The one power in the land to which they had been able to appeal for some sort of redress amid their grievances was the law courts.

Now it was decreed that the courts should be dependent on the Volksraad.

The Chief Justice protested against such a degradation of his high office, and he was dismissed in consequence without a pension.

The judge who had condemned the reformers was chosen to fill the vacancy, and the protection of a fixed law was withdrawn from the Uitlanders.
A commission appointed by the State was sent to examine into the condition of the mining industry and the grievances from which the newcomers suffered.

The chairman was Mr.Schalk Burger, one of the most liberal of the Boers, and the proceedings were thorough and impartial.
The result was a report which amply vindicated the reformers, and suggested remedies which would have gone a long way towards satisfying the Uitlanders.