When the state of the colony and the nature of its inhabitants are considered, it must be agreed, that the administration of public justice could not have been placed with so much propriety in any other hands.  The outward form of the court, as well as the more essential part of it, are admirably calculated to meet the characters and disposition of the people who form the major part of the settlement.  As long confinement would be attended with a loss of labour, and other evils, the court is assembled within a day or two after the apprehension of any prisoner whose crime is of such magnitude as to call for a criminal proceeding against him.  He is brought before a court composed of a judge and six men of honour, who hear the evidence both for and against him, and determine whether the crime exhibited be or be not made out; and his punishment, if found guilty, is adjudged according to the laws of England, considering and allowing for the situation and circumstances of the settlement and its inhabitants; which punishment, however, after all, cannot be inflicted without the ratification of the governor under his hand and seal.

Beside this court for the trial of criminal offenders, there is a civil court, consisting of the judge-advocate and two inhabitants of the settlement, who are to be appointed by the governor; which court has full power to hear and determine in a summary way all pleas of lands, houses, debts, contracts, and all personal pleas whatsoever, with authority to summon the parties upon complaint being made, to examine the matter of such complaint by the oaths of witnesses, and to issue warrants of execution under the hand and seal of the judge-advocate.  From this court, on either party, plaintiff or defendant, finding himself or themselves aggrieved by the judgment or decree, an appeal lies to the governor, and from him, where the debt or thing in demand shall exceed the value of three hundred pounds, to the king in council:  but these appeals must be put in, if from the civil court, within eight days, and if from the governor or superior court, within fourteen days after pronouncing the said judgments.

To this court is likewise given authority to grant probates of wills and administration of the personal estates of intestates dying within the settlement.  But as property must be acquired in the country before its rights can come into question, few occasions of assembling this court can occur for many years.

In addition to these courts for the trial of crimes, and the cognisance of civil suits, the governor, the lieutenant-governor, and the judge-advocate for the time being, are by his Majesty’s letters patent constituted justices for the preservation of the peace of the settlement, with the same power that justices of the peace have in England within their respective jurisdictions.  And the governor, being enabled by his Majesty’s commission, soon after our arrival, caused Augustus Alt esq. (the surveyor-general of the territory) to be sworn a justice of the peace, for the purpose of sitting once a week, or oftener as occasion might require, with the judge-advocate, to examine all offences committed by the convicts, and determine on and punish such as were not of sufficient importance for trial by the criminal court.