o pronounce judgment of
death, in like manner as if the prisoner had been convicted by the
verdict of a jury in England, or of such corporal punishment as the
court, or the major part of it, shall deem meet. And in cases not
capital, they are to adjudge such corporal punishment as the majority of
the court shall determine. But no offender is to suffer death, unless
five members of the court shall concur in adjudging him to be guilty,
until the proceedings shall have been transmitted to England, and the
king's pleasure signified thereupon. The provost-marshal is to cause the
judgment of the court to be executed according to the governor's warrant
under his hand and seal.

The resemblance of this to the military courts may be easily traced in
some particulars. The criminal court is assembled, not at stated times,
but whenever occasion may require. It is composed of military officers
(the judge-advocate excepted, whose situation is of a civil nature) who
assemble as such in their military habits, with the insignia of duty, the
sash and the sword. Their judgments are to be determined by the majority;
and the examination of the witnesses is carried on by the members of the
court, as well as by the judge-advocate. But in other respects it differs
from the military courts. The judge-advocate is the judge or president of
the court; he frames and exhibits the charge against the prisoner, has a
vote in the court, and is sworn, like the members of it, well and truly
to try and to make true deliverance between the king and the prisoner,
and give a verdict according to the evidence.

When the state of the colony and the nature of its inhabitants are
considered, it must be agreed, that the administration of public justice
could not have been placed with so much propriety in any other hands. The
outward form of the court, as well as the more essential part of it, are
admirably calculated to meet the characters and disposition of the people
who form the major part of the settlement. As long confinement would be
attended with a loss of labour, and other evils, the court is assembled
within a day or two after the apprehension of any prisoner whose crime is
of such magnitude as to call for a criminal proceeding against him. He is
brought before a court composed of a judge and six men of honour, who
hear the evidence both for and against him, and determine whether the
crime exhibited be or be not made out; and his punishment, if found
gui