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Canadian Historic Sites: Occasional Papers in Archaeology and History No. 23
Gaspé, 1760-1867
by David Lee
Part I: Gaspé and the Government
Gaspé and the Government: Introduction
And considering the remote situation of the county of Gaspé
... be it further enacted ... that the said county of Gaspé shall be
erected into an inferior district, to be called the inferior district of
Gaspé.
Quebec (Province). Laws, Statutes, 1793
The adjective "inferior" was applied to the District of Gaspé in the
sense that its courts did not have powers equal to those of other
judicial districts in the Province of Lower Canada.1 The
expression was used in most legal documents and in popular speech for
about 50 years after 1793. More importantly, however, the government
regarded the District of Gaspé as inferior in many other respects.
Compared to other districts, Gaspé had only a handful of government
officials and they were invariably paid much less than their
counterparts elsewhere.
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