Good Hope, with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof, that the "Instructions of the Field-Cornets in the several Country Districts," published by the then Governor and Council of this Colony on the 24th October 1805, shall be repealed, except in so far as the same repeal any former placards, ordinances, or customs, and the same are hereby repealed accordingly. Provided always, that the field-cornets and assistant field-cornets shall continue to be appointed as at present.

2. And be it enacted, that from and after the commencement and taking effect of this Ordinance, the several duties belonging to the office of field-cornet shall be the following, that is to say,

(a) He is, by virtue of his office, bound to apprehend
without warrant, every person whom he shall
have reasonable grounds to suspect of having
committed any murder, culpable homicide, rape,
robbery, or assault with intent to commit any of
those crimes, or assault in which a dangerous
wound is given, arson, housebreaking with
intent to commit a crime therein; or theft
of any cattle, sheep, or goat; or any other crimes.
of equal guilt with any of those crimes. And
he may also take into custody every person whom
he shall see engaged in any affray, or whom he
shall find attempting to commit a crime, or
already manifesting an intention so to do.
(b) Whenever it shall be brought to his knowledge
that any person, within his ward, has died other
than a natural death, namely by violence or
accident, or his own act, or the act of God, the
field-cornet shall, with all speed, repair to inspect
the body, and hold an inquest thereon.

(c) The field-cornet will obtain and transmit to the
resident magistrate the fullest information re-
specting the circumstances of any such untimely
death, and communicate, at the same time, the
result of his own observations.

(d) In cases of assault in which any wound, supposed to be dangerous, has been given, the field-cornet will repair to and examine the injured party, and apprise the resident magistrate of the case and its circumstances.

3. [Remuneration of Field-Cornets according to the time spent in performing their duties.]

4. And be it enacted, that from henceforth, the fieldcornets shall be deemed and taken to be under the authority

of the resident magistrate of the district, as well as of the civil commissioner of the division.

5. [This Ordinance not to affect former laws imposing duties on Field-Cornets.]

6. [Ordinance to take effect from 1 Jan. 1849.]

P.R.O., C.O. 50/2.

TRIAL BY JURY IN CIVIL CASES, 1854.

I reserve this Bill for the signification of Her Majesty's

pleasure.

(Signed) C. H. DARLING, Lt.-Governor.

26th Sept. 1854.

No. 7, 1854.1

No. 79. A Bill for Extending Trial by Jury to Civil Cases.

WHEREAS it is expedient that Trial by Jury in Civil Cases should be introduced into this Colony: And whereas it is fitting that Trial by Jury in Civil Cases should, in the first instance, be limited to Civil Cases depending in the Supreme Court Be it enacted by the Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, with the Advice and Consent of the Legislative Council and House of Assembly thereof, as follows:

I. So much, if any, of the Letters Patent of His late Majesty King William the Fourth, bearing date at Westminster, the Fourth Day of May, in the second Year of his Reign, and commonly called the "Charter of Justice," and so much, if any, of any other Law or Ordinance heretofore existing in this Colony, as shall be repugnant or inconsistent with any of the Provisions of this Act, shall be repealed, and the same is hereby repealed accordingly.

II. From and after the commencement of this Act, every Question, or Matter of Fact, or of mixed Law and Fact. in dispute between the Parties to any Civil Case depending in the Supreme Court of this Colony shall, except as is hereinafter in the 4th Section provided, be tried by Jury.

III. No Question which shall be a pure and unmixed Question of Law shall be, at any time, or in any case, referred or submitted to a Jury, but every such Question shall be reserved for the determination of the Court.

IV. It shall be competent for the Attorney of either of the Parties to any Civil Case depending in the Supreme Court, at any time after the Pleadings in such Case shall have been closed, to serve a Notice upon the Attorney of the opposite Party, calling upon him to attend before a Judge of the Supreme 1 Superseded by Act No. 23 of 1891. Cf. Nos. 142 and 164,

Court in Chamber, at some time, to be specified in such Notice, there to settle the Issue or Issues to be tried by Jury: Provided that it shall be competent for the Parties to any such Case, at any time after Pleadings closed, and before the serving by either of them of such Notice as aforesaid, to agree together, in writing, signed by their respective Attorneys, that such Case shall be tried without a Jury, and, thereupon, such Case shall be proceeded with, and be tried in like manner precisely as if this Act never had been passed: Provided, however, that as often as any Facts in dispute in any Case shall be tried by Jury, then all Facts in dispute in the same Case shall be tried by Jury.

V. The Issue or Issues in any such Case as aforesaid, to be tried by Jury, shall, as much as may be, be settled and framed, so as to present separately and successively, and in plain and precise Language, every Matter of Fact affirmed by one Party in the Suit, and denied by the other: Provided that no Issue shall be settled or framed in regard to any Matter or Question not arising upon the Pleadings as pleaded, unless both Parties shall consent thereto, in which Case the Pleadings shall be thereupon amended in such Manner as to put in Issue such Matter or Question.

VI. Whenever, in any Matter or Question which is, in Law, a Matter or Question of Mixed Law and Fact, the Fact shall, in contemplation of Law, be capable of being separated from the Law with which it is mixed, and both Parties shall desire the separation, in the Issues, of the Fact from the Law; such separation may, should the Judge see fit, be made in such manner that the Fact alone shall be submitted to the Jury, and the Law connected therewith shall be reserved for the Court.

VII. As often as any Issue shall be settled or framed for trial by Jury in any Case, in regard to which or the Matter of which either Party shall claim that the other Party may be condemned in Damages, then the Issues in such a Case shall be so settled and framed as to authorize and require the Jury, in case they shall find for the Party claiming such Damages, to assess the said Damages.

VIII. Either Party to any such Case as aforesaid, who shall, before the Judge in Chamber, have objected to the form or substance of any Issue approved of by the said Judge, or who shall, before such Judge, have desired the admission of some Issue which the said Judge shall have refused to admit, may, upon Notice to the opposite Party, move the Supreme Court to review the Decision of the Judge in Chamber regarding any such Issue; and thereupon such Court shall make such Order in the Matter, as Justice shall seem to

require Provided that any Judge before whom, in Chamber, the settlement of the Issues in any Case shall come, may, of his own Motion, refer the settlement of such Issues, or of any of them, to the Supreme Court, and thereupon such Court shall, after hearing the Parties, settle the same.

IX. As soon as may be after the Issue or Issues in any such Case as aforesaid shall have been settled and framed, the same shall be fairly and correctly engrossed by the Attorney, who shall have served the Notice, in the Fourth Section mentioned, to attend before a Judge in Chamber, and such Attorney shall carry the said Issue or Issues, so engrossed, to the Judge before whom, in Chamber, the same shall have been settled, and such Judge shall sign the Engrossment thereof, and thereupon such Attorney shall lodge such Engrossment with the Registrar of the Supreme Court: Provided that as often as all or any of the Issues in any Case shall be finally determined, not by the Judge, but by the Court, then all the Issues in such Case, after being engrossed as aforesaid, shall be signed by the Registrar aforesaid, and not by any Judge.

X. [Certain days shall be set apart for Trials by Jury in the Supreme Court.]

XI. All Trials by Jury in the Supreme Court shall be had before the Chief Justice of the said Court, or before any other of the Judges thereof, and a Jury of Nine Men.

XII. [Cases shall be set down for trial at least 14 days before the day on which they are to be tried.]

XIII. [The Registrar of the Supreme Court shall give notice to the Sheriff that a Jury will be required.]

XIV. [The Sheriff shall then summon 36 jurors of those liable to serve in criminal cases.]

XV. [The manner of summoning jurors to try civil cases shall be the same as for those summoned to try criminal cases.] XVI. [Persons who do not appear after having been summoned to serve as jurors, shall be liable to a fine not exceeding £25.]

XVII. [If such fine remains unpaid, execution may be sued out by the Attorney-General for the recovery thereof.]

XVIII. [Each of the Parties to a case may strike out from the list of 36 jurors the names of 9 jurors. From the names remaining, 9 jurors shall be selected by lot.]

XIX. [If more cases than one are set down for trial on the same day, then the Parties to each case shall successively have the right to strike out 9 names from the list of jurors.]

XXII. No Challenge to any Man, drawn as aforesaid, to serve as a Juror, shall be allowed, except a Challenge for Cause, and that the Causes for which any such Juror may be challenged, and the manner and form of trying the existence

of any Cause of Challenge alleged against any such Juror, shall be the same, in all respects, as would, by Law, be permitted or prescribed in a Civil Case depending, and about to be tried, in one of Her Majesty's Courts of Record at Westminster.

XXIII. [The presiding Judge shall administer an oath to the Jury.]

XXIV. [When the Judge shall have summed up the evidence in a case, the Jury may withdraw to consider their Verdict.]

XXV. It shall not be competent for any Jury to deliver their Verdict upon any one or more of the Issues left to them, if more than one, unless they shall at the same time deliver their Verdict on all the Issues so left to them.

XXVI. No fewer than Six Jurors of the Nine Jurors composing the Jury must concur in every Verdict of such Jury, and every Verdict in which not fewer than Six Jurors of the Nine Jurors, composing the Jury, shall concur, shall be received and regarded as the Verdict of such Jury: Provided that no Verdict except one in which the whole of the Jurors composing the Jury shall concur, shall be capable of being delivered or received until after the Jury shall have been in deliberation upon their Verdict for not less than One Hour.

XXVII. [The Judge may adjourn the Court from time to time and the Jurors shall be bound to attend on the resumption of the Court's business after adjournment.]

XXVIII. [The Verdict of the Jury may be either a general Verdict or a special Verdict.]

XL. [Appeals to Her Majesty in Her Privy Council allowed.] XLIII. This Act shall commence and take effect from and after the promulgation thereof.

P.R.O., C.O. 50/3.

RESIDENT MAGISTRATES. [4 June 1856.]
No. 20 of 1856.

No. 80. An Act. For amending and consolidating the Laws relative to the Courts of Resident Magistrates.

WHEREAS it is expedient to amend and consolidate the laws relative to the courts, jurisdiction, powers, and duties of the resident magistrates within the colony: Be it therefore enacted by the Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and House of Assembly thereof, as follows:

I. Courts of resident magistrates 1 shall be, and the same

1The attainments required of magistrates as regards education and experience, as also the qualifications demanded for other civil servants, are set forth in Act No. 32 of 1895, not printed in this volume.