CHAP. 47. An Act for the more speedy trial before Police and Stipendiary Magistrates in the Province of Ontario of persons charged with Felonies or Misdemeanors. HE [Assented to 8th April, 1875.] ER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of Preamble. the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows: Magistrate 1. In case any person is charged in Ontario before a Police Trial before Magistrate or before a Stipendiary Magistrate in any county, instead of district or provisional county in Ontario, with having com- Court of mitted any offence for which he may be tried at a Court of General Sessions, by General Sessions of the Peace, or in case any person is com- consent of mitted to a gaol in the county, district or provisional county, accused. under the warrant of any Justice of the Peace for trial on a charge of being guilty of any such offence, such person may, with his own consent, be tried before such magistrate, and may, if found guilty, be sentenced by the magistrate to the same punishment as he would have been liable to if he had been tried before the Court of General Sessions. and 33 V., 2. The proceedings upon and subsequent to such trial Proceedings shall be, as nearly as may be, the same as upon a trial under as under 32 the Act of the Parliament of Canada passed in the Session c. 32. held in the thirty-second and thirty-third years of Her Majesty's reign, intituled "An Act respecting the prompt and summary administration of Criminal Justice in certain cases." 3. Every conviction under this Act shall have the same Effect of effect as a conviction upon indictment for the same offence conviction. would have had, save that no conviction under this Act shall be attended with forfeiture beyond the penalty (if any) imposed in the case. dismissal or conviction. 4. Every person who obtains a certificate of a dismissal, or Certificate of is convicted under this Act, shall be released from all further or other criminal proceedings for the same cause. 5. No conviction, sentence or proceeding under this Act Conviction, shall be quashed for want of form; and no warrant of com- &c., not to be quashed for mitment upon a conviction shall be held void by reason of want of form. any defect therein if it be therein alleged that the offender has been convicted, and there be a good and valid conviction to sustain the same. 6. If any person has, under this Act or under the said Act Effect of passed in the session held in the thirty-second and thirty-election of before a jury, under c. 32. third years of Her Majesty's reign, chaptered thirty-two, or 32 and 33 V., under any other Act giving such election, been asked to elect whether he should be tried by the Magistrate or before a jury, and has elected to be tried before a jury, then in case such election is stated in the warrant of committal for trial or upon the depositions, the Sheriff or the County Judge, or Junior or Deputy Judge, shall not be required to take the proceedings directed by the Act passed in the said Session, 32-33 V., c. 35. and chaptered thirty-five, intituled "An Act for the more speedy trial in certain cases of persons charged with Felonies and Misdemeanors in the Provinces of Ontario and Quebec ;" and in all such cases it shall be the duty of the committing Magistrate to state in the warrant the fact of such election. having been made. Magistrate not bound to adjudicate summarily If he does not, County Judge may try. Preamble. First 10 sects. repealed. Proviso. 7. If the Magistrate is of opinion, from any circumstances appearing in the case, that the charge cannot be properly disposed of before him, he may, at any time before the person charged has made his defence, decide not to adjudicate summarily theron; and may thereupon deal with the same as if this Act had not been passed: and in such case such prisoner may be afterwards tried summarily by his own consent at the County Judge's Criminal Court. CHAP. 48. An Act to repeal certain provisions of an Act of the Legis. lature of Nova Scotia respecting petty offences, trespasses and assaults. [Assented to 8th April, 1875.] WHEREAS the sections hereinafter mentioned, of chapter one hundred and forty-seven of the Revised Statutes of Nova Scotia, third series, intituled "Of petly offences, trespasses and assaults," contain provisions which are inconsistent with the Acts of the Parliament of Canada, passed in the session held in the thirty-second and thirty-third years of Her Majesty's reign, respecting the criminal law, or have become unnecessary and inconvenient since the passing of the said Acts: Therefore Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows: 1. The first ten sections of the first Act mentioned in the preamble of this Act, are hereby repealed: Provided that the express repeal of the said sections by this Act shall not be construed as declaring that the said sections were, or were not, virtually repealed by the passing of the Acts mentioned in the preamble. EXTRACTS EXTRACTS FROM CHAP. 49. An Act to amend and consolidate the laws respecting the civil and 59. A Court or Courts of Civil and Criminal Jurisdiction Courts of shall be held in the said Territories, and in every judicial criminal district thereof when formed, under such names, at such jurisdiction. periods and at such places as the Lieutenant-Governor may from time to time order. may 60. For every such court there shall be a clerk, who Clerk. be appointed by the Governor, who shall hold office during pleasure, and be paid an annual salary, not exceeding five hundred dollars. 61. The Governor may, from time to time, appoint, by Stipendiary Magistrates. commission under the great seal, one or more fit and proper person or persons, not exceeding three, to be and act as a Stipendiary Magistrate or Stipendiary Magistrates within the North-West Territories, who shall hold office during pleasure, and who shall reside at such place or places as may, from time to time, be ordered by the Governor in Council. 62. Each Stipendiary Magistrate shall have jurisdiction Functions. throughout the North-West Territories, as hereinafter mentioned, and shall also have jurisdiction and may exercise within the North-West Territories, the magisterial, judicial and other functions appertaining to any Justice of the Peace, or any two Justices of the Peace, under any laws or ordinances which may, from time to time, be in force in the NorthWest Territories. office. 63. Each Stipendiary Magistrate shall preside over such Jurisdiction courts in the North-West Territories as shall, from time to and oath of time, be assigned to him by the Lieutenant-Governor, and to qualify him to do so, he shall take the following oath before the Lieutenant-Governor or any Stipendiary Magistrate, that is to say : "I do swear that I will truly and faithfully execute the "several powers, duties and trusts committed to me by or "under The North-West Territories Act, 1875,' without "fear, without favor, and without malice. So help me "God." Court for trial of certain offences, how to be held. Without a jury. With a jury of six. With a jury of eight. To be of Imprison 64. The Chief Justice or any Judge of the Court of Queen's Bench of the Province of Manitoba, with any one of the Stipendiary Magistrates as an associate, shall have power and authority to hold a court under section fifty-nine, and therein to hear and determine as hereinafter mentioned, any charge preferred against any person for any offence alleged to have been committed within the North-West Territories, viz : 1. In any case in which the maximum punishment for such offence does not exceed five years imprisonment,- in a summary way, and without the intervention of a jury; 2. In any case in which the maximum punishment for such offence exceeds five years imprisonment but is not punishable with death,-then either in a summary way and without the intervention of a jury, if the accused assents thereto; or, if the accused demands a jury, then with the intervention of a jury not exceeding six in number, who shall be then and there, or as soon thereafter as can be, chosen and sworn by the Judge or Stipendiary Magistrate, as a jury in such case; 3. In any case in which the punishment for such offence is death,-then with the intervention of a jury not exceeding eight in number, who shall be then and there, or as soon thereafter as can be, chosen and sworn by the Judge as a jury in such case; 4. And every such court shall be a court of record; and record. if imprisonment in gaol for not less than two years or in a ment for two penitentiary, be awarded in any case, the court may order years or more. the convict to be imprisoned in the North-West Territories, or to be conveyed to the penitentiary in the Province of Manitoba, and he shall, in any such case, undergo such punishment therein, as if convicted in the Province of Manitoba; Ordinance respecting juries. No Grand Returns by 5. The Lieutenant-Governor and Council or Assembly, as the case may be, may, from time to time, make any ordinance in respect to the mode of calling juries, and when and by whom and how they may be summoned or taken, and in respect of all matters relating to the same; but no grand jury shall be called in the North-West Territories; 6. On the first day of January and June in each year, each Justice of the Peace, Stipendiary Magistrate, and other Judge residing in the North-West Territories, or who has presided at any court therein, shall send in to the Lieutenant-Governor, in such form as he may prescribe, a return shewing all trials and proceedings, civil and criminal, had before him during the preceding six months. Bench, Mani 65. A person convicted of any offence punishable by death Appeal may appeal to the Court of Queen's Bench of Manitoba, to Queen's which shall have jurisdiction to confirm the conviction or toba. to order a new trial; and the mode of such appeal and all particulars relating thereto shall be determined, from time to time, by ordinance of the Lieutenant-Governor and Council or Assembly, as the case may be. of certain offen and tried in 66. Any Stipendiary Magistrate of the said Territories, or Persons the Chief Justice or any Judge of the Court of Queen's charged with Bench of the Province of Manitoba, shall have power and ces may be authority to commit and cause to be conveyed to gaol in committed to the Province of Manitoba, for trial by the Court of Queen's Manitoba. Bench according to the laws of criminal procedure in force in the said Province, any person or persons at any time charged with the commission of any offence against any the laws or ordinances in force in the North-West Territories punishable by death or imprisonment in the penitentiary; and the said Court of Queen's Bench, or any Judge thereof, shall have power and authority to have any person arraigned before the said court on any such charge; and the N. W. T. jury laws and laws of criminal procedure of the said Pro- laws to vince shall apply to any such trial, except that the punish- punishment. ment to be awarded upon conviction of any such person shall be according to the laws in force in the North-West Territories; and the sentence may be carried into effect in a penitentiary or other place of confinement in the NorthWest Territories or in the said Province, as if the same were in the North-West Territories. govern as to 67. Whenever any convict or accused person is ordered Conveyance to be conveyed to gaol or to the penitentiary in Manitoba, of prisoners. any constable or other person in whose charge he is to be so conveyed, shall have the same power to hold and convey him, or to re-take him in case of an escape, and the gaoler or Warden of the penitentiary in Manitoba shall have the same power to detain and deal with him in the said Province as if it were within the North-West Territories, or as if the said convict or accused person had been ordered to be conveyed to such gaol or penitentiary by some competent court or authority in the said Province. 68. Where it is impossible or inconvenient. in the Imprisonment absence or remoteness of any gaol or other place of confine- at a distance from a gaol. ment, to carry out any sentence of imprisonment, any Justice of the Peace, or Stipendiary Magistrate, or the Chief Justice or any Judge of the Court of Queen's Bench of Manitoba, may, according to their several powers and jurisdictions, sentence such person so convicted before him or them, and sentenced, as aforesaid, to such imprisonment, to be placed and kept in the custody of the police force of the North-West Territories, with or without hard labour, the |