had a casting vote, consisting of one Senator elected annually by the Assembly from each of the four senatorial districts. A Governor and Council holding office at the pleasure of the King gave place to a Governor and a Council elected by the people for a limited term, and thus became directly amenable to them. The elective franchise in principle remained the same, with the single exception that there was no discrimination on account of religion. The property qualification was still retained. The judicial system remained largely the same. The common and statute law of Great Britain and the acts of Colonial General Assembly, except so far as they conflicted with the new order of things, were made the law of the State until modified by the Legislature.
The radical change was in the constitution of the court of final resort. Under the colonial system the Governor and Council were the court for the correction of errors and appeals, from whom appeals, where the value exceeded five hundred pounds, or where the Episcopal Church was involved, lay to the King in Privy Council. Under the first constitution the executive had no judicial functions; the court of final resort was called the Court for the Trial of Impeachments and the Correction of Errors, consisting of the Lieutenant-Governor, Senate, chancellor and judges of the Supreme Court. One other important change was made. In England the granting of probates was a royal prerogative and in the colony was vested in the King's representative, the Governor.
The Governor of the State was stripped of this authority, which was granted to the surrogates of the counties and the Court of Probate. With these exceptions, the colonial courts were recognized, and we have the Court of Chancery with equity powers, the Supreme Court, Court of Common Pleas, Court of Sessions and the Justices' Courts.