In response to a growing number of petty claims in Victoria in the newly established colony of Vancouver‟s Island, Governor James Douglas established the Inferior Court of Civil Justice (later changed to the Supreme Court of Civil Justice in 1860) in 1857.
This series is composed of one-hundred and sixty-eight case files comprised of three hundred and eighty-three documents pertaining to small claims suits in Victoria between 1858 and 1866.

Subseries consists of court documents relating to civil cases in British Columbia between 1864 and 1903. The cases comprise a variety of document types, including: judge’s orders; affidavits; writs of summons; correspondence; bills of costs; jury lists; judgments; notices; statements of account; motions; bonds; speakers’ certificates; indentures; agreements; receipts of sale; complaints; notices of intention; mortgages; requests; wills; and subpoenas. As a whole, they are indicative of the development of civil and criminal law in the region at the time, closely reflecting British standards and precedence. Differences did develop, however, as circumstances required.

It is important to note that the time period represented in these cases includes years before and after the colonies were converged on August 6th, 1866. Before the unification, the Colony of Vancouver Island and the Colony of British Columbia were separate entities in which civil suits at the local level were a vital part of the decentralized colonial government. Initially, the mainland was governed from New Westminster, but once they were merged into the new Colony of British Columbia, governance took place in Victoria on Vancouver Island.

This series is composed of legal documents concerning court cases involving Chinese and Aboriginal people as both witnesses and defendants. The collection documents early relationships between colonial society and Chinese and Aboriginal individuals within a legal context in British Columbia and provides documentary evidence of those relationships including first-hand narratives from all participants. The documents reveal the way in which the 19th century justice system in British Columbia related to those people of Aboriginal and Chinese descent.

Consists of eighty-two files pertaining to charges against Aboriginal and Chinese individuals and all the supporting court documents. There are 340 documents from 1862 to 1891. Most of this material either passed through or was created in the court systems of the day resulting in sworn testimony giving first hand accounts of events. Some of the documents may have been interpreted into English by court interpreters. Judge Augustus Pemberton (1808-1891) was appointed the magistrate and commissioner of police for Vancouver Island by Governor Douglas in 1858 and served as a county court judge in Victoria from September 23rd, 1867 to January 14th, 1881. Pemberton oversaw all but fourteen of these charges.