Page:Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1st ed, 1833, vol I).djvu/127

 CH. VIII.] their charter; and passed an act for that purpose, which was afterwards suppressed. In December, 1686, Sir EdwardEdmund [sic] Andros, agreeably to his orders, dissolved their government, and assumed the administration of the colony. The revolution of 1688 put an end to his power; and the colony immediately afterwards resumed its charter, and, though not without some interruptions, continued to maintain and exercise its powers down to the period of the American Revolution. It still continues to act under the same charter as a fundamental law, it being the only state in the Union, which has not formed a new constitution of government. It seems, that until the year 1696 the governor, assistants, and deputies of the towns sat together. But by a law then passed they were separated, and the deputies acted as a lower house, and the governor and assistants as an upper house.

§ 100. In reviewing the colonial legislation of Rhode Island some peculiarities are discernible, though the general system is like that of the other parts of New-England. No persons but those, who were admitted freemen of the colony, were allowed to vote at elections, and they might do it in person or by proxy; and none but freemen were eligible to office. Wills of real estate were required to have three witnesses. The probate of wills and the granting of administrations of personal estate were committed to the jurisdiction of the town councils of each town in the colony, with an appeal to the governor and council as supreme ordinary.