Bombay did not progress steadily from its uncertain beginning for it was beset by an uncompromising topography, a Portuguese landed class which refused to forfeit its valuable estates, hostile rival powers and a malarial climate which regularly took its toll on English lives. For decades, its very survival was in doubt. Even the governorship of Gerald Aungier, long celebrated for its achievements in setting Bombay on the path to modernization and legal and municipal reform, actually did little to guarantee its survival. Fortifications were neglected and the administration of justice was left in abeyance, particularly at the time of Keigwin’s rebellion of 1683 and the aftermath of the siege of 1689 which brought Bombay close to total collapse. But progress there was. Faltering it may have been but for the Company there was sufficient evidence to encourage a transition of power from Surat. And by the third decade of the eighteenth century, a Mayor’s Court was established as a decisive new phase in the administration of justice. By then, the Company could claim a certain sovereign authority over a defensible Bombay, essential conditions for the explosive growth of the eighteenth century.