Quebec Court Records

Court records are seldom used in Québec genealogical research.

Archives of Quebec

 * Guide to court records

Notarial Records
There are other legal records that are useful. A notarial record is a private agreement written by a notary in the form of a contract. Some of the most common ones are marriage contracts, wills, estate inventories, leases, and sales contracts. See Quebec Notarial Records, Canada Court Records, and Canada Notarial Records. Most legal records are notarial and are found in the individual notary’s greffe, which, after 80 to 100 years, is usually in the appropriate regional branch of the Archives des notaires du Québec (ANQ). Earlier notarial records are held by the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ), but Library and Archives Canada holds copies of some records in the collection, Fonds des greffes de notaires du Québec. You can also use the advanced archives search to look up the name of an individual or a notary.
 * Quebec notarial records : COLLECTION RECORD, 1800-1920

Case Records
Since the 1760s, criminal law in Québec has been based on the English common law. The civil law is based on French law. Many revisions have been made to the old coûtume de Paris (Custom of Paris), the code of laws in effect during years of French government. Court records date from about 1651 and will give the names and residence of persons who engaged in litigation in the courts: Registres du baillage (Bailiff’s Court),Plaidoyers communs (Court of Common Pleas), and Conseil Supérieur (Superior Court). Some transcriptions of notable cases during the French régime are useful. They have been published in some genealogical periodicals (see Quebec Periodicals.

Archives des notaires du Québec (ANQ)
The complete inventory of ANQ holdings is computerized or in microfiches.

The ANQ at Montréal has published two guides: Guide des archives judiciaires, District de Montréal, Vol. 1, Cour du banc du roi 1795-1849 et Cour superieur 1850 - 1932, and Guide des archives judiciaires, District de Montréal, Vol. 2, Cour de circuit 1849-1953. Cour superieur records should include probates.

In The Eastern Townships, the ANQ in Sherbrooke holds the archives judiciaires for the districts of St. Francis, Bedford and Megantic. Presumably the early records for the Judicial Districts of Three Rivers and Québec are in the ANQ in those cities. Geography matters, and it is even more important when looking for land records.

Poll Books, and older tax and assessment rolls should, by now, be on deposit with the appropriate branch of the ANQ.