No doubt Culpeper did this so that he could preside at their legislative sessions as he did when they sat as a Privy Council or as a court. In this way he could keep an eye on them, could argue with them, and bring pressure on them to vote as he wished. It also created a buffer between him and the Burgesses, behind which he could take refuge against popular criticism. The position of the Councillors was not an easy one since as appointees of the King they were supposed to defend the royal authority, and as natives of Virginia they wished to defend her interests. Often they found a way out of this difficulty by voting one way and privately urging the Burgesses to vote the other. The members of the Council all sat on the General Court. Hartwell, Blair, and Chilton thus describe this body: "It is strange that they never had a commission for holding of this court, nor never took the oath of judges, perhaps it was not designed by the Crown that they should hold it, since besides that they are unskilful in law, it is thought an inconvenient thing in all governments that the justice and policy of the government should be lodged in the same persons, who ought indeed to be a check upon one another."[15] It was as though the United States Senate were also the Supreme Court. In other words, in colonial Virginia the same men who, as members of the Upper House of Assembly, had voted on a law were called upon to interpret it. Prior to 1680 if a man thought himself injured in point of law or equity by a decision of this court he could appeal his case to the Assembly. But after that date, when the judicial powers of the Assembly were voided, his only appeal was to the King and Privy Council, a step seldom taken because of the difficulty "of either prosecuting or defending matters at such a distance." The judicial function of the Councillors added greatly to their power and prestige. "They are the sole judges of law and property, which makes all depend on them," reported Colonel Quary.[16] The Councillors were well aware of the power and prestige which their judicial position gave them. This is shown by the bitterness with which they resisted when Governor Spotswood tried to weaken it by setting up a court of oyer and terminer with others than Councillors on the bench.