Note XV-24 — Chapter XV · REPUBLIC OF HONDURAS. 1840-1865.

The settlement, as it was called, for it had not even the name of a colony, was ruled by a code of laws established in 1779 by Sir W. Burnaby. Justice was administered by a board of seven magistrates chosen annually. The chief authority was the superintendent, a position always held by a military officer, combining the duties both of first civil magistrate and commander of the forces. Henderson's Brit. Hond., 75-9.