 In the years when the Hudsons Bay Company continued to have exclusive licence to trade in what is now British Columbia, Governor James Douglas had appointed four magistrates to deal with legal disputes but he found them to be "ignorant and unreliable".As Douglas was functioning as sheriff and judge in addition to his other responsibilities, he recognized the need to establish a court and appoint a judge.His wife's brother, an HBC employee arrived from Demerara in July 1853 to take up duties as a clerk in the company operations in Nanaimo, British Columbia.