I Have a Legal Question

My employer needs to know whether Superior Courts in Britain had inherent jurisdiction over all criminal charges as of the date of Canadian Confederation.

Specifically, we're interested in inherent jurisdiction over straight summary conviction offences (like s. 4(5) of the CDSA, simple possession of less than 30 grams of marijuana). My instructions included this direction:

"I think the issue boils down to the fact that Superior Courts in Canada have the same inherent jurisdiction as the British Superior Courts did at Confederation - I just need to know the scope of that jurisdiction at Confederation."

Thoughts? I'd hate to have to open a book for this.