, chiefly in regard to the administration of justice. In 1793 provision was made, for the first time, for general annual assessments throughout the Province, and for the raising locally and regularly of revenue to meet local expenditure. The conflict between Tory and Democrat as to the principle to be adopted in local government, though not very openly shewn or very sharply defined, had the effect of causing nothing to be done except the passing of a somewhat colourless Act (33 Geo. iii. c. 2) respecting the appointment of parish and town officers. It is interesting as shewing the extremely simple municipal needs to meet which it was thought sufficient for the time being. On the summons of two Justices of the Peace for the division "the inhabitant householders paying or liable to pay to any public assessment or rate of any parish, township, reputed township or place," were authorized to assemble and elect the following officers: (1) A clerk, who was required to make and return to the Sessions a complete list of the male and female inhabitants of the parish, and to enter and record such matters generally as related to the parish, etc.; (2) two assessors; (3) a collector; (4) an overseer of highways; (5) a pound-keeper; (6) two wardens. The wardens were to be chosen for the parish, township, reputed township or place, but as soon as there should be any church built for the performance of divine service according to the use

of the Church of England, with a parson or minister duly appointed thereto, then the inhabitant householders were to choose one person, and the parson or minister one other, which two persons were jointly to serve the office of churchwarden. It was further provided (s. 7) that such town wardens or churchwardens and their successors duly appointed should be as a corporation to represent the whole inhabitants of the township or parish, and as such they were declared to have a property in the goods or chattels of or belonging to the parish, and were required to prosecute or defend in all presentments, indictments or actions for or on behalf of the inhabitants of the parish.

Such organization of a parish or other locality was only authorized in case there were thirty inhabitant householders. Where there were less than thirty, they were to be joined to and taken to be inhabitants of the township adjacent thereto which contained the smallest number of inhabitants.

The Justices in Quarter Sessions assembled appointed a high constable and such ordinary constables as were required. The records in the offices of the various clerks of the peace in the Province must preserve interesting details of the various matters of municipal administration which were necessary in those primitive days, and were attended to by the Justices in Sessions.

By the kind permission of Mr. Irwin, Clerk of the Peace for the county of York, I have been enabled to examine the minute books of the Quarter Sessions of the Peace for the Home District and other records preserved in his office. Amongst the records are abstracts of assessment rolls from 1798, but, unfortunately, the minute books begin only with 1810, seventeen years after regular annual assessments had been established. Even at that date, however, the principal executive municipal functions were exercised by the Justices in Sessions, and throughout the minutes one constantly comes upon notes of business relating to local assessment and taxes.

The records, of course, cover also the judicial and legislative, as well as the executive functions, of the Quarter Sessions. Many well known names appear there, and the minutes altogether present an unexpectedly vivid picture of the times.

Among the magistrates appear the familiar names of William Jarvis, John Small, Will. Willcocks, Alexander Wood, William Allan, James Fulton, and Thomas Ridout. The last named was at first Clerk of the Peace, but resigned his office to take a seat on the Bench, giving place to Stephen Heward as Clerk of the Peace. D'Arcy Boulton and Jordan Post are pathmasters. John Ashbridge is surveyor of highways. Joseph Cawthra is pound-keeper. Hugh Heward is an assessor. William Allan is treasurer for the Home District. Benjamin Cozens is high constable. John Jordan, William and Maria Wilcocks, John Small, William Jarvis, Forbes Mitchell (Michie?), James Fulton, and Jabez Snider appear before the Sessions in various capacities, some to give information to or to transact business with the Justices, others to account for defaults in delivering lists of rateable property, or in performance of road duties, etc., etc.

The primitive society would appear to have been somewhat turbulent. Nearly all the offences dealt with judicially are assaults. Almost the first case is the charge of an assault by Stephen Heward, on which he was found guilty. On 9th April, 1811, the Bench consisted of five Justices, William Allan, Duncan Cameron, Donald McLean, Samuel Smith, and Archibald Thompson, and the case of the King at the prosecution of William Mattice against George Dennison for assault and battery, was disposed of favourably to the accused, who was acquitted. Shortly afterwards follows an apparently simple statement, namely, "the Court adjourned for half an hour." At the expiration of the half hour there met a board of four Justices, being all the above mentioned, except Duncan Cameron, and the grand inquest presented to the Court a presentment made by them against the same Duncan Cameron of York, Esquire, for an assault and battery on one James Chisney, to which honest Duncan pleaded guilty, and was fined one shilling, which he promptly paid to the sheriff in Court. Then, purged of his iniquity, he was free to mount the Bench again, but with admirable taste he did not do so till the following day, and so did not join in an order made that day that a warrant do issue against Jesse Updegraff on

the charge of having “damned the King and used other disrespectful language, on the 23rd day of March, 1811, at the house of John McBride on Yonge street." It is unsatisfactory to learn later, on 8th October, 1811, that James German, apparently bound over to give damning evidence against Updegraff, appeared on his recognizance and was discharged, because Updegraff could not be found in the District.

It does not appear to have been the masculine portion of society alone which had that primitive tendency to redress wrongs summarily by assault. On 10th July, 1811, was tried the case of the King at the prosecution of Elizabeth Coakley v. Leah Flanagan for assault and forcibly entering a dwelling house, and it furnishes incidentally an example of a convenient if informal method of rendering a verdict. The Court directed that the jury were to attend at the house of the chairman, William Allan, if they agreed upon a verdict before 10 o'clock at night (obviously the primitive, or at any rate William Allan's, bed-time), and the verdict would be partially received. The defendant's attorney promised that he would take no advantage of such proceeding should the verdict be given as above. It is then noted that on or about the hour of 10 o'clock the jury agreed upon their verdict and according to the direction of the Court repaired to the house of the chairman, where they partially gave in their verdict of guilty. They were ordered to appear in the jury box at 3 o'clock next morning, when being called, their verdict of guilty was formally returned and it was ordered that the prisoner at the bar, Leah Flanagan, do find sufficient sureties of the peace for one year, and (with even-handed justice) that the plaintiff do the same.

On 20th July, 1811, Benjamin Cozens, the high constable, was summoned and ordered to make and return the sales of Quakers' property for militia fines, imposed on them during the preceding year. On 26th October he was unable to produce the purchase moneys arising from the sales, stating that they were not yet paid by the purchasers. He was allowed a week to produce the money or notes of the purchasers. We find that he did so, making a return of 106 executions against Quakers' property, and was ordered to receive £16 for his