User:Guettarda/Sandbox 24

The British captured Trinidad from the Spanish in 1797. As part of the Spanish surrender, the British agreed to preserve the Spanish Laws of the Indies. One of the first steps in the anglicisation of the law was instituted by Governor Ralph Woodford in 1814 when he required court proceedings and records to be in English. The establishment of the Council of Government (later the Legislative Council) in 1831 began a process of law making which gradually displaced Spanish law. Between 1838 and 1848 a series of ordinances replaced Spanish law with English law. In his role as attorney general, Charles William Warner led this process.