LETTER XXII.

LAWS AND CONSTITUTION OF THE TWO PROVINCES GOVERNOR, LEGISLATIVE AND EXECUTIVE COUNCILS, AND HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY IN LOWER CANADA COURT OF APPEAL-DESCRIPTION OF THE BARRISTERS COMPLICATED NATURE OF THE LAWS OF THE LOWER PROVINCE THE VARIOUS TENURES BY WHICH Lands ARE HELD IN CANADA-MANNER IN WHICH THE COUNTRY WAS FIRST SETTLED, AND THE CONDITIONS OF THE GRANTS-BAIL AMPHITEOTIQUE, OR LONG LEASE-CENSIVE-LODS ET VENTES, OR FINES OF ALIENATION FIEFS QUINT ET RELIEF-COMMUNITE DE BIEN, OR CO-PARTNERSHIP IN MARRIAGE.

PREVIOUS to the year 1660, although more than half a century had then elapsed since the settlement of Canada, the influence of law was entirely unknown in the country. The military authority was all which at that time existed, and even this was administered by the French governor or his lieutenant. The power of trying and condemning all persons, whatever their rank or condition in life might be, was his; and his decisions, as might be expected, were not always favourable to the innocent, nor merciful to the guilty. His most arbitrary and extravagant commands were obeyed, without any question of their expediency, validity, or justice. In this deplorable situation of affairs,

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individuals were frequently imprisoned without even a shadow of delinquency, and were tenced to some ignominious punishment without being permitted to rebut the accusations of their enemies.

In 1660, a tribunal was appointed for the trial of all civil actions, and the costume de Paris formed the code by which its judgments were to be directed. This tribunal was in existence in 1759, when the country fell into the hands of the English. From that period until 1774, the English laws, both in civil and criminal cases, were the only ones that were administered by the new government. It was, however, a cause of great dissatisfaction to the people, that they were governed by laws with which they were utterly unacquainted; and no wonder, for they were administered by men as familiar with English jurisprudence as the Canadians themselves! At Quebec and Three Rivers, officers of the army, whose education and previous habits had made them much more intimate with Champagne and Burgundy, than with Coke and Blackstone, were appointed judges both in civil and in criminal affairs. Montreal, the judges were selected from among the most respectable of the British population,—a race of men whom general Murray, in a letter to the Lords of Trade and Plantation, describes as ❝of mean education, who, having their fortunes to make, were not over solicitous about the means, so the end might be secured; in a word, as the most

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immoral set of men he ever knew."

The French

noblesse, who were numerous, and who piqued themselves on the antiquity of their families, on their own military glory, and on that of their ancestors, were justly offended at having such persons deputed to govern them. They complained of injustice and oppression; and, for a long time, nothing but disorder and animosity reigned in the Province.

In the year 1774, the British Parliament took the matter into serious consideration, and passed an Act, declaring all former provisions relating to the Province null and void, and directing that all future disputes about PROPERTY should be settled by the original laws of Canada, but that the laws of England should still be enforced in CRIMINAL CASES. This new act was productive of very favourable consequences. The restoration of the costume de Paris, of ecclesiastical dixmes, and feudal obligations, satisfied the Canadians, and established the tranquillity of the country.

Until 1791, the whole of the immense territory now comprised in Upper and Lower Canada, remained in this manner, under the designation of "the Province of Quebec." In 1791, the Quebec bill of 1774. was repealed, and another bill passed, declaring that the Colony should be divided into two distinct governments; and that separate legislatures, formed on the principles of the British Constitution, should be assigned to each of them.

The Government of Lower Canada is adminis tered by a Governor, a Lieutenant-Governor, a Législative and an Executive Council, and a House of Assembly.

The LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL consists of 26 members, who are appointed by a writ of Mandamus from the King. They must be natural-born subjects, persons naturalized, or such persons as have become subjects by the conquest and cession of the country. The members hold their seats for life, unless they remain absent from the country for more than four years, without having obtained the permission of his Majesty.

The EXECUTIVE COUNCIL consists of 13 members, who are also appointed by his Majesty. They exercise an authority over the affairs of the Province, exactly similar to that which is exercised by the Privy Council over the affairs of Great Britain.

The HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY at present consists of fifty members, who are chosen every four years by persons who are possessed of property to the clear yearly value of forty shillings. In cities or towns, the members are elected either by persons who possess a tract of land therein of the clear yearly value of £5.; or by those who have resided in the place twelve months previous to the issuing of a writ of

summons.

The criminal code of England extends to the Lower, as well as to the Upper Province. The laws

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.

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, who 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 law without any previous course of study to qualify them for such an important employment, except