debt sought to be recovered, the damages which have been awarded,
the names of the plaintiff and defendant, and the adjudication of
the court; but in the opinion of many persons of consequence and
respectability in the colony, it is absolutely requisite to cause
all the _viva voce_ evidence which is given in all civil
cases to be taken down in writing. The following reasons are
given for this alteration in the former custom, and their full
weight has been allowed to them whenever I have heard an opinion
given upon the subject. It occurs very frequently that appeals
are made from the decision of the civil court to the governor,
and, in consequence of the evidence which has been given before
the court not being taken down, the witness has an opportunity of
correcting, enlarging, or otherwise altering his depositions, so
as to make his own case appear in a very different point of view
to that which it bore in the former instance, and thus a
temptation is held out to perjury, which is too strong for the
weak morality of many in the colony to resist, and the current of
public justice may, by this method, be completely turned out of
its proper channel; and the decision of the civil court is at all
times liable to be disputed and reversed. No writ of court is
issued for less than ten pounds, so that the necessity of taking
down the evidence in a suit instituted for a sum beneath that
amount, does not appear to be so strikingly obvious; although an
appeal may be made to the governor from the civil court, for any
sum, even less than ten pounds; but this is not very often done,
although some instances have occurred in my recollection. Where
the sum sued for exceeds 300L. a court of appeal may be
demanded, and if the plaintiff is dissatisfied with the decision
of the governor, he has the right of appealing to the King in
council; and here the necessity of taking down the evidence