HIGH COURT OF MADRAS. 



31 



the distance of ten miles from Fort St. George, to be a Corpor- 

 ation under us, by the name and title of the Mayor, Aldermen 

 and Burgesses of the town of Fort St. George and City of 

 Madrassapatam : And therefore we the said Governor and Com- 

 pany do by these presents ordain, constitute and appoint that 

 the inhabitants of Fort St. George and Madrassapatam afore- 

 said, or so many of them as shall be hereby nominated, or that 

 shall hereafter be thereunto elected or admitted in manner and 

 form hereinafter prescribed, shall be one Body Corporate and 

 politick, in deed and in name, by the name of the Mayor, Alder- 

 men and Burgesses of the Town of Fort St. George and City of 

 Madrassapatam, really and fully for ever." 



The Corporation was to have perpetual succession and a 

 Common Seal, and to be capable of holding and disposing of 

 lands, tenements and hereditaments. One of the inhabitants 

 was to be elected and appointed Mayor, and there were to be 

 twelve Aldermen, and sixty or more, not exceeding one 

 hundred and twenty, Burgesses. Mr. Higginson, then 

 Second of the Council and afterwards Governor of Fort St. 

 George, was appointed the first and modern Mayor of the 

 Corporation, and to take upon him and continue in the said 

 Office for one whole year from the 29th September 1688, 

 if he should so long live, and so until a new Mayor should 

 be chosen by the Aldermen and Burgesses. Three other 

 members of Council, one French Merchant, two Portugal 

 Merchants, three Hebrew Merchants and three Gentue Mer- 

 chants, were appointed the twelve first and modern Aldermen ; 

 and John Nicks, John Stables, and twenty-eight others, 

 described only as Merchants, but who appear from their 

 names to have all been Englishmen, were appointed Bur- 

 gesses. One of the Aldermen was to be elected Mayor 

 on the 29th September in every year ; and it was directed 

 that the Corporation should consist of a mixture of the most 

 discreet, best and honestest of all sorts of people residing 

 within the limits of the Corporation, and that the Court of 



