In October, 1847, when he had been at the Bar somewhat more than two years, he married Miss Frances Louisa Perkins, youngest daughter of the late Mr. James W. Perkins, who had formerly held a position in the Royal Navy. By this lady he has a family of nine children. In 1855 he became a Bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada, and in 1858 he was appointed a Queen's Counsel, simultaneously with the Hon. Stephen Richards. He from time to time formed various partnerships, one of which was with the late Hon. John Ross. Another was subsequently formed with the late Hon. John Crawford, who some years later became Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario.
While at the Bar, in addition to a very extensive and profitable civil practice, he took a front rank as a criminal lawyer, for which distinction his past experience in the office of Attorney-General Draper had eminently fitted him. He was engaged in the celebrated case of _Regina_ vs. _Brogden_, which many readers of these pages will not fail to remember. The prisoner was a well-known lawyer of Port Hope, who was tried at Cobourg for shooting one Anderson, the seducer of his wife. A year or two later he represented the Crown in another historical criminal case which was tried at Cobourg, wherein the prisoner, Dr. King, was convicted of poisoning his wife. In 1863 he appeared for the Crown at Toronto against that well-remembered malefactor William Greenwood. There were three indictments against the prisoner, two for murder and one for arson. On the first indictment for murder the prisoner was acquitted. On that for arson, which was prosecuted by Mr. Galt, he was convicted. With the other indictment for murder Mr. Galt was not concerned. The prisoner, however, was convicted, and sentenced to be hanged, but committed suicide by hanging himself in his cell.
Mr. Galt was appointed to his present position, that of a Puisné Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for Ontario, on the death of the late Judge John Wilson, in 1869. His sixty-five years seem to sit very lightly upon him, and he is still distinguished by a fine, dignified, and most kindly presence. In addition to the attainments properly belonging to him as an eminent lawyer, he is known as a master of style, and his judgments are marked not less by their depth of learning than by the stateliness of the diction in which they are written.