1 5 o HISTORY OF THE [book iii. 
seldom that more than seven are present. The 
house of assembly is composed of twenty-four re¬ 
presentatives, of whom fifteen make a quorum. 
The requisite qualification is a freehold of forty 
acres of land, or a house worth forty pounds a 
year. Of the electors, the qualification is a freehold 
of ten pounds per annum. 
The governor of this, and the other islands in the 
same government, is chancellor by his office, and 
in St. Christopher’s sits alone. Attempts have 
been made to join some of the council with him, 
as in Barbadoes; but hitherto without success, the 
inhabitants choosing rather to submit to the ex¬ 
pense and delay of following the chancellor to An¬ 
tigua, than suffer the inconveniency of having on 
the chancery bench judges, some of whom it is 
probable, from their situation and connexions, may 
be interested in the event of every suit that may 
come before them. 
v - 
In this island, as in Jamaica, the jurisdiction of 
both the King’s Bench and Common Pleas, cen¬ 
ters in one superior court, wherein justice is ad¬ 
ministered by a chief justice and four puisne judges. 
The chief is appointed by the crown, the others by 
the governor in the king’s name, and they all hold 
their commissions during pleasure. The office of 
chief judge is worth about £.600 per annum. 
The emoluments of the assistant judges are tri¬ 
fling-. 
