Easter term commences on the first Monday in February, and ends on the Saturday of the following week.
Trinity term, second Monday in June, and ends Saturday of the following week.
Michaelmas term, first Monday in August, until Saturday of the following week.
Hilary, first Monday in November, until Saturday, as before.
The Quarter Sessions are held throughout the province on the 7th of January, 1st of April, 1st of July, and 18th of November.
The District Courts are held at the same time as the Quarter Sessions. This court has jurisdiction in all matters of contract from 40s. to £15; and, when the amount is liquidated or ascertained, either by the act of the parties, or the nature of the transaction, to £40. Thus a promissory note under £40 can be sued in this court before the district judge, who is usually a barrister: and an open or unsettled account under £15, but none above that amount; also, all matters of wrong, or, as the lawyers please to call it, tort, respecting personal chattels, when title to land is not brought in question, and the damages are under £15. The judge of the District Court, by a late Act, presides also at Quarter Session.
The ordinary costs of a suit before him are from £5 to £10; and in the Queen's Bench, before a real judge, from £10 to £30.
The Division Courts are a sort of non-descript Courts of Conscience for recovery of small debts under £10; and here the district judge has his hands full, for he comes into play as president again, and has to hold courts in six divisions of his district once in two months.
The Court of Chancery is the summum bonum; its costs are, of course, very great, and its decisions, though not quite so protracted as those of England, nor involving such stakes, plague many a poor suitor who comes to equity, when he can no longer get justice. I should most strongly advise him to ponder deeply, after wading through Division, District, and Queen's Bench, through judges without a wig and gown to judges in full paraphernalia, and barristers and attorneys without end, before he encounters a Master in Chancery. It may be such a lesson as he will never forget, for Canada is rather a litigious country—it is too near the States to be otherwise, and lawyers, as well as all other trades and professions, must live. Young settler, stick to your farm, get a clear title to your land, and never get into debt.
I left Kingston in autumn, as aforesaid, with the farm stock and implements, and embarked on board the Prince Edward steamboat, Captain Bouter, for the mouth of the river Trent, in the Bay of Quinte.