Justice civile et communauté rurale au Québec, 1880-1920

At the turn of the century, civil justice in rural communities was organized into three non-judicialized instances: 1) the Commissioners' Court, 2) the Court of Justices of the Peace and 3) Conciliation measures. In this paper the institutional characteristics of these three community-type instances are examined. A study of available judicial statistics indicates that the level of activity of these instances went through a pronounced decline during the period between 1880 and 1920, specifically because of the high inflation rate. A brief study of judicial records of the Commissioners' Court of Saint-Raymond de Portneuf makes it possible to draw a profile of those who came under the jurisdiction of this kind of court. An examination of legal commentary and judgements on applications for the writ o/certiorari reveals the perception that the legal world then had of rural justice.