Page:Select Essays in Anglo-American Legal History, Volume 1.djvu/421

 11. REINSCH: COLONIAL COMMON LAW 407 Keith gives a very unfavorable account of the administration of law in Virginia. In order to unify and settle the law he favors the appointment of circuit judges from England.^ Governor Gooch, in his answer to Keith's criticisms, says that the practice of courts is exactly suited to the circumstances of the respective governments and as near as possibly can be conformable to the laws and customs of England, and that the judges are of competent knowledge in the laws, though not all of them profound lawyers.^ The Carolinas In the case of the Carolina colonies the enforcement of a very complete code, the celebrated Fundamental Constitutions, was attempted by the proprietors. These Constitutions were reactionary in the extreme, and attempted to introduce an intricate feudal system into the new colony. The redeeming feature of the act lies in its very liberal provisions concerning religious affairs, giving any body of believers the right to worship according to the dictates of their conscience. It is very doubtful if aside from these provisions concerning religion the Fundamental Constitutions had any permanent influence in molding the jurisprudence of the Carolinas. They were first promulgated in 1668, and were reissued in modified forms repeatedly until their final abandonment in 1698. The purpose of this code was to " establish the inter- est of the proprietor with equality and without confusion that the erecting of a numerous democracy may be avoided." ^ We have no satisfactory information about the actual administration of justice in the early days of Carolina. The different colonies in the Carolinas had originally, however, very little in common, being settled by various elements. And it is highly probable that each of these colonies developed at first its own customary and popular methods of dealing with legal controversies.* The Carolinas were among the earliest 3 Fox Bourne, John Locke, p. 38; and Hawks, Hiitory of North Carolina, p. 182.
 * Byrd Manuscripts, 1728, p. 222.
 * Ibid., p. 237.
 * Chalmers' Political Annals, p. 521.