nation of the monthly commlffioners, and afterwards to he laid
before the full Court, As their charges, in fome degree, depend
iipon the quantity of paper written, fuch papers are generally
pretty voluminous. The expenses of a fmgle fisit will fpmetimes
amount to 400 /. or 5001. fterling, when, atthe fame time, the
obje& of litigation was not worth too/.
The office of Fifcal is one of the inoft important in the cor
lony. As public aecufer it is his duty to profecute, in the Court
ef'Juftice, all high crimes and mifdemeanors; and as Solicitor*
General to the Crown he is Ip aft in all cafes where the intereft
of Government is concerned. As Chief Magiftrate of the po*
Kce, both within and without the town, he is authorized to
inflia corporal puniihment on flavcs, Hottentots, and others,
not being burghers, for petty offences, riotous behaviour, or
other a£ls that cannot be confidered as direOly criminal. The
Fifeal has alfo the power of irapofing fines, and of accepting
pecuniary compofitioa for mifdemeanors, infults, breach of con-
trad* in cafes where the offender does not wifh to rilk a public
trial. The fum, however, that in cafes of compromife can be
demanded by the Fifcal, was. limited, under the Britiih Government,
to 300 rix dollars. For it appeared that, under former
Fifcals, many and enormous abufes had been pradrifed in the
levying of fines, particularly in cafes where the nature of the
offence was fijch that the accufed chofe rather to pay a large fum
of money than fuffer his eaufe tq be inveftigated before a fuU
c,ourt. The Fifcal, being entitled to one-third of all fuch penalties,
took care to lay them as heavy as lie thought the cafes
would bear. What a. temptation was here laid for .frail mortal
man,
man, in his fifcal capacity, to be guilty of injuftice and extortion,
by leaving the power of fixing the penalty in the breaft o f
the very man who was to reap the benefit of it 1 To the honour
o f the man be it fpoken, who held this important but odious
fituation, during the government of Britain at the Gape, hip
moft inveterate enemies, and he and every one who fills the
office muft daily make fuch, never accufed him either of making
an undue ufe of his authority, or of ftudyingbis ow.n intereft in
this refpedi. The Englifh found him and left him poor, but
not without fome, though not adequate, acknowledgment of
his fervices.
The office of Fifcal confifted of the principal and a deputy, a
clerk, two bailiffs, two jailors, eight conftables, and nineteen
blacks and Malays, ufually called Kaffers. The whole expence
to Government was under 10,000 rix dollars; the Court of Juf-
tice and Secretary’s Office to the Court was about the fame fum,
fo that the adminiftratkm of juftice coft the Government about
4000/. fterling a year.
3‘he Court o f Commffaries fo r trying pdtyfuits, and fo r matrimonial
affairs, confifts of a Prefident, 4 Vice-prefidenf, and four
members, whofe fituations are merely honorary, .and are, biennial.
The duties of the Court, as the name implies, are divided into
two diftindt dafies: firft, to decide jn fusts where t;he furn^ in
litigation does pot exceed 40 ; and fecondly, tp grant’ licences
of marriage where, on examination of the parties, there, appears
to be no legal impediment.