OF THE COURT OF CHANCERY BY ames HON. CHARLES J. TOWNSHEND, One of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia. HISTORICAL ACCOUNT. OF THE COURTS OF JUDICATURE IN NOVA SCOTIA. THE object of this paper is to present an outline of the history of the several courts of justice both civil and criminal which have administered the laws of this Province from its earliest settlement to the present day-to trace the origin of their jurisdiction-to follow in historical sequence their growth and development; to mark the various changes and modifications in their constitution and procedure, and to note some of the peculiarities of our judicial system. This information is to be found principally in the archives of the Province, which, owing to the care of the late Dr. Aikins have been preserved and arranged in an accessible form. Too much credit cannot be given to that learned and honoured Nova Scotian for the zeal and fidelity with which he performed that useful work. I take more pleasure in publicly bearing testimony to his honourable character, and accurate work, because not long since both were violently assailed in a work which largely dealt with his labour in connection with the Provincial Archives. No one who knew that venerable and highly esteemed gentleman would for a moment credit such aspersions, but with the outside world such slanders uncontradicted might have some weight. In these archives are to be found the Royal Commissions to our early Governors, the Royal Instructions under which they acted, their voluminous correspondence with the Lords of Trade, at that period in charge of colonial affairs in England, the Statutes, Orders and Regulations passed before the Legislature was first convened by the Governor and Council in carrying out these instructions. All these must be consulted, and; lastly, the many volumes of statutes enacted by the first and succeeding Legislatures in order to obtain a clear and connected view of the origin and evolution of our Courts of Justice. For these reasons it is not possible to vouch for the absolute accuracy in all details of the account I have ventured to give in these pages. I trust at least material has been brought together which may aid some future student of the subject in pursuing his investigations. Prior to the landing of Cornwallis and his band of immigrants, the seat of government was the ancient town of Annapolis Royal, then garrisoned by British soldiers under Paul Mascarene. The executive government, both civil and military, was administered by him in conjunction with a council composed of officers of the army then on the station. Murdoch in his Epitome of the Laws of Nova Scotia tells us: "From the acquisition of Nova Scotia in 1713 till 1749 a kind of civil government existed at Annapolis in the title of Governor held by the commanding officer of a regiment stationed there. He had also a few councillors, such as his major and senior captain to assist him, but his post was a little village, and the French Acadians allowed all their affairs to be managed by their cures, having among them neither magistrates, lawyers, nor any kind of civil officers. The English did not attempt colonization here till 1749, when the appointments of Governor, Lieutenant-Governor and Councillors were conferred on the commander of the troops, and principal colonists at Halifax, who erected Courts of Justice, and passed ordinances, and under their rule the colony was managed until 1758" (a). This statement is not quite accurate, perhaps I should say does not fully present the position of matters. On reference to Calnek's History of the County of Annapolis at (a) Vol. I, p. 59. page 69, I find the following: "The year 1721 was marked by the establishment of a Court of Judicature at Annapolis. At a meeting of the Council held on the 10th day of April it was resolved That the Governor and Council do sit as a General Court or Court of Judicature four times a year.' They then appointed the first Tuesdays in February, May, August and November for the sittings of the Court. It likewise appears that in March, 1727, they issued the first commission of peace in this province, by which Adams, Skeene and Shireff were appointed Justices of the Peace to form a civil court, their judgment to be reported to the LieutenantGovernor for confirmation." The Court so constituted exercised both Civil and Criminal jurisdiction, as we find reports of several cases heard and decided by them. One is so curious and interesting that I extract from the same volume an account of the trial and punishment. "It was in this year, also," says the author, "that a Council was held in the house of John Adams to consider a complaint made by Governor Armstrong against Robert Nichols, his servant, for an assault upon him made at Canso nearly a year before. He was found guilty and sentenced as follows: 'You, Robert Nichols, being found guilty of the crime wherewith thou art charged by the Honourable Lawrence Armstrong, Lieutenant-Governor and Commander-in-Chief of this His Majesty's province of Nova Scotia, the punishment therefor inflicted on thee is to sit upon a gallows three days, half an hour each day, with a rope about thy neck and a paper on your head whereon shall be wrote in capital letters Audacious villian,' and afterwards thou are to be whipped at a cart tail from the prison to the uppermost house on the cape and from thence back again to the prison house, receiving each hundred paces five stripes upon your bare back with a cat o' nine tails, and then thou art to be turned over for a soldier." In 1732 the same Court tried and decided a suit between Joseph Jennings and William Winnett respecting the ownership of a house and premises. At this trial we have |