JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT. 225 



pressed to be on his guard, he prudently applied to the warden a 

 few days before the sale, when he heard that the tax had not been 

 received. On Mr. F. then producing a receipt signed by the war- 

 den's agent, the answer was, "that he could not be made accountable 

 for an amount which had never been handed over to him," and 

 Mr. F. was thus compelled to make a second payment. But 

 how few ever did see the Royal Gazette, and how many could not 

 read it, so as to ascertain whether they were or were not on the 

 list of defaulters ! The property of one Jean Creteau, in the ward 

 of Lower Caroni, was sold, though he had the receipt of the 

 warden. True, the sale was put aside by a decree of the court, 

 because Mr. C. employed a lawyer ; but this is a solitary instance 

 of justice among many of oppression. 



When the wardens' ordinance was first passed, the duties of 

 the assessor were very onerous. He did the whole work of the 

 court, and, after signing the orders, would transmit them to the 

 governor for his signature and that of the escribano ; nor was 

 any deed signed by the governor, except after it had been ap- 

 proved by the assessor, who, on many occasions, consulted with 

 his Excellency. But since and after the passing of the ordinance 

 No. 14, 1854, all the functions of the court may be said to have 

 become centred in the escribano. He corresponds with the 

 wardens, puts up the properties for sale, examines and signs the 

 conveyances, receives the money, and deals out the surplus, never 

 consulting the assessor, except on rare occurrences of contes- 

 tation. 



In case of error, the court is never at a loss to act, either by 

 amending, varying, reversing, or annulling its own acts. The 

 error once discovered, a former order is declared null and void, 

 and a new decree is issued reversing the same, or making any 

 alteration, according to the circumstances of the case. This new 

 order is notified to the parties in the usual form. 



The law of 1854 was passed with the view to afford the means 

 of remedying the evil, and granting the power to annul deeds 

 already lodged in the Registrar' s-General's Office. Thus, in the 

 case of Jean Creteau, already mentioned, the deed of sale to Mr. 

 J. Escalier was set aside, and the sale itself and its consequences 

 annulled by the following decree : 







