are administered by two Chief Justices, and six puisne Judges, and an Attorney and Solicitor General: Beside these, a provincial Judge is appointed for the District of Three Rivers; another, for the Inferior District of Gaspe; and a Judge of the Vice-admiralty Court, who resides at Quebec.

There is also A COURT OF APPEAL, in which the Governor presides, with the assistance of his Lieutenant, not less than five members of the Executive Council, and such of the law-officers as have ›› had no cognizance of the previous trial. From the decision of this tribunal there is still an appeal to his Majesty in Council.

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So complicated are the laws, so indifferently understood, and so ill-defined, that law-suits are as numerous in every part of the country, as excommunications and indulgences were in England in the early days of Henry the Eighth. The Judges, are, for aught I know, well-meaning men and upright in their profession, do not appear to possess much of that extensive knowledge and profound erudition, which so eminently distinguish such characters in England. The Barristers are not deeply read in the laws; for they have but few opportunities of improving themselves, being either natives of the country, or enterprizing young men from Great Britain and Ireland, who, finding it impossible to procure a respectable livelihood in any other way, have embraced the profession of the lawwithout any previous course of study to qualify them for such an important employment, except

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what is barely sufficient to entitle them in Canada to the appellation of "professional men," which would be more descriptive if reversed into "men of profession." The forms of proceeding are so vague and undefined, that it is very difficult, and particularly for strangers, to obtain advice which may be confided in, even from the most eminent amongst them;-a state of things in which various suits have their origin, and are followed by their consequent evils. To say the truth, the study of the law in Canada is exceedingly perplexing; and the want of a regular University, or some other kind of Seminary, in which the mind might be early familiarized with the first broad principles of jurisprudence, renders it a very hard matter for young men, however industrious and clever, to arrive at eminence in the profession. In acquiring a competent knowledge of all the codes, ordinances, statutes, and declarations, by which the Province is governed, such intense application would be required as few persons are able or willing to bestow, at an advanced period of life, and after their attention has for many years been engrossed by perhaps equally laborious pursuits; and to this cause, probably, more than to any want of natural talent in the Canadian lawyers of British origin, may their general incompetency be imputed.

The laws by which Lower Canada is governed, are the Costume de Paris, or "Custom of Paris," as it existed in France in the year 1666,-the "Civil or Roman Law," in cases where the Custom

of Paris is silent,-the edicts, declarations and ordinances of the French Governors of Canada,-the Acts of the British Parliament passed concerning Canada, and by the English Criminal Law in toto, This complication of laws is at present absolutely necessary for the peaceable government of the country: But how much better would it have been, for the present and future inhabitants of Canada, if the English Law, in civil as well as in criminal cases, had been continued in force from its first introduction into the Province! The laws, as they are now administered, may be classed under four distinct heads,-the Criminal, Civil, Commercialand Maritime.

The CRIMINAL LAW, to which both the French and the British are subject, is wholly English.

"The CIVIL LAW, or compound of laws regarding property, is taken from the Costume de Paris, from the civil law of the Romans, and from such edicts, declarations and ordinances as were at any time made by the French Governors of Canada. These laws embrace a great variety of subjects, particu larly the feudal tenures, seignories, feifs and estates, held nobly or by villanage, moveable or immoveable property, marriage-dowers, and community of property between man and wife."

The COMMERCIAL LAW relates only to mercantile transactions, and is regulated nearly in the same manner as in England, except that in such cases there is no trial by jury.

The MARITIME LAW, or court of Vice Admiralty, is wholly English.

In Upper Canada, all lands obtained from the crown are held in free and common soccage; but, in the Lower Province, all lands granted by the French Kings are held under the feudal tenures.

When the colony was first settled, extensive grants of land, called "seigniories," were made to officers of the army, or to such other influential characters as possessed sufficient interest to procure them. The Seigneurs were generally noblesse of small fortune; and, being unacquainted with agriculture, and not very partial to its calm pursuits, were never much disposed to undertake the cultivation of their extensive Canadian estates. They therefore assigned a great portion of their seigniories to those soldiers who evinced a disposition to continue in the country, and to such other emigrants as were favourably recommended to them. The quantity of land ceded to each of these persons, amounted to about 240 acres, commencing at the banks of the St. Lawrence, with a front of three acres in breadth, and running back into the country to a length of about eighty acres. The conditions upon which these grants were made, were, that the Seigneur should receive a quit-rent for ever, together with a small annual rent, usually between 2s. 6d. and 5s., and certain trifling articles of domestic consumption, such as a pair of fowls, a goose, or a bushel of wheat. The grantees were also bound to grind their corn at the Moulin Bannal, or the Lord's Mill, where a fourteenth is taken for the Lord's use, as mouline, or payment for grinding. In this manner, the great mass of

the Canadians hold their land; but many farms are held by various other tenures, particularly by that of bail amphiteotique, or long lease of 20, 30, 40, or any number of years, subject also to a small annual rent.

But the most grievous restriction, under which the Canadians labour with respect to the tenure of their lands, is that which compels them to pay to the Seigneur what are termed "lods et ventes," or fines of alienation on all mutations of property en roture. By this law, if an estate changes its proprietors half a dozen times in a year, the Seigneur is entitled on every mutation to receive one-twelfth of the whole purchase-money; which one-twelfth, be it remembered, must be paid by the new purchaser, and is exclusive of the sum agreed to be given to the actual proprietor. To preclude the possibility of practising any fraud upon the Seigneur, he has the privilege of purchasing the property himself, for the price stipulated between the parties, if he be of opinion, that it is less than the actual value of the property, and choose to exercise this prerogative within forty days from the announcement of sale.

FIEF is an estate held on conditions of fealty and homage, and certain rights payable by the grantee to the Lord of whom the fief is held. These rights are quinte and relief: The former is the fifth part of the purchase-money, and must be paid on every transfer of the property by sale, or what may be esteemed equivalent to sale. The only property which is exempt from the payment