Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
The County Courts were established in 1874 by an act that divided Nova Scotia into judicial districts, each presided over by a judge appointed federally pursuant to the Constitution Act of 1867. Of the seven districts, comprehending all eighteen counties, District Number One comprised Halifax County; District Number Two: Lunenburg, Shelburne, and Queens counties; District Number Three: Annapolis, Digby, and Yarmouth counties; District Number Four: Kings, Hants, and Colchester counties; District Number Five: Pictou and Cumberland counties; District Number Six: Inverness, Antigonish, and Guysborough counties; and District Number Seven: Cape Breton, Victoria, and Richmond counties. The new County Courts divested the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia of some of its original civil jurisdiction, which it had exclusively exercised since the statutory abolition in 1841 of the Inferior Courts of Common Pleas (county/district/township). The County Courts heard actions for debt not exceeding $400, tort actions for damages not exceeding $200, and appeals from the summary judgments of magistrates. Legislation in 1889 conferred a limited criminal jurisdiction on County Court judges, subject to a right of appeal to the Supreme Court.