sued in Court for the cost of rebuilding his part of the Praya Wall. 'The great Praya case,' as it was called, was tried before a special jury (R. Lyall, G. F. Weller, A. Coxon, E. Mellish, J. Arnold, J. M. Vickers, C. Mackintosh) and the verdict was given for the defendant (February 7, 1868) to the great discomfiture of the Governor. The decision was based on the view taken by the Chief Justice that, under the terms of his lease, the defendant was bound to repair all public quays piers and roadways in or 'requisite to the premises,' but that the sea-wall was not requisite to the defendant's premises.
The legislative work of this period was largely occupied with matters affecting police and crime, commerce and emigration, and the government of the Chinese population, all of which are referred to elsewhere. A few ordinances of general interest were introduced by Sir Richard such as regulated the Fire Brigade (4 of 1868), the preservation of birds (1 of 1870), and the Public Gardens (8 of 1870). Improvements in the administration of justice received a large share of Sir Richard's attention. Ordinances were passed modifying the law of jurors and juries (7 of 1868), criminal law procedure (2 of 1869 and 3 of 1872), promissory oaths (4 of 1869), the administration of the estates of deceased persons (9 of 1870), the enrolment of barristers and attornies (3 of 1871), Court vacation (1 of 1869), and so forth. But the most important measure, yet one that was two years later repealed by Sir Richard's successor, was Ordinance 1 of 1871, which regulated the procedure of the Summary Jurisdiction Court by providing that cases, involving sums over $500 and under $2000, might be heard, with a jury, by the Chief Justice sitting in Supreme Court in Summary Jurisdiction. Two interesting decisions were given during this period. In the case Regina v. Souza, Sir J. Smale laid it down (July, 1869) that no criminal action can be instituted in Hongkong for the publication of a libel against an undistinguished foreigner resident out of the Colony. And in the case of the Nouvelle Penelope, a French coolie ship which, having sailed from Macao, was seized by the coolies under the leadership
