To assert the majesty of law and to punish criminals a large number of the best citizens, who grieved over the evils which prevailed, organised themselves into the famous Vigilance Committee.
The seal which they adopted showed their worthy purpose.

In the centre was the figure of a human eye to denote watchfulness.

Above the eye was the word, Committee,--beneath, Vigilance; then the name, San Francisco.

Around the edge of the seal ran the legends: "Fiat Justitia Ruat Coelum.

No creed; no party; no sectional issues." While not constituted exactly like the Court of Areopagus, yet the Vigilance Committee of San Francisco did for a time exercise authority over life and death like the Athenian judges on Mars' Hill.