32 



THE PREDECESSORS OF THE 



Aldermen especially should be made up of the heads and 

 chiefs of all the respective casts. 



''And further for us and our successors We grant, ordain, 

 constitute and appoint that the Mayor and Aldermen so elected, 

 nominated and sworn as aforesaid shall be then and for ever 

 hereafter a Court of Kecord within our Town of Fort St. George 

 and City of Madrassapatam and the precincts thereof aforesaid. 

 And that the Mayor of the said Corporation for the time being 

 shall be always one of the Justices of the Peace within the 

 precincts of the said Corporation and without the Walls of our 

 said Fort commonly called Fort St. George. And that three of 

 the first named or the eldest three Aldermen that shall hereafter 

 be, shall always likewise be, by virtue of this our Grant and Char- 

 ter Justices of the Peace, and as Justices of the Peace according to 

 equity and good conscience and to such laws and constitutions as 

 have been or shall hereafter be made by our General and Council, 

 or in our General's absence by our President and Council of 

 Fort St. George, have and exercise the jurisdiction and authority 

 of Justices of the Peace within the bounds, limits and precincts 

 of the said Corporation but without the Walls of Fort St. George 

 aforesaid." 



The Corporation was authorized to levy taxes for the build- 

 ing of a convenient Town House, a Guild Hall, a public Gaol, 

 and a School House for teaching of the Gentues or Natives' 

 children to speak, read and write the English tongue, and to 

 understand Arithmetic and Merchants' x^.ccompts ; and for the 

 payment of the salaries of the necessary Officers and School- 

 master. 



The Mayor and Aldermen as a Court of Eecord were to 

 have power and authority to try and adjudge all causes 

 whatever, criminal and civil, between party and party, 

 whoever they might be, that should be brought before them 

 in a summary way according to equity and good conscience 

 and according to such laws, orders and constitutions as the 

 Company had already made or should thereafter make and 



