Editing Family Compact (section)

====Magistracy and courts of Quarter Sessions====
Justices of the peace were appointed by the lieutenant governor. Any two justices meeting together could form the lowest level of the justice system, the Courts of Request. A [[Quarter Sessions|Court of Quarter Sessions]] was held four times a year in each district composed of all the resident justices. The Quarter Sessions met to oversee the administration of the district and deal with legal cases. They formed, in effect, the municipal government ''and'' judiciary until an area was incorporated as either a police board or a city after 1834.<ref>{{cite book |last=Craig |first=Gerald |title=Upper Canada: The Formative Years 1784–1841 |year=1963 |publisher=McClelland & Stewart |location=Toronto |pages=30–31}}</ref> The men appointed to the magistracy tended to be United Empire Loyalists or "[[half-pay]]" military officers who were placed in semi-retirement after the Napoleonic Wars.