Battleford Court House is the facility located in

Battleford Battleford ( 2011 population 4,065) is a small town located across the North Saskatchewan River from the City of North Battleford, in Saskatchewan, Canada. Battleford and North Battleford are collectively referred to as "The Battlefords" b ...

to provide a public forum used by the

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

legal system to

adjudicate Adjudication is the legal process by which an arbiter or judge reviews evidence and argumentation, including legal reasoning set forth by opposing parties or litigants, to come to a decision which determines rights and obligations between the p ...

disputes and dispense

civil Civil may refer to: *Civic virtue, or civility *Civil action, or lawsuit * Civil affairs *Civil and political rights *Civil disobedience *Civil engineering *Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism *Civilian, someone not a membe ...

, labour, administrative and

criminal In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...

justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

under its

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

History

In 1785, a fur trading post was built at Battleford. The Dominion government acquired the North-West the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...

in 1870, and in 1873, created the North-West Mounted Police to maintain law and order. In 1876 Fort Battleford was established, a North-West Mounted Police post. Shortly thereafter, in 1877 the capital of the North West Territories moved from Fort Pitt to Battleford. In 1883 the capital of the North West Territories moved again, this time to Regina. In 1886 the Supreme Court of the North-West Territories with five

puisne Puisne (; from Old French ''puisné'', modern ''puîné'', "later born, younger" (and thence, "inferior") from late Latin ''post-'', "after", and ''natus'', "born") is a legal term of art obsolete in many jurisdictions and, when current, used main ...

judges was established and resided in Regina. The original Provincial Regina Supreme Court House was constructed in 1895 and replaced in 1965.

became a province in 1905. The Judicature Act, 1907, established the Supreme Court of Saskatchewan. The Battleford Court House was designed by the architectural firm of

Storey and Van Egmond Storey and Van Egmond was an architectural partnership in Regina, Saskatchewan, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, that functioned from 1907 to 1924. Initially, the principals were Edgar M. Storey (1863-1913) and William Gysbert Van Egmond (1883-1949) ...

, and constructed in 1907, marking the end of the old territorial court system. The

Canadian Northern Railway The Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) was a historic Canadian transcontinental railway. At its 1923 merger into the Canadian National Railway , the CNoR owned a main line between Quebec City and Vancouver via Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Edmonton. Mani ...

was built north of the

North Saskatchewan River The North Saskatchewan River is a glacier-fed river that flows from the Canadian Rockies continental divide east to central Saskatchewan, where it joins with the South Saskatchewan River to make up the Saskatchewan River. Its water flows eventual ...

creating a rapidly growing community of

North Battleford North Battleford is a city in west-central Saskatchewan, Canada. It is the seventh largest city in the province and is directly across the North Saskatchewan River from the Town of Battleford. Together, the two communities are known as "The Batt ...

. Battleford was no longer the capital of the NWT, nor centre of law and order through the post at Fort Battleford. Battleford Court House is still the oldest court house in Saskatchewan and received Provincial Heritage Property status in 1978. The court house still has sittings of the Court of Queen's Bench. The building was designated a

National Historic Site of Canada National Historic Sites of Canada (french: Lieux historiques nationaux du Canada) are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment An environment minister (sometimes minister of the environment or secretary of t ...

in 1981. Saskatchewan Provincial Archives keeps the historical records of court proceedings.

Nearby

*The Old Government House *Queen's Hotel *Land Titles (Registry) Office *Battleford Post Office *Town Hall/Opera House *1911 CNR Railway Station *1913 Hot Carl Commissioner *The Presbyterian Gardiner Church *St. Vital RC Church *The Merchants Bank of Canada *Fred Light Museum

References

External links

Courts of Saskatchewan
{{Saskatchewan parks Saskatchewan courts National Historic Sites in Saskatchewan Courthouses in Canada Canadian Register of Historic Places in Saskatchewan

History

Nearby

See also

References

External links