78 STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OF THE 



colony, their living in a state of incontinency, and the illega- 

 lity of the marriage. 



No persons are of age, or considered capable of acting fof* 

 themselves, until they have attained the age of twenty-five ; 

 at w^hich time they are authorized to take possession of any 

 estate, or legacy, left them. The laws do not admit of a par- 

 tial division of property from parents to children, but an equal 

 distribution is made among the whole — the younger claims 

 with the elder an equal portion. The weeskamer's office, or 

 orphan-chamber, administers the affairs of orphans, and of 

 those persons who die intestate. The appointment to this of- 

 fice is a valuable one, and seems to be entirely overlooked by 

 our ministers. 



The fiscal is the chief magistrate, public accuser, and at- 

 torney-general, to prosecute in all cases for the sovereign. He 

 has, beside a stipulated salary, a proportion of all fines he le- 

 vies on the inhabitants, which is a discretionary power con- 

 fided to him, whence there is no other appeal than to the 

 court of justice, the expenses of which are so enormous as 

 to induce appellants to forgo this method of redress in fa- 

 vor of making a composition with the fiscal, who is gene- 

 rally inclined to receive one-third in ready money, rather than 

 throw it into the court, where the seeds of litigation are so 

 completely sown, as to make it dubious when the whole 

 would be recovered. From the preceding statement it will ne- 



