Judiciary. Except

in the earliest days of the Puritan colonies, the judiciary in the colonies was modeled on that of England. In each, the Governor (in the general case) constituted the court of admiralty, the court of equity, and the ecclesiastical and highest probate court. There was a supreme or superior common-law court, from which appeals lay to the Governor and council, and ultimately to the King in Council. County courts were commonly held after the forms of the justices’ courts of quarter se ion in England; and there was a similar system of lowest courts, held by individual justices. When, at the beginning of the Revolution, the States made their new Constitutions, they either abolished those courts which were not common-law courts or reorganized them, or gave their functions to the common-law courts. Otherwise little change was made in the system. Under the Continental Congre the beginnings of a Federal judiciary are seen in the operations of the commi ions which decided land cases between States, and in those of the commi ioners of appeal in prize causes, which, in 1781, under the Articles of Confederation, was erected into a more regular court. The Constitution of 1787 provided for a supreme court, and such inferior courts as Congre might establish. By the Judiciary Act of 1789, Congre established circuit and district courts. (See arts. Supreme Court, Circuit Courts and District Courts.) These constituted the Federal system until 1891, when the Circuit Courts of Appeal were added. Colonial judges were mostly appointed by the Governors. In some States this feature was retained; in most, it has now become the rule that judges are elected by the people. Beside the strictly Federal courts provided by the Constitution, Congre has established a system of Territorial courts, and the Court of Claims.