Richmond County (NS). Court of General Sessions of the Peace

Identity area

Type of entity

Corporate body

Authorized form of name

Richmond County (NS). Court of General Sessions of the Peace

Parallel form(s) of name

    Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules

      Other form(s) of name

      • Second or Southern District of Cape Breton County (NS). Court of General Sessions of the Peace
      • Richmond County (NS). Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace

      Identifiers for corporate bodies

      Description area

      Dates of existence

      1835-1879

      History

      Prior to 1879 local government in Nova Scotia was the responsibility of the appointed Court of General Sessions of the Peace, which was composed of all those who held commissions as justices of the peace within a particular county. Richmond County was created in 1835 when Cape Breton County, which encompassed the whole island, was divided into three counties. The Richmond County Court of General Sessions of the Peace began in approximately 1847 when the boundary with Cape Breton County was confirmed by Statute. Prior to 1847, it was referred to as the Second or Southern District of Cape Breton County. Meeting two or more times a year at Arichat, the court had both administrative and judicial functions. It was empowered to appoint local officials who had been nominated by the Grand Jury; levy county and poor tax rates; exercise control over roads, bridges, prisons, hospitals, and other public works; regulate animals, weeds, fires, taverns, and the inland fisheries, and perform other duties assigned by statute. It could also act as a court of justice, with limited criminal jurisdiction, using the Grand and Petit Jury system from England. The Grand Jury decided whether a charge should proceed to trial. The Petit Jury decided on an accused’s guilt or innocence. Jury members were selected by lot from a list of male residents who either owned land or held a minimum amount of personal wealth. The passage of the County Incorporation Act in 1879 replaced the administrative functions of the Court of General Sessions with an elected municipal council. Its judicial function was assumed by the Supreme Court on County Circuit.

      Places

      Legal status

      Functions, occupations and activities

      Mandates/sources of authority

      Internal structures/genealogy

      General context

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      Subject access points

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      Status

      Final

      Level of detail

      Dates of creation, revision and deletion

      created 2024-01-31 Karen White

      Language(s)

        Script(s)

          Sources

          Contents of the fonds.

          Ferguson, C.B. “Boundaries of Nova Scotia and its Counties” in Bulletin of Public Archives of Nova Scotia number 22. Reference number: Nova Scotia Archives library collection F90 N85 Ar2b #22.

          Name Authority for Annapolis County Court of General Sessions of the Peace.

          Cuthbertson, Brian and Wendy L. Thorpe, “The Local Government Records of Nova Scotia in the Public Archives of Nova Scotia” in Archival Association of Atlantic Canada Newsletter volume 4 no.1, April 1976.

          Phillips, Jim. “Halifax Juries in the Eighteenth Century” in Criminal Justice in the Old World and the New edited by Greg T. Smith, Allyson N. May and Simon Devereaux (Toronto: Centre of Criminology, University of Toronto, 1998).

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