The judicial system of Georgia at this time was peculiar.  The State was subdivided into districts, or circuits, as they were denominated; and one judge appointed to preside over each.  These were elected by the Legislature, on joint ballot, for a term of three years; and until faction claimed the spoils of victory, the judge who had proven himself capable and honest was rarely removed, so long as he chose to remain.  Dooly was one of these.  Party never touched him, and both factions concurred in retaining him, because it was the universal wish of the people of his circuit.  The law of the country was the common law of England and the statutes of the State.  In the expounding of these, the judges frequently differed, and the consequence was that each circuit had, in many particulars, its own peculiar law, antagonistic to that which was received as law in the adjoining circuit.  The uniformity of law, so essential to the quiet and harmony of a people, and so necessary in defining the title and securing the tenure of property, by this system was so greatly disturbed, that it led to the informal assembling of the judges at irregular periods, and upon their own responsibility, to reconcile these discrepancies.  This in some degree obviated the necessity of a supreme court for the correction of errors; but was very unsatisfactory to the Bar, who were almost universal in their desire for the establishment of a tribunal for this purpose.  But there was another feature peculiar to the judicial system of the State, to which her people were greatly attached:  that of special juries.  They feared the creation of a supreme court would abolish this, and for many years resisted it.  This system of special juries, in the organization of her judiciary, was intended to obviate the necessity of a court of chancery.  The conception was a new one, and in Georgia, with her peculiar population, its effects were admirable.  It was an honest, common-sense adjudication of equity cases, and rendered cheap and speedy justice to litigants.  It was unknown in the judiciary system of any other State, and I will be excused by the reader, who may not be a Georgian, for a brief description of it here.

By direction of the law of 1798, the justices of the Inferior Court took the tax list, which contained the name of every white man of twenty-one years and upwards in the county, and, from this list, selected a certain number of names, and placed them in a box marked “The grand-jury box.”  The remaining names were placed in another box marked “The petit-jury box.”  Those selected as grand jurors were chosen because of their superior intelligence, wealth, and purity of character.  These selections were made at certain stated periods; and the jurors thus chosen from the mass never served on the petit jury, nor were they liable even as talesmen to serve on that jury.  The same act made it the duty of the presiding judge of each circuit to draw, at the termination of each term of his court, and