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This Unique Aftertaste of History

Patrick Boyer made an incredible discovery when he found his great-grandfather James Boyer’s bench book. James, who served as a justice of the peace in Bracebridge, Ontario, in the 1870s, 1880s, and 1890s, used the bench book to record his own notes of the facts and evidence of the trials he heard, along with the rulings in those cases. It is our good fortune that Patrick has decided not just to share the bench book with us, but to provide it to us with an illuminating description of life in Northern Ontario at the end of the nineteenth century.

The Magistrate’s Court described in Raw Life was truly the people’s court. You will not find any trials of the century here. But while the trials were brief and justice swift, these cases clearly had the potential to have a major impact on the lives of those involved. Charges such as theft, assault, and drunk and disorderly conduct were common, and we can still sense the tension that must have existed between neighbours, spouses, and other aggrieved parties before the court. Family members take sides against family members, witnesses contradict one another, and we are left to wonder — as Justice Boyer was left to decide — who to believe. Bracebridge was still being settled in the 1890s, and we can sense in these disputes that the justice of the peace may have been the linchpin who kept the developing community from anarchy.

Edward L. Greenspan: “human experience … a timeless bond.” (Photo: Al Gilbert, C.M.)

In Part I, Patrick takes us back to his great-grandfather’s time. Patrick’s skills as a writer and careful historian are on full display here. We learn about the people of the era as if the author had somehow observed them personally. The early chapters of this book vividly provide the important history and context for what is to come. Anyone who cares about our great history will be fascinated by the richness of the description of small-town northern Ontario in the 1890s.

You may be tempted to jump ahead to the bench book chapters. Resist this temptation. The chapters that precede Part II are not mere surplusage. If James Boyer had never taken a single note in court, Part I of Raw Life would still be a fascinating story of the time. Patrick’s discovery of the bench book was like finding a rough mineral, and we can see it as the gem that it is thanks to his polishing in Part I.

All judges inevitably bring the experiences of their formative years to the judgment they employ on the bench. James Boyer’s formative years, leading up to his years as a justice of the peace were truly remarkable. The tale of his life’s journey would not be out of place in a Charles Dickens novel, except that James’s story is not fictitious. No doubt his wife’s compelling personal history must have also influenced and guided James’s temperament as a justice of the peace. The chapters on James’s life are essential to this book. Had the bench book of an otherwise anonymous justice of the peace been discovered, it would be a far more generic experience to read the cases. Patrick gives us a personal introduction to his fascinating great-grandfather so that we can picture him hearing the cases, and bringing his life experience into the decisions he renders.

It would have been easy for the author to have simply written a brief introduction and published the bench book with no further context. Instead, throughout Part I Patrick paints a canvas of Bracebridge and its inhabitants in the 1890s. In Part II, Patrick lets James provide the details that complete the picture. The bench book entries are the heart of this book. Consider that Justice of the Peace Boyer’s bench book is likely the only surviving record of the cases described. Undoubtedly, in most of the cases, the bench book entries may be the only remaining written record of the participants’ very existence.

The bench book entries are presented unedited, in their original form, as they should be. As you read the cases, take note of the dates. In some instances, the case is heard the very same day as the alleged offence. Take your time as you explore the cases. Read them slowly and let the settings and descriptions of Part I fuel your imagination to fill in the blanks.

These are indeed stories of raw life, but do not forget these are real life too. It is fascinating to use these stories to contemplate how different life was then, little more than a century ago. But it is also intriguing to examine whether the conflicts from back then are really much different from the disputes and conflicts that we continue to see within our own lives and communities. That thought, and others springing from this unique taste of history, are handily woven together by Patrick in Part III.

As James Boyer heard cases, he had no idea that his notes would one day provide a unique insight into life in Ontario at the turn of the last century to an audience of readers in the next millennium. With a sense of awe, we can try to wonder what our great-grandchildren’s lives may be like. But as this book reminds us, while we may progress with our technology and civilization, the human experience from generation to generation remains a timeless bond.

Edward L. Greenspan, Q.C., LL.D., D.C.L