Court and Government Documents

This site contains several types of court and government documents:

Supreme Court Documents
Wills and Probate Files
Gaol Records

Supreme Court Documents

Why does this document exist?

When judges "try" a case they need to take notes of the evidence presented to help them make their decisions or advise the jury. They take their notes in official "bench books". These records document the types of behaviours that were considered unacceptable to the government of British Columbia and, by implication in a democratic society, the majority of voters. These records outline attempts to try to punish people who broke the rules.

Why would we use this source?

Court records provide a wealth of information about behaviours that were not acceptable to the majority of the voting citizens and let us "see" the state's response to these behaviours. They tell us a lot about the role assumed by the state and the powers that it wielded. The testimony often included in bench book notes can give us insights into the ordinary daily lives of those involved in the events under interrogation. Most importantly, these records were generated and preserved by state bureaucracies and are therefore available for us to see. As with any other source, historians need to exercise caution using this type of source. Like many records generated by the judiciary, these document aspects of nineteenth century life that were, by definition, exceptional and unacceptable to most of the people in the colony. The world that they describe should not be mistaken for "typical" events and people any more than court cases today should be. There were many types of conflict and conflict resolution that never showed up in the courts. People on the "other side of the law" may have had a very different evaluation of the law's "justice" or its efficacy, but we seldom hear their story and almost never with the clarity contained in judicial records.

How do we find and use this source?

Unlike today, a complete transcript of criminal or civil trials was not created by the courts of the time. In the case of Tshuanahusset’s trial, newspaper coverage of the details was sketchy and uninformative. Included in the records of the Supreme Court of Civil Justice, however, are some of the "bench books" of colonial judges. These books contain the notes that each civil and criminal court judge took during the trial to help him keep track of each case. Knowing the name of the judge and the trial date from the (indexed) British Colonist, we were able to search through the Supreme Court records to find Judge Needham's bench books, organized by date, and locate his notes on the trial. Bench books are not, however, always listed by judge. It is also worth searching for them under the name of the city in which a court case was held.

If you would like to leave this site and explore this source in more detail at the BC Archives, go to:

GR-2030
VANCOUVER ISLAND
SUPREME COURT OF CIVIL JUSTICE
Originals, 1867-1869, 7 cm. (2 volumes)
Microfilm (neg.), 1867-1869, 35 mm, 309 exp. [B09802(2)]
Bench books for criminal cases heard by Judge Joseph Needham, 1867-1869.
http://www.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca/cgi-bin/text2html/finding/government/.gr_cat/GR-2030.txt?GR-2030

Wills and Probate Files

Why does this document exist?

Probate is a legal process designed to ensure that a deceased person's property is distributed according to the law. In the nineteenth century, a death would generate a probate file whenever someone with substantial property died without a will, or when there were complications with executing the provisions of an existing will. Most 'common' people, therefore, would not have their estate probated after their death, as most people (particularly women before the passage of the Married Women's Property Act) did not leave enough of an estate to bother, and/or did not have enough money to pay for the probate process.

Why would we use this source?

Wills and probate files do not provide information about the entire population. They are cumbersome to find and often difficult to read. Many more men than women, and few children, left behind such documents. They are, nevertheless, excellent sources of information about many aspects of personal, social, cultural and economic life. Probate files contain complete lists of personal and “real” (i.e., property) possessions, valuations of wealth, and the extent of an individual's debt. Probate files also indicate problems in the dispossession of wealth, and as such provide a window on conflicts within families and communities. Wills, in addition to detailing the extent of wealth and its dispossession, often reveal the nature of relationships -- hopes, expectations, disappointments, loves and hates -- within and between families. When information from these sources is gathered about large numbers of people and over time (i.e., in aggregate form) it can tell us a great deal about large social issues: standards of living, gender relations, and inequalities of wealth and power.

How do we find and use this source?

The first step in using probate files is to ascertain the date of death, the place of death, and the exact name of the person in question. British Columbia Archive's Vital Events Indexes are an excellent place to search for this information, and they are now on the Internet. The researcher can go to these indexes to search, by name, date and region, for the filing number of the will and the probate file, if they exist. Unfortunately, data in the nineteenth century indexes is often vague and sketchy, and names are often spelled incorrectly. As a result, most searches generate a number of possible file numbers for each name. From there, the researcher can then go to the BC Archives finding aid for Government Record GR-1304 to discover which microfilm reels contain the files in question. Up to this point you can do the research on the Internet. To see the will or probate file, you have to go to the BC Archives and look at the file on the appropriate microfilm.

To leave this site and explore this source further at the BC Archives, begin by visiting:

VITAL EVENTS INDEXES
http://www.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca/textual/governmt/vstats/v_events.htm

GR-1417
BRITISH COLUMBIA, SUPREME COURT (VICTORIA),
VICTORIA PROBATE INDEX AND WILLS INDEX
Originals 1861-1981
1 m, Microfilm (neg.) 1861-1981 6 reels 35 mm
[B01990; B11790-B11794]
http://www.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca/cgi-bin/text2html/finding/government/.gr_finding/GR-1417.txt?GR-1417

GR-1304
BRITISH COLUMBIA, SUPREME COURT (VICTORIA),
VICTORIA SUPREME COURT PROBATE/ESTATE FILES
Originals 1859-1941 57.8 m,
Microfilm (neg.) 1859-1925 68 reels 16 mm;
[B08877 - B08944]
Indexed in GR-1417 [B01990]
http://www.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca/cgi-bin/text2html/finding/government/.gr_finding/GR-1304.txt?GR-1304M

Gaol Records

Why does this document exist?

No one’s life was captured more fully by government documents than those charged with a serious crime. In major centres like Victoria, the number of prisoners meant that record- keeping had to be systematic. A ledger was kept recording the arrival of each prisoner in the jail, his or her status (accused/witness), occupation while in prison (e.g., hard labour), and the disposition of their case (acquitted/convicted). In order to keep track of them and return them in the event of an escape, a physical description was taken and the prisoner's ability to read and write was noted.

Why would we use this source?

The gaol records give us an insight into the history of crime and punishment and how the justice system worked. For example, we learn that principal witnesses could be put in jail if there was a fear they would not show up at the trial. The imprisonment of witnesses was almost wholly confined to aboriginal witnesses. They also tell us about the stereotypes held by the record-keepers in the way they describe prisoners. In the case of this murder, they also suggest that the Crown was uncertain who was the murderer and who the witness.

How do we find and use this source?

Gaol records are catalogued in a variety of ways. Some, like the Victoria records used here, are housed with the Attorney General's records. Others are filed under the name of the city and the gaol, for instance, New Westminster Gaol.

If you would like to leave this site and explore this source in more detail at the BC Archives, go to:

GR-0308 ATTORNEY GENERAL
INSPECTOR OF GAOLS
VICTORIA GAOL
Originals 1859-1914 2.7 m
http://www.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca/cgi-bin/text2html/finding/government/.gr_finding/GR-0308.txt?GR-0308