DOTY, only twenty-four years of age at the time of his appointment. He first resided at Prairie du Chien for a short time and afterwards permanently at Green Bay. He was succeeded by DAVID IRVIN, who was appointed April 26, 1832, by President ANDREW JACKSON, and continued to hold the office until the organization of the Territory of Wisconsin in 1836, having been appointed one of the three judges of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin Territory.

A radical alteration of the mode in which the affairs of civil government were to be administered in the Territory of Michigan was made by an act of Congress passed March 3, 1823.

It was provided by this act that the same powers which were granted to the Governor, Legislative Council, and House of Representatives of the Northwestern Territory by the ordinance of 1787, and which were transferred to the Territory of Michigan by the act of January 11, 1805, were thereby conferred upon, and should be exercised by the Governor and a Legislative Council; that the Council should consist of nine persons, to serve for two years, of whom five should be a quorum, and be appointed as follows: The qualified electors of the Territory were to chose by ballot eighteen persons, whose names were to be transmitted by the Governor to the President of the United States, who was to nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, appoint therefrom nine, who should constitute the Legislative Council.

The power of disapproval of any act passed by the Governor and Legislative Council was reserved to Congress.

The act provided that the Legislature should have power to submit at any time to the people the question whether a general assembly should be organized, agreeably to the provisions of the ordinance of 1787, and for the mode of such organization if a majority of the qualified electors should be in favor of it.

The tenure of office of the judges of the Territory was declared by the act to be limited to four years, and that the office should become vacant on the first day of February, 1824, and every four years thereafter. It was enacted that the judges should possess a chancery as well as a common law jurisdiction, and that their powers and duties should be regulated by such laws as were or might be in force in the Territory.

Two years subsequently the number of persons to be chosen by the people and transmitted to the President, from whom the members of the Legislative Council were to be appointed, was, by an act of Congress passed February 5, 1825, increased from eighteen to twenty-six, and the number to be appointed from nine to thirteen, and their compensation was increased from two to three dollars per day.

By the same act the Governor and Legislative Council were authorized to divide the Territory into townships and provide for the election of township officers; and also to provide for the election of all county officers, except judges of courts of record and clerk thereof, sheriffs, judges of probate, and justices of the peace; and that all other non-elective civil officers in the Territory, except such as are appointed by the President and Senate, should be appointed by the Governor and Legislative Council.

The act also prescribed that not less than two judges of the Supreme, or Superior Court of the Territory should hold, or transact the business of a court.

Such was the progress of the idea of popular government, that at the next Congress, by an act passed January 29, 1827, it was provided that the electors of the Territory, instead of choosing twenty-six, should "elect thirteen fit persons as their representatives," who should constitute the Legislative Council. The Governor and Legislative Council were to apportion the representatives among the several counties or districts in proportion to the number of inhabitants in each. But the reluctance to intrusting the people of a Territory with the power of electing their own representatives, in their own legislature, was such, that Congress, although it had the reserved power of disapproving of any act of the Territorial Legislature, inserted a section "that Congress have the right, at any time, to alter or repeal this act."

The settlement of that part of Michigan Territory known as the "Lead Mines," had so increased by 1830, that an act of Congress was passed on the 2d of April. in that year, which provided "that the term of the court appointed to be held annually on the second Monday of May, at the village of Prairie du Chien, by the additional judge of the United States for the Territory of Michigan, shall be held on the first Monday of October, annually, at Mineral Point, in the county of lowa," and the clerk and sheriff of that county were to be the clerk and sheriff of the court.

The domain of the Territory of Michigan was more than doubled by an act of Congress passed June 28, 1834, which added to it the territory now embraced in the states of Iowa, Minnesota, and that part of Dakota which lies east of the Missouri River. It was provided that "the inhabitants therein shall be entitled to the same privileges and immunities as the other citizens of Michigan Territory."

CHAPTER XIV.

LEGISLATION PREVIOUS TO 1835.

The last chapter was devoted to an account of civil government for a period of 322 years, during which Wisconsin was successively under the dominion of Spain, of France, of Great Britain, Virginia, and the United States.

To present in a connected way that feature of civil government, which consists of its legislation, during the same period- or more correctly the latter half of it is the purpose of this chapter.

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The first actual occupation of the Northwest Territory, as has been seen, was by the French.

During this possession which continued until 1763, when it was succeeded by British occupancy, the customs of Paris and the ordinances of the Kingdom with certain arrets and decrees of the Canadian authorities, constituted the rule of civil conduct in that extensive region of country.

The administration of justice however seems to have been limited to the more densely settled portions of the country. There only, courts of justice were established.

These laws were never enforced at any of the northern posts, or in the settlements which grew up in their vicinity. The parish priest and a few intelligent Frenchmen might have been provided with a copy of the" Coutume de Paris,' but there was no judicial officer to administer it.

The only civil officer located at any of these posts, was a notary public duly commissioned by the governor. He was an educated man, versed in the " Coutume" and a very important official, in view of the duties which devolved

upon him. He was required to keep a register, in which he recorded all the legal instruments drawn by him. It was his duty to keep the original document, and to furnish the parties interested with certified copies. Some of these instruments have been the subject of litigation in modern times.

In all matters of controversy between the inhabitants, justice was administered by the commandant of the post in a summary manner. The party complaining obtained a notification to his adversary of his complaint accompanied by a command to render justice. If this had no effect he was notified to appear before the commandant on a particular day and answer the complaint; and if the last notice was neglected, a sergeant and file of men were sent to bring him. The recusant was fined and kept in prison until he did his adversary justice. There was no sheriff and no costs.

But the practical administration of laws during this period was exceedingly limited in its effects, in that portion of the Northwest now constituting Wisconsin. The only inhabitants to be affected by it were at Green Bay, and possibly | at Prairie du Chien. (We have seen that as late as 1745 the colony at Green Bay did not exceed eight persons, and it is not probable that it was materially increased before the post was occupied by British troops in 1761. It is a matter of serious doubt whether there were any inhabitants at Prairie du Chien until after the jurisdiction passed to Great Britain.

On the 7th of October, 1763, immediately after the transfer of the country, the British King established by proclamation four separate and distinct governments, called Quebec, East and West Florida and Grenada, and at the same. time introduced into these provinces the civil and criminal laws of England, but no part of the territory north of the Ohio river was embraced within the limits of either, and for a period of eleven years that portion of the country appeared to be without the pale of civil government.

In 1774 a bill was introduced into Parliament as a government measure to make "more effectual provisions for the Government of Quebec in North America." Upon motion of Burke the bill was amended so as to embrace the whole Northwest Territory which was declared to be "annexed to and made a part of the Province of Quebec."

The bill was passed and the domain which is now Wisconsin was subjected to its provisions by which

"Canadian subjects were to hold and enjoy their property and possessions, with all customs and usages relative thereto, and all their civil rights in as large, ample and beneficial manner as if the proclamation, ordinances and other acts had not been passed; and All it is declared that in all matters of controversy, relative to property and civil rights resort should be had to the laws of Canada, as the rule for the decisions of the same. suits relative to such property and rights, were to be determined agreeably to such laws and customs until altered by the Governor and Legislative Council. The owner of lands, goods or credits had a right to alienate the same in his life-time, by deed of sale, gift or otherwise or to devise or bequeath the same, at his death, by last will or testament to be executed either according to the laws of Canada or the laws of England. The criminal law of England was to be continued in force in the Province. The King might appoint welpeace, a council, who should have power and authority to make ordinances for the fare and good government of the Province, with the consent of the Governor, and which were to be also approved by the King; but no ordinance should be made touching religion, or by which any punishment might be inflicted greater than fine and imprisonment for three months, until approved by the King."

Such were the principal provisions of the act, which the Old Congress in 1774 denounced as unjust, because it

"Extended the Province, so as to border on the western frontier of the colonies, establishing an arbitrary government therein, and discouraged the settlement of British subjects in that wide extended country - thus by the influence of evil principles and ancient prejudices, to dispose the inhabitants to act with hostility to the Protestant Colonies whenever a wicked ministry shall choose to direct them."

This is the law which in the Declaration of Independence is referred to as one of those "acts of pretended legislation" to which the King had given his assent, in these words:

"For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries, so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these colonies."

Notwithstanding the adoption of this law the inhabitants of the district of country "annexed to and made a part of the province of Quebec" were not yet destined to realize A few justices of the the benefit of a civil government.

peace were commissioned but this was all.

A citizen of Detroit, who went there in 1778, relates that in 1779, the governor

"Getting tired of administering justice, proposed to the merchants to establish a court of trustees, with jurisdiction extending to £10 Halifax currency. Eighteen of these entered into a bond that three of them should be a weekly court, in rotation, and that they should defend any appeal which might be taken from their decision. They rendered judgment and issued execution, and imprisoned the defendant in the guard house."

Neither the change of sovereigns or of laws seems to have