380 ///. THE COLONIAL PERIOD English precedents, although for the latter acknowledg- ment and recording is essential to validity.^ But the au- thority of the common law as a subsidiary system is nowhere admitted, its principles are radically departed from, and its rules used only for purposes of illustration. The magistrates administered a rude system of popular law and equity, on the basis of the Scriptures and their own ideas of right, generally to the satisfaction of the homo- geneous Puritan communities ; though there are some strug- gles recorded, such as that for written laws and for the con- trol of the juries. Capt. Bredon writes to the Council of Colonies, speaking of the printed laws of Massachusetts:
- What laws are not mentioned in this book are in the magis-
trates' breasts to be understood." ^ The elements dissatis- fied with this regime generally left for Rhode Island, the Connecticut river settlements, Maine or New Hampshire, where society was less autocratic; but still we find a num- ber of protests recorded against the manner of administer- ing the law by persons remaining in the colony. The complaint that no one could have justice but mem- bers of the church " is very common on the part of outsiders. In 1646, there was a very important controversy, in which a party of men led by Robert Child demanded the estab- lishment of English law. In their remonstrances * they say that they cannot discern a settled form of government ac- cording to the laws of England; nor do they perceive any laws so established as to give security of life, liberty, or estate. They object to discretionary judgments as opposed to the unbowed rule of law, and petition for the establish- ment of the wholesome laws of England, which are the result of long experience and are best agreeable to English tem- pers ; that there should be a settled rule of adjudicature from which the magistrates cannot swerve. Those laws of England, they say, are now by some termed foreign, and the colony termed a free state. ^Massachusetts Colonial Records, I, 116; and Suffolk County Deeds.
- Documents Relative to the Colonial History of New York, III, 39.
- Massachusetts Historical Society Collections, Series IV, vol. VII,
p. 370.
- Hutchinson Papers, Prince Society, I, 189.
