In 1807, a Royal Charter to provide for the establishment of a Supreme Court and a police force in Penang was granted. The Supreme Court of Penang was first opened at Fort Cornwallis in George Town in 1808, with Edmond Stanley assuming office as its first Recorder (Judge). In the decades that followed, Penang's judiciary and the police force were progressively applied to the Straits Settlements, and later copied throughout British Malaya. Hence, Penang was the birthplace of the present-day Malaysian judiciary system, as well as the Royal Malaysian Police.