In 1774, the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia's circuit system was established by an act of the legislature. In this system, judges travelled to outlying areas to hold court. By 1834 the initial requirement to have cases heard in the presence of two or more judges was removed and a single judge hearing cases on circuit was invested with the full powers and jurisdiction of the court in Halifax. Supreme court circuit sittings were established at Guysborough in 1834, in what was the lower district of Sydney County until Guysborough became a separate county in 1836. As the sessions had earlier been split between Guysborough and Antigonish, a court house was already available. When Guysborough County was divided into the Guysborough and St. Mary's districts in 1840, another sitting location was added at Sherbrooke, but no separate records were generated by those sittings.