beguile either court or party." Violation of this obligation drew down upon the offender the penalty of being forever disbarred. Regulation of the proceedings of the General Court, even in matters of detail, was in those days the subject of legislation. The legislators were solicitous that the sittings of the court should be conducted with dignity and decorum, and that the reproach of the law's delay should not attach to the judiciary of the colony. It was therefore enacted by the General Assembly, as that which added to the "comely and commendable order of the Court of Judicature," that "at the farthest on Court days" they should meet at eight o'clock in the morning. Having thus provided for the sitting of the court at proper hours, and thrown the mantle of legislative protection about the judges to guard them from the wiles of the bar, our early legislators attempted to shield the jury from the undue influence of the court. For this purpose it was enacted that the judges in charging the jury "shall mind the inquest of the most material passages and arguments that are brought by one and other for the case and against it without alteration or leaning to one party or another, which is too commonly seen." The closing phrase of this act is perhaps intended as an expression of condemnation upon some of the courts with which the early settlers were acquainted.
The royal charter of 1663 vested the powers of government in a governor, a deputy governor, ten assistants, and a body of deputies. These officers, or a quorum of them when convened, constituted the legislative department of the government. The charter provided that the General Assembly might create such "courts of jurisdiction" as they might see fit. The first General Assembly under this charter enacted that either the governor or deputy-governor, with at least six of the ten assistants, should hold the General Court of trials at Newport each year in May and October. The general officers who were thus designated to exercise judicial functions were elected annually by the freemen of the several towns.
Local interests did not receive the recognition under the new, that they had under the old judicial system. The experience of the several settlements as members of the united colony under the first Charter had perhaps allayed their fears of the central authority. The representation of the towns in the board of assistants and in the chamber of deputies was no longer equal. The old court held its sessions from town to town, and the town officers sat as members of the court, with equal voice with the general officers in its deliberations. The town . officers had no place in the new court, and the sessions of the court were held at Newport only. Original jurisdiction, which had been conferred almost exclusively upon the town courts by the Act of 1651, was now exercised more extensively by the higher court. The jurisdiction of the General Court of trials was not defined by the act creating it; but it is probable that except for its enlarged original jurisdiction the authority of the new court was similar to that of the old.
The difficulty and often hardship of making the journey to Newport from the more remote parts of the colony, and the fact that the judges received no compensation for their services made it difficult to obtain a quorum of the court for the transaction of business. To remedy this evil the General Assembly reduced the number of assistants necessary for a quorum to four, and later to three. As an inducement to regularity in attendance upon court duties, it was provided that the judges should each be paid three, later four shillings a day for attendance at court, and be fined twice as much for being absent without sufficient excuse. If, however, there was no quorum present, this fine was increased to five pounds for each absentee. The preamble to the law assigns as a reason for its enactment that the judges "might see themselves strongly obliged, partly through hope of reward in case of attendance, and partly through fear of penalty in case of neg-
