to a wide range of cases, including affidavits, a coroner’s inquest and indictment, an information, a jury summons, and sev–eral petitions.
• B87: Papers regarding prisoners and trials throughout Upper Canada, 1794–1825. Mostly calendars of prison–ers, also a few jury lists.
Justices of the Peace
• LAC R3800-0-3-E (formerly MG24 D108) Robert Nelles fonds 1782–1848. Series consists of chronologi–cally arranged papers of Robert Nelles and his family. The reports and affidavits largely pertain to his career and activities as a Member of Legislative Assembly and a Justice of the Peace respectively.
• NHS Records of Justice of the Peace, Francis Leigh Walsh (1824–1880).
• TPL S113 Alexander Wood papers, 1798–1837. Correspondence and court filings while Justice of the Peace in York, 180 pieces.
• TUA 71-006 John Huston fonds, 1818–1849. Includes his papers as Justice of the Peace.
Clerks of the Peace
• LAC MG9 D8-14 Johnstown District collection: the papers of Edward Jessup, Clerk of the Peace 1800–1801, 102 pages. Series consists of papers preserved by Edward Jessup while Clerk of the Peace. Included are two pages and miscellaneous papers relating to prosecutions before the Court of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace for the Johnstown District. A list of individuals involved pre–cedes the volumes.
• NHS Thomas Welch Papers, Clerk of the Court, London District. Court Papers, 1796–1816.
• PCMA lPeterborough County Court fonds, 1830–1909. Clerk of the Peace Records, Criminal Court Cases, indictments.
Sheriffs
• LAC R4024-0-6-E (formerly MG24 I26 volumes 44–48) Alexander Hamilton and family fonds, records of the sher–iff and various courts of the Niagara District, 1818–1837.
• LAC R6180-0-5-E (formerly MG24 I27) John McEwan fonds, 1811–1868. Fonds consists of correspondence and papers of Captain John McEwan including some legal documents acquired while he was sheriff of Essex County.
• LAC R4029-0-2-E (formerly MG24 I8) MacDonell Family Fonds, Allan MacDonell papers, 1837–1868. Series consists of papers and records collected as sheriff of Gore, 1837–1843 relating primarily to the Rebellion of 1837.
• LAC R3944-0-4-E (formerly MG24 I73) J. W. Dunbar Moodie fonds. Official correspondence received by Moodie while he was sheriff of the Victoria District 1839–1863.
• TUA 90-005Victoria County fonds, 1834–1969: General Quarter Sessions of the Peace, includes sheriff’s books.
Correspondence and Miscellaneous Records
Inventory
• AO RG 22-119 Western District (Windsor) Court of General Quarter Sessions of Peace, correspondence, 1792–1881 in Hiram Walker Collection, MS 205.
• AO RG 22-120 Western District (Windsor) Court of General Quarter Sessions of Peace, miscellaneous, 1808– 1853 in Hiram Walker Collection, MS 205.
• BULA McEwen, Ann Alexandra. Crime in the Niagara District, 1827–1850. Guelph: University of Guelph, Dept. of History, 1991. Unpublished Thesis.
• BULA Thompson, Frances Ann. Local Authority and District Autonomy: The Niagara Magistracy and Constabulary, 1828–1841. Ottawa: University of Ottawa, 1996. Unpublished Thesis.
Treason and Rebellion Investigations
Many of the informations (testimony) relating to treason dur–ing the War of 1812 and the Rebellion of 1837 can be found in the Upper Canada Sundries (LAC RG 5 A1 Correspondence of the Civil Secretary). There is a typed calendar to these records that includes the names of all individuals mentioned in them. It is prepared in chronological order, not alphabetically. A partial alphabetical index (up to 1816), can be found on the author’s website: www.uppercanadagenealogy.com.
Records of investigations for treason and rebellion are often found separated from regular criminal records. Known collec–tions are as follows.
Inventory
• AO RG22-143: Court of King’s Bench records of high treason trial of 1814. Series consists of the few remain–ing records of the High Treason Trials held at Ancaster during May and June 1814. Included are the following documents: dockets regarding the outlawry of Matthias Brown and Benajah Mallory; two depositions against Eliazir Daggett, Oliver Gran, and Eliakim Crosby; and the indictment against Luther McNeal and an exem–plification of judgement against McNeal. Also included with this series are the commissions and inquisitions regarding lands forfeited by those convicted of high treason. The commissions were issued in December 1817, and the inquisitions were held in January 1818. There is also a commission and inquisition for Samuel Thompson dated 1824.
• LAC RG5 B39 Civil Secretary, records relating to Rebellions. Upper Canada. Records of the inquiry into the conduct of Colonel John Prince at the Battle of Windsor, 1839.
• LAC RG5 B43 Civil Secretary, records relating to Rebellions. Upper Canada. Documents relating to the prosecution of Alexander McLeod for the destruction of the Caroline, 1841.
• LAC R4029-0-2-E (formerly MG24 I8) MacDonell Family Fonds, Allan MacDonell papers, 1837–1868. Series consists of papers and records collected as sheriff of Gore, 1837–1843 relating primarily to the Rebellion of 1837.
A person accused of a crime in Upper Canada was presumed innocent until proven guilty. This was true regardless of the type or severity of the offence. However, there were different types of adjudication. Very minor offences, often called regulatory offences or by-law infractions, such as failing to perform stat–ute labour, being drunk and disorderly, and prostitution, did not require the attention of a court and could be dealt with “sum–marily” (i.e., without trial by jury) by one or two magistrates. Minor crimes that were not punishable by capital punishment or penitentiary terms were tried at the lower-level criminal courts, called Quarter Sessions. Capital crimes were tried only by the high court, popularly called the Assizes.
Summary Justice
Before 1834, certain minor infractions could be handled infor–mally by local magistrates. A long history of statutes (based on English law, and continuing with Quebec laws prior to the founding of Upper Canada in 1791), stipulated which offences could be decided by a single magistrate, which ones required two magistrates, which required three magistrates, and which had to go before the courts.When two or three magistrates sat together out–side the courts, their sessions were called “Petty Sessions.” Those sessions did not require a jury. This was called “Summary Justice.”1
After 1834, magistrates gained a great deal of authority, so a single Justice of the Peace could hear a wide range of minor cases without a jury.These included simple assault, willful or malicious damage to real or personal property, and willful disturbance of a religious congregation by rude and indecent behaviour or noise.2
The
