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 Transition from Dutch to Englisli Rule 7 2 1 last the final step in the establishment of English laws on the Dela- ware came in an order from the governor, dated September 22, 1676. "Whereas upon a peticon of the Magistrates and officers of New Castle and Delaware River, Governor Lovelace did resolve and in part settle the Establish' Lawes of this Government and appoint some Magis- trates under an English Denominacon accordingly. In the which their having been an obstruction for reason of the late warres and Change of of Government ; And findeing now an absolute necessity for the well being of the Inhabitants, to make a speedy settlement, to bee a generall knowne rule unto them for the future, Vpon mature deliberation and advice of my Councell, I have resolved, and by vertue of the Authority derived unto mee, doe hereby in his iVIa"" Name Order as foUoweth. " I. That the booke of lawes Established by his Royall Highnesse, and practiced in New Yorke, Long Island, and Dependences bee likewise in force, and practiced in this River and Precincts, Except the Con- stables Courts, Country Rates, and some other things peculiar to Long Island, and the Millitia as now Ordered to remaine in the King, but that a Constable in each place bee yearely chosen for the Preservacon of his Ma""* Peace with all other Power as directed by the law." ' The order then went on to recognize three courts, at Whorekill, Newcastle and Upland, to be composed of the justices of the peace, and having criminal jurisdiction, and civil jurisdiction up to the value of twenty pounds ; and possessing the power to make by- laws for their respective districts, not repugnant to the laws of the government. A sheriff was to be appointed for the whole Dela- ware territory. Taxes could be levied, except in extraordinary' emergencies, only with the consent of the governor. The frame of government thus established differed in large measure from that which had been formed for Long Island. No provision is made for town-meetings either by the constable and overseers, or by the inhabitants ; and it is certain that no town- meeting, in the New England sense of the term, was ever held by the inhabitants on the Delaware under this order.^ The only elec- tive oiificers provided for were the constables, and in one instance, at least, even the constable was chosen by the court, and not elected by the people.^ The militia officers were not elected by the soldiers, as on Long Island and in New England, but "to remain in the King," /. c, appointed by the governor. The sheriff was appointed ijV. Y. Col. Doc, XII. 561-563. 2E. R. L. Gould, in Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science, I. 3 : 27, implies that the New England town system was introduced into Pennsyl- vania by this order of Andros. There is absolutely no documentary proof for this view, and the facts given above show that the system actually established was widely different from the New England, or even the Long Island custom. 3 Upland Court Record, Memoirs of Hist. Soc. of Pa., VII. 184.