134 PAST A XI) PRESENT OF John Stewart , Donald McDonald , Paul Mabey , John McGregor and Thomas Owen were appointed a committee to carry them into effect In the following year, 1824, the colony had a new governor and a new chief justice. Tremlett, C. J. , has left one mark at least upon the Island's statute books. Previ¬ ous to his time no time limit was set to the terms of the superior court. In practice, be¬ fore his time, they usually occupied seven or eight days. But his "grievous delays and vast extensions" called for a check. The Legislature, therefore, passed the act, fifty-nine George III , Chapter Three( i 8 i 8), providing that Hilary should begin on the 3d Tuesday of February, yearly, and should continue fourteen days and no longer; that Trinity term should begin on the last Tues¬ day in June and continue for fourteen days and no longer, and that Michaelmas term should begin on the last Tuesday in October and continue for seven days and no longer and that no trial by jury should take place in Hilary and Trinity terms after the expira¬ tion of ten days after their commencement. From 1786 to 1795 Trinity, Michaelmas and Hilary had all been issuable terms. An anonymous writer in the Gazette of July 27, 1820, in discussing judicial griev¬ ances says: "If I reside at East Point or and have an account of five pounds against my neighbor I must send and gener¬ ally speaking come to Charlottetown before I can compel him to pay me. If I am poor it would be madness in me to attempt to defend ?n appeal in Charlottetown because my gain would be a certain loss. If I go into Char¬ lottetown I am led into dissipation there and return home with an aching head, and empty pocket, and a half-starved horse.." "We see the chief justice, so far the rep¬ resentative of our Lord the King, now trying a murder, then an appeal from an eighteen penny summons, now the right to a township or a ship, now a slap in the face—process servers galloping in all directions, and at¬ torneys shoving their clients into the street by dozens for want of house room." His argument is that inferior courts should be established in the different counties and that all minor cases should be dealt with by them, "So that justice should be dis¬ pensed in every part of the colony by distinct yet communicating ducts or channels." This period was a terrible one for transgressors of the law. In 1815 Sancho Byers and Peter Byers . on indictments for burglary and larceny, were found guilty and condemned to death "with¬ out benefit of clergy." They were hanged on "" for an offence which in >\\ would merit merciful consideration. They were hungry and they stole some bread. Here follows three sentences for larceny: (One) Thirty-nine lashes in front of the gaol, thirty-nine opposite the stocks, thirty- nine opposite the market house, one hundred and seventeen in all. (Two) Thirty-nine lashes at each of the above mentioned points to be repeated on three successive days—three hundred and fifty-one in all. / (Three) One hundred and fifty lashes' at each of the above stations named, all to be administered in one day—four hun¬ dred and fifty in all. These sentences were all; imposed by non-professional judges who seem to have been striving to outdo each other in savage ferocity. Whether public abhorrence of such bar¬ barities prevented their repetition or the* more humane doctrines of the present day were being adopted, certain it is that from that time forward no such crimes against humanitv stain the records of the courts.