Re Justice Elzear Berard
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Judgment Date | 02 July 1849 |
| Date | 02 July 1849 |
| Court | Privy Council |
English Reports Citation: 13 E.R. 788
ON PETITION FROM CANADA.
Mews' Dig. tit. Colony, I. General Principles, 4. Judges and Courts; tit. Public Officer, A. Judicial Capacity, 1. Judges, f. Other Matters.
[23] ON PETITION FKOM CANADA. In re justice elzear berard * [July 2, 1849]. Where a Judge of a District Court in Canada, was removed from that Court to another District Court, and the Letters Patent appointing him Judge to the latter Court, also granted him precedence over the Judges of that Court, whose commissions were of later date than his own; Held, that such grant of precedence was valid, and that the Judge had a right to rank and take precedence accordingly. This was a. petition by Mr. Justice Elze^ar Bedard, one of the Puisne Judges of the Court of Queen's Bench for the district of Montreal, in Canada, complaining of a rule, determination, or order of the other Judges of that Court, refusing him right of precedence over Mr. Justice Day and Mr. Justice Smith, the other Puisne Judges of that Court. The petition set forth, that the petitioner was appointed, on the 22nd of February, 1836, one of the Justices of the Court of King's Bench for the district of Quebec, by Letters Patent and Commission under the Great Seal of the_Province, subsequently sanctioned by warrant under the Royal Sign Manual and Seal of His late Majesty, William the Fourth, in virtue of which the petitioner assumed the duties of Judge of the Court of King's Bench for the district of Quebec, taking his rank immediately after the Honorable Mr. Justice Panet, his senior. That under the Provincial Statutes, 34 Geo. III., c. 6; 3 Geo. IV., c. 17; 10 and 11 Geo. IV., c. 7; and 7 Viet., c. 17, the Province of Lower Canada was, for the more convenient administration of justice, divided into five districts, where Courts of King's Bench, having in each [24] of these divisions the same powers and jurisdiction, were established. That the petitioner had, from time to time, acted as Judge of the Court of Queen's Bench, in four of such districts, namely, the District of Quebec, Three Rivers, St. Francis, and Gaspe; and as such Judge of the Court of' Queen's Bench, in the year 1843, became, under the operation of the Provincial Statute, 7 Viet., c. 18, one of the Judges of the " Court of Appeals for Lower Canada," whose jurisdiction extends to the whole Province of Lower Canada. That whilst attending those several Courts, he took, in virtue of his Commission and Letters Patent, his rank and precedence in the Court of Appeals for Lower Canada, both at Montreal and Quebec, and in the sittings in Banco of the Court of King's Bench at Quebec, Three...
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Re Justice Elzear Berard
...THE JUDICIAL COMMITTEE (a) OF THE PRIVY COUNCIL, ON PETITION FROM CANADA, IN RE JUSTICE ELZ EAR BEDARD, JULY 2ND, 1849. (Reported in 7 Moo. P.C. 23.) Prerogative Grant of Precedence. Mr. Justice Bedard, having been appointed one of the judges of the Court of Queens Bench for the district of......