Page:Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1st ed, 1833, vol I).djvu/143

 CH. X.] required all persons naturalized by the State, to take an oath of abjuration of all foreign allegiance, and subjection in all matters, ecclesiastical as well as civil. This was doubtless intended to exclude all Catholics, who acknowledged the spiritual supremacy of the Pope, from the benefits of naturalization. In examining the subsequent legislation of the province, there do not appear to be any very striking deviations from the laws of England; and the common law, beyond all question, was the basis of its Jurisprudence. The common law course of descents appears to have been silently but exclusively followed; and perhaps New-York was more close in the adoption of the policy and legislation of the parent country before the Revolution, than any other colony.