Page:A Brief History of the Constitution and Government of Massachusetts (1925).pdf/15

Rh applied only to a constitutional amendment; yet the requirement that an amendment even to such an important document as the Constitution should be passed by two successive Legislatures is vigorously attacked nowadays as being too lengthy a proceeding.

At the same time, we find in the Plymouth government a species of referendum and initiative which these same critics might applaud. It is often said that there is nothing new under the sun. Here we find an additional confirmation of the truth of that saying. But one cannot find much that is analogous between such a small colony where every one could easily keep in touch with what was going on, and our communities.

Courts had gradually grown up in the colony with the common law of England as the basis of jurisprudence. As early as 1623 a jury of twelve was provided in cases of criminal facts of trespass and debts. There were four courts—the General Court meeting three times a year, the Court of Assistants also meeting three times a year and trying civil, criminal and appeal cases, a Selectmen's Court for cases under forty shillings between inhabitants of the town, and an Admiralty Court consisting of the Governor and three or four Assistants together with such other substantial persons as the Governor might appoint; and in 1685—the General Court having divided the colony into counties consisting of Plymouth, Bristol and Barnstable—two County Courts in each county were provided for, to be held by the Assistants.

Thus did the system of government grow up and develop in the Pilgrim Colony. What its results might have been