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Matthew Farfan
In the early 19th century, there were no police, courts, or prisons
in the Eastern Townships. The region was a distant frontier, far
from the cities of Lower Canada. In theory, the law was enforced
by part-time magistrates living in the scattered settlements. In
times of emergency, the magistrates were assisted by the local militia.
There were too few magistrates, however, and the only cases they
were allowed to try were those involving minor disturbances or lawsuits
involving a few dollars. Before the District of St. Francis was
created in 1823, with a court at Sherbrooke, cases involving a lot
of money or crimes of any kind had to be tried in courts in Montreal,
Three Rivers, or Quebec City.
Going to
Court:
If a resident of the Eastern Townships was owed $100 by someone,
and the person refused to pay the money back, the debtor had to
be sued in court in one of these three cities, depending on what
part of the Townships the person resided in. The countryside was
rugged, and roads were little more than muddy cart-tracks. A trip
to the city took days, and travelling was expensive and difficult.
There were also the usual lawyers' fees, court fees, and other expenses
to contend with. The whole process was costly and time-consuming,
and instead of bothering with it, many people simply gave up.
When a crime
was committed, a warrant for the suspect's arrest had to be signed
by a magistrate. If a magistrate could not be found, a militia officer
would suffice. The suspect then had to be apprehended and taken
all the way to the jail in the city to await trial. Many prisoners
escaped en route.
Horse stealing
was a common crime. (Source: S. Bertolini)
Crime along
the Border:
Especially lawless were the settlements along the American border.
Not only were there no police, courts, or prisons, there were no customs
officers to patrol the border either. This meant that smuggling was
common. It also meant that dangerous criminals, like cattle thieves,
bank robbers, or murderers, could cross in and out of Canada as they
pleased. Criminals fleeing Canadian justice had merely to cross the
border into the United States; and those from the States could take
refuge in Canada just as easily. Law-abiding people complained that
the Townships were home to a class of good-for-nothings. In 1822,
wealthy Sherbrooke resident William Bowman Felton painted a grim (though
possibly exaggerated) picture of the situation, emphasizing the threat
to private property:
"The Townships
are exposed to the influx of a transitory and immoral class, liberated
from the Gaols of the neighbouring States, smuggling or escaping
from their creditors, or the pursuit of the Laws of their Country...
every facility is afforded to ill disposed persons to plunder and
to escape from the Townships. That such events are of daily occurrence,
particularly the stealing of Horses; and that very frequently persons
detected in such crimes are liberated by the injured party, sometimes
without compensation...[the] passing of Counterfeit Bills is a common
and almost unheeded offence... in almost all the instances of committal...
prisoners... escape on the Road."
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