The series consists of six volumes of divorce trial record books created by the New Westminster Supreme Court between 1957 and 1977. The books are arranged in a similar manner to divorce cause books, but list the Central Divorce Registry file number rather than a volume and folio number. Divorce trial books also provide a list of exhibits used in the case, and the names of individuals who provided affidavits.
Similar to cause books, trial books provide evidence of divorce proceedings that may later have been abandoned or dismissed, thereby not resulting in a divorce order. In these cases, the trial record book and cause book may be the only evidence that still exists of such cases.
Records in the trial books are arranged chronologically from the back of the volume to the front, and are assigned a four-digit number in addition to the number provided by the Central Divorce Registry. Please see GR-3748 for alphabetical indexes to these volumes.
Researchers should note that the volumes were frequently referred to as "Divorce and Matrimonial Causes record books." This is in reference to legislation which governed divorces in BC until 1972, and does not refer to the type of court record known as a cause book.
British Columbia. Supreme Court (New Westminster)