the Records, Registers, Documents and proceedings of the Court of Appeals hereby established.

XIX. And be it enacted, that no judgment, order, rule, or act of the Provincial Court of Appeals hereby abolished, legally pronounced, given, had or done before the commencement, of this Act, shall be hereby avoided, but shall remain in full force and virtue, as if this Act had not been passed; nor shall any Cause, Appeal, Writ of Error, or proceeding, depending in the said Provincial Court of Appeals be abated, discontinued, or annulled, but the same shall in their then present condition, be respectively transferred to, and subsist and depend in the Court of Ap peals hereby established, to all intents and purposes, as if they had been respectively commenced, brought or recorded in the said last mentioned Court; and the said last mentioned Court shall have full power and authority to proceed accordingly in and upon all such Causes, Appeals, Writs of Error and proceedings, to judgment and execution, and to make such rules and orders respecting the same, as the Provincial Court of Appeals hereby abolished might have made, or as the said Court of Appeals hereby established is hereby empowered to make in Causes, Appeals, Writs of Error and proceedings commenced in, or depending before the said last mentioned Court.

XX. And be it enacted, that every Writ or Process which shall have been made returnable into the Provincial Court of Appeals hereby abolished, on any day subsequent to the commencement of this Act, shall be returnable into the Court of Appeals hereby established, and shall be held and considered to be returnable on the first day of the Term of the said last mentioned Court, next following the day on which such Writ or Process shall have been made returnable.

XXI. And be it enacted, that so much of any Act, Ordinance or Law, as shall be repugnant to or inconsistent with this Act, shall be and is hereby repealed.

XXII. And be it enacted, that the words, "Governor of this Province" wherever they occur in the foregoing enactments, are to be understood as meaning and comprehending the Governor or the Person authorized to execute the cominission of Governor within this Province, for the time being; and that the words, "Lower Canada" wherever they occur in the said enactments, are to be understood as meaning and comprehending that part of this Province of Canada, which formerly constituted the Province of Lower Canada; and any word or words importing the singular number only, shall be understood to include several matters of the same kind as well as one matter, unless it be otherwise specially provided, or there be something in the subject or context repugnant to such construction.

XXIII. And be it enacted, that the foregoing enactments of this Act shall At what time commence and have force and effect upon, from and after the twenty first day of April, one thousand eight hundred and forty four, and not before.

CAP XIX.

An Act to provide for the Summary Trial of Small Causes in Lower

Canada.

W

[9th December, 1843.7

this Act shall come into force.

On Petition of the Inhabi

tants, Commis

sioners' Courts may be estab

THEREAS experience hath shown, that an easy and expeditious mode of Preamble. recovering petty debts, and deciding causes where the matter in dispute is of small value, in Lower Canada, is materially beneficial to the Inhabitants of that portion of this Province; Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada, constituted and assembled by virtue of and under the authority of an Act passed in the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, intituled, An Act to re-unite the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, and for the Government of Canada, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, that whenever a petition praying for the establishment of a Commissioners' Court, for the purposes herein. after mentioned, shall have been presented by at least one hundred proprietors of lands or tenements in any Parish, Township or extra-Parochial place in Lower Canada, to the Governor of this Province, it shall be lawful for him to appoint one or more persons resident in such Parish, Township or extra-Parochial place, to be Commissioner or Commissioners in and for the same, and to hold the Commissioners' Court therein, for the purposes of this Act: Provided always, that no appointment of a Commissioner or Commissioners shall be made upon such Petition, unless it shall be certified thereupon to the Governor, by three of the principal Inhabitants of such Parish, Township or extra-Parochial place, that the persons whose names are thereunto subscribed, are really inhabitants of such Parish, Township or extra-Parochial place, and proprietors of lands and tenements therein: And provided also, that no Bailiff, Serjeant of Militia, Tavern-keeper or person keeping a house of public entertainment, shall be appointed, or shall act not to be Comas a Commissioner, for the purposes of this Act.

lished in cer

tain places,

Proviso,

Proviso-Certain persons

missioners.

II. Provided always, and be it enacted, that in and for the Cities and Parishes Circuit Judges of Quebec and Montreal, the Circuit Judges hereafter to be appointed in and for sioners ex uffithe Districts of the same names, respectively, under a certain Act passed during and Montreal.

the

in Quebec Proviso.

Amount of

the Commis

the present Session, shall be ex officio Commissioners for the purposes of this Act, and shall hold the Commissioners' Courts in and for the places aforesaid, respectively: Provided a petition, as hereinbefore required, be presented, and no other Commissioners shall at any time be appointed in and for the same: Provided also, that by the City and Parish of Quebec, the Parish of St. Roch shall be understood to be intended and included for all the purposes of this Act.

III. And be it enacted, that each of the Commissioners' Courts aforesaid, shall Jurisdiction of have power to hear, try and determine, in a summary way, according to the rights sioners Courts, of the parties, and to equity, and good conscience, and to the best of the knowand class of therein ledge and judgment of the Commissioner or Commissioners by whom they shall

cases

cognizable.

Exceptions.

Persons under 21 but over 14 years, may sue for wages.

Oral testimony receivable tho' the amount in

be held, all suits and actions, (with the exceptions hereinafter made) purely personal or relating solely to moveable property, wherein the sum or the value of the thing demanded shall not exceed six pounds five shillings, currency, and the Defendant or Defendants shall be resident within the Parish, Township or extraParochial place, in and for which the Commissioner or Commissioners shall have been appointed.

IV. Provided always, and be it enacted, that the Jurisdiction of the Commissioners' Courts established under this Act shall not extend to actions for Slander, or for Assault or Battery, nor to such as shall relate to Paternity, or to the Civil Estate of persons in general, or for Seduction, or Lying-in expenses, or for any Fine or Penalty whatever.

V. And be it enacted, that any person under the age of twenty-one years, but above the age of fourteen years, may prosecute a suit in any Commissioners' Court held under this Act, for any sum of money not exceeding six pounds five shillings, currency, due to him for wages, in the same manner as if he were of full age; any law to the contrary notwithstanding.

VI. And be it enacted, that in matters cognizable in the said Commissioners' Courts, proof by oral testimony shall be receivable and sufficient in all cases dispute exceed wherein, before the passing of this Act, it would have been receivable and sufficient,

100 livres.

Defendant

may in certain

if the sum or the value of the thing in dispute had been of less than one hundred livres, ancien cours; and any law heretofore in force in Lower Canada, requiring proof in writing, or a commencement of proof in writing, in such cases, is hereby repealed.

VII. Provided also, and be it enacted, that whenever there shall not be a Comcases be sued, missioner appointed for and resident in the Parish, Township, or extra-Parochial before the place in which the Defendant shall reside, or if all the Commissioners be absent

tho' not in the same Parish,

or sick, or unable to act as Commissioners, so that the Court cannot be held, then nearest Court, such Defendant may be sued before that other Commissioners' Court which shall be held nearest to the place in which the Defendant shall reside and in the same &c. District, provided the distance do not exceed ten leagues; and in every case the suit may be brought before the Commissioners' Court nearest to the residence of the Defendant, although such Court be not within the same Parish, Township, or extra-Parochial place, provided it be within ten leagues, and in the same District.

One Court

place.

VIII. Provided always, and be it enacted, that no more than one Court shall be held in any Parish, Township, or extra-Parochial place in Lower-Canada, under inbach labeld this Act, although two or more Commissioners may have been appointed for the same; but the Court may be held by any one of such Commissioners, it being nevertheless competent to all the Commissioners appointed in and for the same place, to be present and to assist at such Court if need be, or if they think fit: Places for holdand, except in the Cities and Parishes of Quebec and Montreal, the place where ing the Courts. the Court shall be held in each Parish, Township or extra-Parochial place, shall be near the Church, or at the most public and frequented place, and shall from time to time be fixed by the Commissioner, or by the majority of the Commission- fixed. ers where there are more than two Commissioners in and for the same place, and when there are two Commissioners and no more, then by the Commissioner whose name is the first on the list; and in every Summons or Order of Subpæna to be issued under this Act, the place where the Court is to be held shall be mentioned.

By whom

To be men

tioned in Summons, &c.

Times of hold

ing the Courts.

Room to be

IX. And be it enacted, that except in and for the Cities and Parishes of Quebec and Montreal, the Commissioners' Courts aforesaid shall be held on the first Monday of every month, not being a holiday, and if it be a holiday then on the following day, and on any other days to which they may then find it necessary to adjourn for hearing witnesses and for determining suits; and that such Courts, respectively, shall so be held publicly in some suitable room or place, which shall provided by be provided for that purpose by the Clerks thereof, under the direction of the Commissioners; and the expense of hiring and warming such room or place, and all other expenses necessary for the convenient holding of the said Courts shall be paid by such Clerks, respectively, out of the fees hereinafter assigned to them: Proviso. Provided always, that no such Court shall at any time be held in any tavern or place of public entertainment, nor in any building thereunto appertaining.

X. And be it enacted, that in and for the said Cities and Parishes of Quebec and Montreal, respectively, the Commissioners' Court shall be held weekly on every Monday not being a holiday, and if it be a holiday then on the following day, and on such other days as it shall be adjourned to in the manner provided with regard to other Commissioners' Courts; and in and for the said Cities and Pa

Summons, how issued.

rishes the Commissioners' Courts shall be held in the Court Houses there situate, and in such part thereof as shall from time to time be assigned for the purpose by the Justices of the Courts of King's (or Queen's) Bench sitting in such Court Houses, respectively.

XI. And be it enacted, that in any case cognizable in a Commissioners' Court, it shall be lawful for any one of the Commissioners, upon request or application to him made, to grant and cause to be issued a Summons which shall be in the form of that one of the Schedules annexed to this Act which shall suit the case, and shall not be returnable within less than three days from the day of service, in Delay between cases where the Defendant shall reside within two leagues from the place at which

service and return of Summons.

Case of recusation of Commission

he shall be summoned to appear, allowing one day more between the service and return of every such Summons for every five leagues distance over and above the said two leagues.

XII. And be it enacted, that if in any suit all the Commissioners be recused by either party (and any recusation and the grounds thereof shall be reduced to

ers provided writing) and the Court be thereby rendered incompetent to proceed with the case,

for.

Evocation and Appeal allow

such suit shall immediately be transmitted to the nearest Commissioners' Court in the same District; and if the recusation be there adjudged valid, such Court shall proceed to hear and determine the cause; but if the recusation shall be adjudged frivolous or unfounded, the parties shall be sent before the Court in which the Commissioners shall have been recused, in order that such Court may proceed as if the recusation had not been made; and in such case the Court before whom the cause shall have been originally brought, may, without any reference to the merits thereof, tax the costs of such frivolous or unfounded recusation against the party by whom it shall have been made.

XIII. And be it enacted, that in all cases where a Defendant or other party may ed in certain evoke a suit out of any Circuit Court into the Court of King's Bench, or out of

cases.

Proviso:

As to suits brought in Suwhich might

the Inferior Term of any Court of Queen's Bench, into the Superior Term thereof, and may appeal from thence to the Court of Appeals for Lower Canada and to Her Majesty in Her Privy Council, such Defendant or other party, being a suitor before a Commissioners' Court, shall have the same right of evocation and appeal, and may evoke the suit to the Superior Term of the Court of King's (or Queen's) Bench for the District: Provided always, that in all cases where any suit or action, against any person residing within the Jurisdiction of any Court established by this Act for any cause or matter cognizable before such Court, shall be brought before any District, Division, or Circuit Court, or Court of Queen's Bench, the Plaintiff shall not be entitled to recover any greater amount of Costs than if such suit or action, had been brought before the Court established by this