Proviso. As to the appointment of a Recorder for the on the juramentum litis decisorium, or on the juramentum judiciale, in the same and like cases and circumstances in which such examination may be lawfully required and had in the ordinary Courts of Civil Jurisdiction in Lower Canada; and to cause the execution of, and obedience to any Order, Precept, Writ, Process or Warrant, that may issue from the said Recorder's Court, for any one or more of the purposes aforesaid, by the like means as are used for any such purpose or purposes in the ordinary Courts of Civil Jurisdiction in Lower Canada. And it shall be lawful for the Council of the said City of Montreal, to appoint so many Bailiffs of the said Court, as the said Council may think fit; and to make and settle a tariff of the fees which should be exacted by the Clerk of the said Recorder's Court and by the Bailiffs and other such Officers, to be employed in and about the said Recorder's Court: Provided always, that no fee shall be exacted under such tariff until such tariff be approved of by the Governor in Council. And it shall be the duty of the Clerk of the said Recorder's Court, to prepare and make out all the Precepts, Writs and Processes severally that may issue from the said Court, and in a Register, to be kept for that purpose, to enter in a succinct manner, all the proceedings had in the said Court, and to record at full length all the judgments rendered, and convictions pronounced by the said Court, but not to take in writing the depositions of witnesses or of parties examined in the said Court; and any person who shall, either as a party or as a witness, wilfully and corruptly give false evidence, in any cause, suit, action, prosecution, or other proceeding in the said Recorder's Court, shall be deemed guilty of wilful and corrupt perjury, and shall be liable to the penalties of wilful and corrupt perjury; and any Member of the said Council, excepting the Mayor, Aldermen or Councillors of the said Council then sitting in the said Court, and any Member, Officer or Servant of the said Corporation, shall be a competent witness in any suit or prosecution that may be instituted in the said Recorder's Court, if he have no direct interest in the issue of such suit or prosecution, or be not otherwise rendered incompetent; any law, usage, or custom to the contrary notwithstanding, And any toll, assessment, tax, duty or impost, fine or penalty, that may be sued for in the said Recorder's Court, shall be recoverable there, upon the oath of one credible witness; and any person prosecuted in the said Court, for any offence that may be heard and determined by the said Court, shall be liable to be convicted on the oath of one credible witness. LXXXI. And be it enacted, That the Recorder for the said City of Montreal City of Montreal, &c. shall be a Barrister of that part of the Province of Canada heretofore Lower Canada, of not less than five years standing, and shall be appointed by the Crown during pleasure, and such Recorder shall be ex-officio a Justice of the Peace, in and for the said City and District of Montreal, and shall receive a salary of not less than Three Hundred Pounds per annum, payable monthly out of the Funds of the said City: Provided always nevertheless, that the said Recorder shall not in the first instance be appointed until after the Corporation of the said City shall have communicated to the Governor General of this Province, through the Provincial Secretary thereof, their opinion that such an Officer is required for the better conduct of the affairs of the said City, and administration of Justice therein. Proviso. Further powers of the LXXXII. And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for the said Recorder's Court to be held and to sit daily, and as many times as may be necessary each day, without previous notice or time fixed, to summarily hear and determine upon the case of any person offending against the provisions of the said Ordinance passed in the second year of Her Majesty's Reign, and intituled, An Ordinance for establishing an efficient system of Police in the Cities of Quebec and Montreal, or the provisions of any Act or Acts concerning Assessments to be raised in the said City, or concerning Markets, or against any By-law, Rule, Regulation or Order now in force, or that may be hereafter in force in the said City; and upon the case of any vagrant, loose, idle or disorderly person, and other offenders arrested by or in charge of the Police of the said City, the cases of persons arrested on view, or immediately after the commission of of any offence, or by Warrant issued out of the said Court, or by the said Recorder, LXXXIII. And be it enacted, That all fines and penalties imposed by any By-law, Rule, Order or Regulation, which may be in force at the time of the passing of this Act, whether made by the Justices of the Peace for the said District, before the passing of the said Ordinance to incorporate the City and Town of Montreal, or by the said Council, since the passing of that Ordinance, or hereafter to be made by the said Council, and all fines and penalties imposed by this Act or any Acts concerning any market or markets in the said City, or by any Act concerning any assessment, tax or duty to be raised in the said City, or by the said Ordinance, intituled, An Ordinance for establishing an efficient system of Police in the Cities of Quebec and Montreal, which shall or may be prosecuted for, or recovered in the said Recorder's Court; and generally, all fines and penalties, sued for, recovered, imposed or levied in the said Court, shall be recovered in the name of "the Mayor, Aldermen and Citizens of the City of Montreal," and for the use of that Corporation, and shall belong to and form part of the General Funds of the said City, and in no other name or for no other use. And it shall be lawful for the said Council to remit any such fine or penalty, or to accept payment of any such fine or penalty from any party willing to pay the same without prosecution, and all fines or penalties that may be so paid without prosecution shall form part of the General Funds of the said City. How certain fines, &c. are to be recover ed and applied. &c. of Mayor's Court, Court. LXXXIV. And be it enacted, That all and every the Records, Registers, Documents Records, Registers, and Proceedings of the Mayor's Court of the said City of Montreal, shall forthwith to be transferred over after this Act shall come fully into effect, be transmitted into, and make part of to the Recorder's the Records, Registers, Documents and Proceedings of the said Recorder's Court hereby established, and the said Mayor's Court shall, after the time aforesaid, cease to be held in the said City, and that no Judgment, Order, Rule or Act of the said Mayor's Court legally pronounced, given, heard or done, before this Act shall come fully into effect, shall be hereby avoided, but shall remain in full force and virtue, as if this Act had not been passed, nor shall any suit, cause or proceeding commenced or depending in the said Mayor's Court, be abated, discontinued or annulled by reason of the change made in the constitution of the said Court by this Act, but the same shall in their then present condition be respectively transferred to, and subsist and depend in, the said Recorder's Court hereby established, to all intents and purposes, as if they had respectively been commenced, brought or recorded in the said last mentioned Court, which shall have full power and authority to proceed accordingly in and upon all such suits, causes or proceedings, to judgment or execution, and to make such Rules and Orders respecting the same as the said Recorder's Court is hereby empowered to make in suits, causes or proceedings, commenced in, and depending before, the said last mentioned Court. LXXXV. And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for the said Council to establish Police Force estab. and regulate a Police Force for the said City, and for that purpose from time to time lished. as occasion may require, to appoint, either from the Police Force, now under the control of the said Council, or from any other persons, a sufficient number of fit men, who shall be sworn before the Mayor or Recorder of the said City, or before some Justice of 261* the Authority to apprehend idle and disorderly persons. Further powers given to the Police Force. the Peace for the District of Montreal, to act as Constables for preserving the peace, by day and by night, and preventing robberies and other felonies, and apprehending offenders against the peace; and the men so sworn shall not only within the City of Montreal, but also within the whole of the District of Montreal, have all such powers and privileges, (and be liable to all such duties and responsibilities,) as any Constable or Peace Officer now has, or hereafter may have, within the place to which his appointment extends, by virtue of the laws now in force, or hereafter to be in force, in Lower Canada; and it shall also be lawful for the said Council to appoint such Officers to superintend and assist in the management of the said Constabulary Force as to the said Council may seem needful, and to give to such Officers, so appointed, such names, and to assign to them such duties as to the said Council may seem proper; and the said Officers and Men so to be appointed, shall obey all such lawful commands as they may receive from the said Council; and any Officer or Officers, so to be appointed, shall, during his appointment, have not only all the powers and privileges of a Constable appointed under this Act, but also all such powers as may be necessary for the legal fulfilment of any duty or duties lawfully assigned to him by the said Council, and the said Council, or any Member or Members of the said Council, authorized to that effect by the said Council, may, at any time, suspend or dismiss any Officer or Constable appointed under this Act, whom they shall think negligent in the discharge of his duty, or otherwise unfit for the same, and appoint others in their place; and the Officers of the said Constabulary Force, shall have such power in relation to the government, control, dismissing or suspending of the Constables, so to be appointed, as the said Council may think proper, by a By-law in that behalf, to give to the said Officers respectively. LXXXVI. And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for any Constable, during the time of his being on duty, to apprehend all idle and disorderly persons whom he shall find disturbing the public peace, or whom he shall have just cause to suspect of any evil designs, and all persons whom he shall find lying in any field, and highway, yard or other place, or loitering therein and not giving a satisfactory account of themselves, and to deliver any person so apprehended, into the custody of the Officer or Constable appointed under this Act, who shall be in attendance at the nearest Police Station or Watch-house, in order that such person may be secured until he can be brought before the Recorder's Court of the said City, the Recorder of the said City, or in his absence before the Mayor of the said City, or such Alderman or Councilllor as may be appointed to act in his place, to be dealt with according to Law, or may give Bail to such Constable or Officer for his appearance before the said Recorder's Court, the said Recorder, or the said Mayor, Alderman or Councillor, if such Officer or Constable shall think fit to take Bail in the manner hereinafter mentioned. LXXXVII. And be it enacted, That in addition to the powers and authority conferred by the preceding section of this Act, on the said Constabulary Force, it shall and may be lawful for any Officer or Constable of the said Force, by day as well as by night, to arrest on view any person offending against any of the By-laws, Rules and Regulations of the said City of Montreal, or of the Council thereof, the violation of which is punishable with imprisonment; and it may and shall be lawful also for any such Officer or Constable to arrest any such Offender against any such By-law, Rule or Regulation, immediately or very soon after the commission of the offence, upon good and satisfactory information given as to the nature of the offence, and the parties by whom committed: and all persons so summarily arrested shall be forthwith conveyed to the City Hall for trial, before the said Recorder's Court, if then sitting, or if the said Recorder's Court can be soon thereafter assembled, or if not, that Bail or Recognizance may be taken by the said Recorder, by the said Mayor, or any Alderman or Councillor of the said City appointed to act in his stead, that the said parties shall appear at the next sitting of the said Recorder's Court, to answer the charge or plaint preferred against them, and for which they may have been so arrested as aforesaid; and every Recognizance so taken shall be of equal obligation obligation on the parties entering into the same, and liable to the same proceedings LXXXVIII. And be it enacted, That when any person charged with any petty Bail to be taken in misdemeanor, shall be brought, without the Warrant of a Justice of the Peace, into certain cases the custody of any Officer or Constable appointed under this Act, during his attendance in the night time at any Watch-house, within the said City as aforesaid, it shall be lawful for such Officer or Constable, if he shall think fit, to take Bail by Recognizance, without any fee or reward from such person, conditioned that such person shall appear for examination within two days before the said Recorder's Court, the said Recorder, or the said Mayor, Alderman or Councillor, within the said City of Montreal, at some time and place to be specified in the Recognizance, and every Recognizance so taken shall be of equal obligation on the parties entering into the same, and liable to the same proceedings for the estreating thereof before the said Recorder's Court, as Recognizances taken before a Justice of the Peace, and estreated before the General or Quarter Sessions of the Peace for the said District of Montreal; and if the party not appearing shall apply by any person on his behalf, to postpone the hearing of the charge against him, and the said Recorder's Court, the said Recorder, or the said Mayor, Alderman or Councillor shall think fit to consent thereto, the said Recorder's Court, the said Recorder, or the said Mayor, Alderman or Councillor shall be at liberty to enlarge the Recognizance to such further time as he shall appoint; and when the matter shall be heard and determined, either by the dismissal of the complaint, or by binding the party over to answer the matter thereof at the Session, or otherwise, the Recognizance for the appearance of the party before the said Recorder's Court, the said Recorder, or the said Mayor, Alderman or Councillor, shall be discharged without fee or reward. Officer or Constable punishable for neglect of duty. Officer or Constable how punished. LXXXIX. And be it enacted, That if any Officer or Constable, to be appointed as aforesaid, shall be guilty of any neglect of duty, or of any disobedience of any lawful Order, every such offender, being convicted thereof, before the Recorder's Court to be established under this Act, shall, for every such offence, be liable to be imprisoned for any time not exceeding thirty days, and to be fined in any sum not exceeding Fifty Shillings, or to be dismissed from his office, or to any two, or to all of the said punishments, as the said Recorder's Court shall in their discretion think meet. XC. And be it enacted, That if any person shall assault or resist any Officer Person assaulting an or Constable appointed under this Act, in the execution of his duty, or shall aid or incite any person so to assault or resist, every such offender, being convicted thereof before the Recorder of the said City of Montreal, or in his absence before the Mayor of the said City, or any Alderman or Councillor thereof appointed to act in his place, shall for every such offence forfeit and pay such sum, not exceeding Five Pounds, and be liable to such imprisonment, not exceeding thirty days, as the said Recorder, or in his absence, the said Mayor, Alderman or Councillor may adjudge: Provided Proviso. always, that nothing herein contained shall prevent any prosecution by way of indictment against any person so offending, but so as that such person shall not be prosecuted by indictment, and also proceeded against under this Act for the same offence. Certain laws to con tinue repealed, and XCI. And be it enacted, That every law, and every part of any law, repealed certain laws repealed. by the said Ordinance, to incorporate the City and Town of Montreal, or by the said Ordinance to amend the last mentioned Ordinance, shall continue and remain repealed; and all the provisions of any law inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, are hereby repealed. Powers of the Trinity Commissioners, or the missioners not to be Proviso. How this Act is to be understood with regard to powers conferred on Police Inspector, &c., by privious enactments, Reservation of Her Certain words interpreted. Public Act. XCII. Provided always, and be it enacted, That nothing in this Act shall extend or be construed to extend to revoke, alter, or abridge or in any manner affect the powers and authority now by law vested, or which may hereafter be vested in the Master, Deputy-Master, and Wardens of the Trinity House of Montreal, or in the Commissioners appointed or to be appointed for the execution of any Act now in force or hereafter to be in force, relating to the improvement and enlargement of the Harbor of Montreal, or any of them, or in the Commissioners appointed or to be appointed for making, superintending, repairing and improving the Lachine Canal, nor to the wharves and slips erected or to be erected by the said first mentioned Commissioners, nor to the wharves and grounds under the direction of the said last mentioned Commissioners: Provided always, that the said Corporation of the City of Montreal, shall have power, so often as the same may be requisite, to open any drain leading from the said City to the River St. Lawrence; to employ the Constabulary Force of the said City in the maintenance of peace and good order on the said Wharves, and to appoint and designate stands or places of rendez-vous for carts and carriages thereon. XCIII. Provided always, and be it enacted, That nothing in this Act contained, shall be construed to abridge or interfere with the duties, powers, authorities or jurisdiction of any Inspector or Superintendent of the Police, or of any Member or Members of the Police Force of the said City, appointed or to be appointed by the Governor of this Province, under and in virtue of the provisions of the said Ordinance of the Legislature of Lower Canada, passed in the second year of Her Majesty's Reign, and intituled, An Ordinance for establishing an efficient system of Police in the Cities of Quebec and Montreal, but the same shall continue to be executed and exercised as if this Act had not been passed. XCIV. And be it enacted, That nothing in this Act contained, shall in any manner derogate from or affect, or be construed to derogate from or affect the rights of Her Majesty, Her Heirs and Successors, except in so far only as the same may be expressly derogated from or affected by the provisions of this Act. XCV. And be it enacted, That the words "Governor of this Province," wherever they occur in this Act, shall be understood as meaning the Governor, or any person authorized to execute the Commission of Governor within this Province for the time being; and the word "Councillor" and the word "Councillors," wherever they occur in this Act, shall be understood as meaning any Member or Members of the said Council of the City of Montreal, unless by the context it shall appear clearly that the words "Councillor " or " Councillors," respectively, are intended to apply exclusively to a Member or Members of the said Council, who is not or are not the Mayor or Alderman or Aldermen of the said City; and the words, "the said Corporation," or "the said Corporation of the City of Montreal," wherever they occur in this Act, shall be understood as meaning the said Corporation of "the Mayor, Aldermen and Citizens of the City of Montreal," unless the context necessarily requires a different meaning to be given to those words; and that the words "Lower Canada," wherever they occur in this Act, are to be understood as meaning and comprehending that part of the Province of Canada which formerly constituted the Province of Lower Canada; and any word or words implying the singular number, or the masculine gender only, shall be understood to include several matters of the same kind, as well as one matter, and several persons as well as one person, and bodies corporate as well as individuals, unless it be otherwise specially provided, or there be something in the subject or context repugnant to such construction. XCVI. And be it enacted, That this Act shall be held and taken to be a Public Act, and as such shall be judicially taken notice of by all Judges, Justices, and other persons whomsoever, without being specially pleaded. CAP. |