The reform of penal justice in Bas-Canada - The case of common assault in Quebec

Through the use of archives and legal texts, the author describes the trans formation of modes of administration of justice in cases of common assault. What makes this transformation significant is not only the gradual exclusi on of justices of the peace from urban penal justice, but also a restructur ing of the relationship between judiciary and infrajudiciary practices for such conflicts. Inspired by the principle of certainty of punishment, legis lative reform facilitated the prosecution of these conflicts. One of the im plications of this, was that assaults were increasingly constructed as a pu blic matter rather than a private issue.