HIGH COURT OF MADRAS. 



87 



It being considered necessary that there should be a Court 

 of J ustice for deciding small debt3 for the relief of the poor 

 who could not afford the charges necessarily attending the 

 forms of proceedings in the Mayor's Court, and would there- 

 fore otherwise be defrauded of their just dues ; it was at first 

 determined by the President and Council (11th September 

 1 727) that the five Justices of the Peace appointed by the 

 Royal Charter should be also appointed Justices of the 

 Choultry, and to decide causes not exceeding twenty pagodas 

 in value. It was found, however, that this method would 

 occasion some inconveniences, particularly the subjecting the 

 Members of the Superior Court to an appeal to the Mayor's 

 Court. It was therefore agreed by the Council on the 27th 

 November 1727 that for the future all petty causes should 

 be decided in the Sheriff's Court, and that the Sheriff should 

 decide ultimately without appeal as far as five pagodas, and 

 that he might likewise decide as far as twenty pagodas, 

 allowing the parties a liberty of applying to the Mayor's 

 Court in case they were not satisfied with the Sheriff's award. 

 Also that the register of slaves which was formerly kept by 

 the Justices of the Choultry be now kept by the Sheriff with 

 the former fees, and also that he do keep a register of sales 

 and mortgages of houses as far as one hundred pagodas in 

 value, as was formerly done at the choultry. 44 



These registers appear from the Rules and Regulations 

 made in the time of Mr. Streynsham Master, and which have 

 been already noticed, to have been in existence for some time 

 before 1678, and had been the subject of several subsequent 

 orders. In or about the year 1719 an order was made by 

 Governor Collett for registering all houses and gardens in 

 the Black Town or the adjacent parts in the Mayor's Court or 

 Choultry for the prevention of frauds in sales and mortgages ; 



44 Wheeler's Madras, vol. iii, pp. 25 and 26. 



