Page:Select Essays in Anglo-American Legal History, Volume 1.djvu/405

 11. REINSCH: COLONIAL COMMON LAW 391 their lasting form in the state of New York, whose jurists had profited from a longer training in a regular system of jurisprudence. We must, however, by no means conclude that the common law was administered in New York from the very beginning of English occupation as a complete subsidiary system. The feeling that for a new colony a new body of laws is necessary led to the compilation of what is known as the Duke of York's laws, which were promulgated at an in- formal assembly at Hampstead in 1665.^ The first New York legislature met in 1683, and, among other acts, passed bills regulating the judicial proceedings, and for prevent- ing perjuries and frauds.^ Governor Nichols, before courts had been created, took upon himself the decision of contro- versies and pronounced judgment after a summary hearing.^ In writing to Clarendon, July 30, 1665, he says: " The very name of the Duke's power has drawn well-affected men hither from other colonies, hearing that the new laws are not con- trived so democratically as the rest." ^ At this time laws are confirmed, reviewed, and amended by the general assizes composed of the governor, the general council and the judges upon the bench. A year later, April 7, 1666, Nichols writes to Clarendon '^ remitting a copy of the laws collected from the laws of the other colonies with such alterations as would tend to revive the memory of old England ; he says that " the very name of Justice of the Peace is held an abom- ination, so strong a hold has Democracy taken in these parts." He complains of the refractory disposition of the people, and describes his efforts to introduce English statutes and authority. It is apparent from this correspondence that it was considered necessary to restate the law in a codified form for the use of the colonists ; and an informal transfer of the common law in its original " unwritten " character was evidently not considered sufficient or suit- able to the circumstances by the men in authority. ^Documents Relative to Colonial History of New York, III, 260, 416; IV, 1154. •Ibid., p. 118, 119.
 * Ibid., Ill, 35.5. 'Smith's History of New York, 55.
 * New York Historical Society Collections, 1869, 75.