CH. III.]
PLYMOUTH COLONY LAWS.
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scruple as to their right to inflict capital punishments.[1] They were not disturbed in the free exercise of these powers, either through the ignorance or the connivance of the crown, until after the restoration of Charles the Second. Their authority under their charter was then questioned; and several unsuccessful attempts were made to procure a confirmation from the crown. They continued to cling to it, until, in the general shipwreck of charters in 1684, theirs was overturned. An arbitrary government was then established over them in common with the other New-England colonies; and they were finally incorporated into a province with Massachusetts under the charter granted to the latter by William and Mary in 1691.[2]
§ 59. It may not be without use to notice a few of the laws, which formed, what may properly be deemed, the fundamentals of their jurisprudence. After providing for the manner of choosing their governor and legislature, as above stated, their first attention seems to have been directed to the establishment of "the free liberties of the free-born people of England." It was therefore declared,[3] almost in the language of Magna Charta, that justice should be impartially administered unto all, not sold, or denied; that no person should suffer "in respect to life, limb, liberty, good name, or estate, but by virtue or equity of some express law of the General Court, or the good and equitable laws of our nation suitable for us, in matters which are of a civil nature, (as by the court here hath been accustomed,) wherein we have no particular law of our own;" and none should sufferVOL. I.
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