Page:Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1st ed, 1833, vol I).djvu/212

 172 king might, in cases of extraordinary necessity or emergency, take away a charter, where the defence or protection of the inhabitants required it, leaving them in possession of their civil rights.

§ 186. Such are some of the royal prerogatives, which were supposed to exist by the crown-writers in the colonial establishments, when not restrained by any positive charter or bill of rights. Of these, many were undisputed; but others were resisted with pertinacity and effect in the colonial assemblies.

§ 187. In regard to the authority of parliament to enact laws, which should be binding upon them, there was quite as much obscurity, and still more jealousy spreading over the whole subject. The government of Great Britain always maintained the doctrine, that the parliament had authority to bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever. No acts of parliament, however, were understood to bind the colonies, unless expressly named therein. But in America, at different times and in different colonies, different opinions were entertained on the subject. In fact, it seemed to be the policy of the colonies, as much as possible, to withdraw