New Courts for a New Land.

Using the North-West Territories Act, the Canadian government started to appoint stipendiary magistrates in 1876 to hear cases at District Courts throughout the North-West Territories. These courts, later known as High Courts of Justice, heard criminal and civil matters. Clerks of the court registered legal documents such as mortgages, partnerships and bankruptcies.

From the Archives

Alberta’s first Stipendiary Magistrate, Colonel James F. Macleod, while serving in the Royal Northwest Mounted Police, 1878-1881.

Cover of James F. Macleod’s notebook.

Judgements from the Bow River District Court record book, 1879-1881.

Chattel Mortgage registered in Bow River District Court, 1883.