XXX. AND WE DO hereby further ordain, direct, and appoint, that the said Supreme Court... shall have Cognizance of all Pleas, and Jurisdiction in all Causes, whether Civil, Criminal, or Mixed, arising within the said Colony, with Jurisdiction over Our Subjects, and all other Persons whomsoever residing and being within the said Colony, in as full and ample a manner and to all intents and purposes, as the Supreme Court of Justice now existing within the said Colony now hath or can lawfully exercise the same. XXXI. [Supreme Court to judge according to laws now in force or hereafter to be made.] XXXII. AND WE DO FURTHER GIVE AND GRANT to the said Supreme Court, full Power, Jurisdiction, and Authority, to review the Proceedings of all Inferior Courts of Justice within Our said Colony, and, if necessary, to set aside or correct the same; and in the exercise of such Jurisdiction, Powers, and Authorities as aforesaid, Our Will and Pleasure is, that the Pleadings and Proceedings of the said Supreme Court and the Circuit Courts shall be carried on, and the Sentences, Decrees, Judgments, and Orders thereof pronounced and declared, in open Court, and not otherwise, and that the several Pleadings and Proceedings of the said Court shall be in the English Language; and that in all Criminal Cases, the Witnesses against and for any accused Person or Persons shall deliver their Evidence viva voce, and in open Court. XXXIII. [In civil cases, two judges to form a quorum. If such two judges differ in a case, it shall be postponed till a third judge shall be present, when the decision shall be according to the opinion of the majority.] XXXIV. [Criminal cases to be tried before one or more of the judges and a jury of nine men, who shall concur in every verdict. No person otherwise competent to serve on a jury shall be disqualified by reason of his ignorance of the English Language.] XXXV. [Duties heretofore performed by the Orphan Chamber, to be performed by the Master of the Supreme Court. Orphan Chamber abolished.] XXXVI. [Supreme Court to be held at Cape Town.] XXXVII. [Governor to divide the Colony into convenient districts for holding Circuit Courts.] XXXVIII. [Circuit Courts to be held in each district by one judge at least twice a year.] XXXIX. [Circuit Courts to have the same jurisdiction and authority as the Supreme Court. Criminal cases to be tried by circuit judge and a jury of nine. No person to be disqualified from serving on a jury merely by reason of his ignorance of the English Language.] XL. [If nine men do not appear to try criminal cases the jury may consist of any number not less than six.] XLI. [Civil suits to be tried by a judge unassisted by a jury. In such suits, if the sum or matter in dispute shall equal or exceed £100, all evidence shall be taken down in writing. If an appeal is allowed, copies of documents shall be made and duly certified.] XLII. [In civil suits involving less than £100, appeals may be allowed at the discretion of the circuit judge.] XLIII. [In cases involving more than £100, appeals may be made to the Supreme Court.] XLIV. [Any Court before which a case may be pending may transfer that case to another Court.] XLV. [In criminal cases no sentence whereby a person shall be condemned to death or transportation or banishment from the Colony shall be carried out until the execution of the sentence shall have been approved by the Governor.] XLVI. [Rules of Court to be framed by the Supreme Court and to be, as far as the circumstances of the Colony will permit, in accordance with the rules and forms in use in the Courts at Westminster.] XLVII. [Rules and laws governing the qualification and attendance of jurors, to be framed by the Governor with the advice of the Legislative Council, subject to the approval or disallowance of the Crown.] XLVIII. AND WHEREAS it may be expedient to establish within our said Colony Courts of Request, and other Courts having Jurisdiction in Civil Cases of small amount or value,-and in cases of Crimes or Offences not punishable by Death or Transportation: Now We Do hereby authorize and empower the Governor, for the time being, of Our said Colony, with the advice of the Legislative Council of Government thereof, by any Laws and Ordinances to be from time to time made for that purpose, to erect, constitute, and establish all such Courts of Request, and other Courts having Jurisdiction in Civil and Criminal Cases, within Our said Colony: Provided that the Jurisdiction of such Civil Courts shall not be extended to any Case, wherein the Sum or Matter in dispute shall exceed the amount or value of Forty Pounds Sterling Money: or wherein the Title to any Lands or Tenements, or any Fee, Duty, or Office may be in question; or whereby Rights in future may be bound: And provided also, that the Jurisdiction of such Courts, in Criminal Cases, shall not be extended to any Case wherein any Person may be accused of any Crime punishable by Death, Transportation, or Banishment from the said Colony. XLIX. [Supreme Court to frame rules and order for Courts of Request.] L. [Appeals to the Crown in Council may be made from final sentences, etc. of the Supreme Court, if a case involves an amount exceeding £500 and if Supreme Court allows such appeals.] LI. [Crown in Council reserves the right to allow and hear appeals upon petition made.] LII. [Supreme Court shall execute all judgments in appeal pronounced by the Crown in Council.] LIII. [All Governors, commanders, magistrates, etc. are charged to assist in the execution of all powers hereby granted.] LIV. [Crown in Council reserves the power to repeal or amend this Charter of Justice. Letters Patent of 24 August 1827 revoked.] LV. AND WE do further ordain and direct, that the Governor of Our said Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, upon the arrival therein of these Presents, shall, by Proclamation, notify to the Inhabitants of the said Colony, the time when the Courts hereby established will be open; and as soon as the Judges of the said Supreme Court shall have assumed and entered upon the exercise of their Jurisdiction therein, then, and from thenceforth, the Supreme Court of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope and the Circuit Courts now established within the same, and the Jurisdiction of the said Courts respectively, shall be absolutely abolished, cease, and determine; and every Suit, Action, Complaint, Matter, or Thing, Civil or Criminal, which shall be depending in such last-mentioned Courts respectively, shall and may be proceeded upon in the Supreme Court instituted under and by virtue of these Presents, or in either of the said Circuit Courts, which shall and may have Jurisdiction within the District or Place in the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, where such Action or Suit, or other Matter, Civil or Criminal respectively, shall be conducted in like manner, as if such Action or Suit, or other Matter, Civil or Criminal, had been originally commenced in one or other of the said Courts instituted under these Presents. And all the Records, Muniments, and Proceedings whatsoever of and belonging to the said Supreme Court and Circuit Courts. established by the said recited Letters Patent, shall from and immediately after the opening of the said Courts respectively instituted by these Presents, be delivered over and deposited for safe custody in such of the said Courts respectively instituted under these Presents, as shall be found most convenient ; and all Parties concerned shall and may have recourse to the said Records and Proceedings, as to any other Records or Proceedings of the said Courts respectively. LVI. AND WE Do hereby further declare and direct, that during the absence from Our said Colony of the Cape of Good Hope of the Governor thereof, or if there shall be no person commissioned by Us, Our Heirs and Successors, to be the Governor of Our said Colony, then, and in every such case, all and every the Powers hereby granted to and vested in the Governor for the time being of the said Colony, shall and may be executed by and vested in the Lieutenant-Governor thereof, or the Officer for the time being administering the Government thereof. In Witness whereof, We have caused these Our Letters to be made Patent. Witness Ourself at Westminster, the Fourth Day of May, in the Second Year of Our Reign. By Writ of Privy Seal. BATHURST. P.R.O., C.O. 52/6 (C. of G. Hope Govt. Gazette, 14 Feb. 1834). ADMINISTRATION OF INSOLVENT ESTATES. No. 77. Ordinance.-Enacted by the GOVERnor of the CAPE WHEREAS the Law as contained in the Ordinance No. 64, bearing date the 6th of August 1829, and intituled “An Ordinance for regulating the due collection, administration, and distribution of Insolvent Estates within this Colony," requires certain additions and alterations: And whereas it is expedient, in order that the said additions and alterations may most conveniently be made, that the said Ordinance No. 64 should be repealed, and a new Ordinance enacted in its stead: And whereas it is also expedient, that all Insolvent Estates within this Colony should be, hereafter, administered under one uniform system of law, and, to that end, that the benefit or relief of cession of goods and property, commonly called the cessio bonorum, now available to insolvent debtors in this Colony, should be abolished: Be it therefore enacted by the Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof, that from and after the passing of this Ordinance, the Ordinance aforesaid No. 64, and the Publication of the 4th September 1805, respecting transfers, cessions, pledges, and other securities entered into by debtors within twenty-eight days previous to their insolvency, and so much of Ordinance No. 5, 1842, intituled, “an Ordinance to provide for the lodgment elsewhere than in the Government Discount Bank of this Colony, of certain Monies, now by law required to be lodged in the said Bank,” as is, in substance, hereinafter set forth and re-enacted, and all laws and customs heretofore in force within this Colony, in so far as the same are repugnant to, or inconsistent with, any of the provisions of this Ordinance, shall be, and the same are hereby, respectively repealed. II. And be it enacted, that it shall and may be lawful for the supreme court, or any circuit court, or for the chief justice of this colony, or any other of the judges of the supreme court, upon the petition, in writing, of any person, setting forth that he is insolvent, and desirous of surrendering his estate for the benefit of his creditors, to direct such person to appear before him, to be examined touching his said insolvency, or to require such other proof thereof, by affidavits of the said insolvent and others, as to the said court or the said judge may seem fit: V. And be it enacted, that it shall and may be lawful for the supreme or any circuit court, or for the chief justice of this colony, or any other of the judges of the supreme court, upon petition made in writing against any person having committed any act of insolvency, . . . to place the estate of every such person or persons under sequestration, in the hands of the master of the said court, until the same shall . . be adjudged to be sequestrated, or the said petition shall be discharged. [Etc.] P.R.O., C.O. 50/1. DUTIES OF FIELD-CORNETS. [4 July 1848.] No. 9, 1848. No. 78. Ordinance.-Enacted by the GOVERNOR OF THE COLONY OF THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE, with the advice and consent of the LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL thereof, for regulating the Duties and Remuneration of Field-Cornets. WHEREAS, owing to the various alterations made from time to time, in the administration of the country districts of this colony, the functions of field-cornets have been considerably narrowed; and it is now expedient to define or describe their duties, and to substitute for the principle of a fixed annual allowance, a remuneration proportioned to the services performed: Be it enacted by the Governor of the Cape of |