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Table of Contents

In issuing the second edition of the Constitutional Documents, 1759-1791, it has been found necessary to divide the volume into two parts. This is owing partly to the additional documents included, but chiefly to the improved form in which it is printed. While the original plan of the work, as indicated in the introduction, has not been departed from, a few additional documents and some extensions of the notes have been found desirable.

A few documents, not available at the time of printing the first edition have since been discovered. Among these the most important are the Report of the Board of Trade of September 2nd, 1765 (p. 237) and the Discussion of Petitions and counter-Petitions re Change of Government in Canada (p. 970), referred to in the despatch of Grenville to Dorchester of 20th October, 1789 (p. 969). Since the first part of this edition was printed, the full text of Lord Thurlow's report has been discovered in the Archives of the Court House of Montreal. While it is to be regretted that it was not discovered in time to be included in this issue, it may be observed that the abridgment of it which is given (p. 437), as taken from Christie's History of Lower Canada, contains nearly all that is essential in Thurlow's argument. The portions omitted are chiefly summaries of the earlier documents submitted to the Law Officers as the basis for their report, and which are reproduced in full in the earlier portion of this work. In the latter part of the report, certain portions of Thurlow's argument were omitted by Christie, but the most important sections are given in full. In any case, the full text may now be consulted, either at the Court House, Montreal, or at the Archives in Ottawa.

Among the new documents introduced is the Draught of an Ordinance for establishing Courts of Justice in the Province of Quebec, 1775. This is given as indicating "His Majesty's Gracious Intentions with respect to the plan of Judicature that is to be established." It is of special interest, with reference to the policy of the Quebec Act, on the one hand, and, on the other, the actual line of development in the administration of justice after the Quebec Act. The Commissions for a Court of Appeals and for a Court of Civil Jurisdiction, in 1776, which serve to fill the gap in the administration of justice during the invasion of Canada, are also new documents.

The rather important constitutional issues involved in the dismissal of Chief Justice Livius having been dealt with in the first edition chiefly in extensive foot-notes, it was deemed advisable to give in full the Report of the Committee of Council to which was referred the whole case. This is given at p. 698. Growing out of this situation was the action taken by Governor Haldimand in withholding from the Council certain articles of his Instructions which he was directed to lay before them. The review of his conduct on this and other matters by the Lords of Trade and Plantations, in 1781, is also given in full as essential to an understanding of the issues raised (see p. 722). Among the papers received since the issue of the first edition, two documents, "A Plan of General Instructions for Sir G. Carleton" and "Draught of Particular Instructions to Carleton," leading up to the General Instructions of 1786, are also included as throwing light upon these important instructions.

Apart from some necessary changes and extensions in the foot-notes, the only other important alterations will be found in the references to the Journals of the Legislative and Executive Councils of Quebec. When the first edition was prepared the only copies of the Minutes of Council available were those in the "Q" series, which were given in the Minutes as sent from Canada to England and preserved in the Public Record Office. Within the past few years, however, the original Minute Books of the Councils were discovered in Canada among the records of the Governor General's Office, and have been transferred to the Public Archives. The text of all extracts from the Minutes, as given in the Constitutional Documents, has been read and revised from these originals. In consequence, the references have been changed to conform to the new sources. At the same time the former references to the "Q" series are also retained in order to preserve connection with quotations which have been made from the first edition of this work. Similar observations will apply to certain petitions, etc., the originals of which have lately come to light and are now deposited in the Archives. In each case, while the text is revised in accordance with the originals, references are given to the copies as formerly known, as well as to the originals recently discovered. The two parts in which the original volume now appears are paged consecutively, hence the table of contents in the first part and the index in the second part refer to the whole work.