1889-90.] FIRST LEGISLATIVE WORK OF UPPER CANADA. 81 



In the second session the times and places of the meetings of the 

 quarter sessions of the justices were fixed by statute, and a probate and a 

 surrogate court were established in each district. 



In the third session amendments were made in the statutes respecting 

 juries, and jails and courthouses ; district courts were established for the 

 " cognizance of small causes," the lower and upper limits being forty shil- 

 lings and fifteen pounds ; and the Court of King's Bench, with powers 

 similar to the Court of the same name in England, was created as a " Su- 

 perior Court of Civil and Criminal Jurisdiction," an appeal in suits involv- 

 ing sums of more than one hundred pounds being allowed to the Governor 

 and two or more members of his Executive Council, sitting as a Court of 

 Appeal. 



All the other statutes dealing with the working of the legal system of the 

 Province that were passed during the remainder of the Parliamentary term 

 were Acts amending previous statutes, except one to provide for the regis- 

 tering of deeds, conveyances, wills, " and other incumbrances " afiecting real 

 property. 



II. MUNICIPAL AFFAIRS. 



Nothing could show more clearly than the statutes passed by the first 

 Parliament of Upper Canada to regulate those affairs now ordinarily termed 

 " municipal," the fact that it drew its inspiration largely from the U. E. 

 Loyalist immigrants, who were accustomed to free municipal institutions in 

 their former homes. During the first session very little was done in this 

 direction except to authorize the justices of each district to make what 

 regulations they pleased for the prevention of accidents by fire, and to 

 appoint officers to enforce them ; but in the second session an Act was 

 passed " to provide for the appointment of parish and town officers" within 

 the Province, and by " town " here is meant what we now call a " town- 

 ship." This statute is of great historical importance in relation to the 

 municipal system of Ontario, and, therefore, a brief summary of its provi- 

 sions may be useful here. It provided that in each township which had 

 " thirty or more inhabitant householders," any two justices of the district 

 might order the constable to call a public meeting of the householders of the 

 township on the first Monday in March for the purpose of electing a town 

 clerk, two assessors, one collector of taxes, not more than six overseers of 

 highways who should also serve as fence-viewers, a pound-keeper, and two 

 church wardens. The statute defines the duties of these various oflBcers, 

 and also provides that in the event of a refusal on the part of any of those 

 so elected to serve, any two justices might elect others to fill the 

 vacant offices till the next town meeting. The " inhabitant house- 

 6 



