Mightinesses the Lords States General of the United Netherlands, and the Noble Lords Directors of the Privileged West India Com pany, Director-General of New Netherlands, Curacoa, Aruba and Borayro and dependen cies." This patent had eighteen or twenty sections which minutely described the kind of actions which might be prosecuted in this court. The names of the judges, three in number, were given in the charter, and they were selected by Stuyvesant. This court was restricted in its jurisdiction, be ing confined to the municipality and to the settlement of disputes between its citizens. Thus was established the first court of any description in New Jersey. When, in 1664, Stuyvesant surrendered to Nicholls, the English commander of the troops sent against New Amsterdam, New Jersey and New York passed quietly into the hands of the conqueror of Manhattan. This transfer of government did not seem to work any change in this court, but it continued to exist and to perform all its functions until a later period, when its aid was sought at an eventful time in the history of the colony. Newark was settled in 1666 by Puritan immigrants from Connecticut, who before they came to their new home entered into a solemn compact, which they called the "Fundamental Agreement," by which it was covenanted, with devout reference to several Scripture texts as the basis of their action, that no one should own land in the new col ony, be elected to office, or vote at any elec tion, unless he were a member of " some or other of the Congregational churches." This restriction, which was rigidly enforced for many years in the new settlement, fully in dicates the character of the first inhabitants of Newark, and in what manner they would conduct their government. The old town records from the very beginning have been preserved, and to the reader of to-day they present some suggestive and interesting considerations. At the town meeting held in January, 1668, which date, according to the modern
method of reckoning time, would be Janu ary, 1669, the first action taken was the choosing of " Mr. Crane and Mr. Treat" magistrates for the year " insueing for our town of Newark." There is no similar ac tion up to this time, so far as appears from the records, and no mention of courts nor of magistrates. At the close of this same meeting, if the order of proceeding is pre served by the minutes, this resolution was passed, and, as it is important, it is copied verbatim et literatim : " Item, the Town hath Agreed that there shall be Two Courts in our Town Yearly, to hear and try all Causes and actions that shall be Necessary and desired within our Compass and accord ing to our Articles; and that the same shall pass by the Verdict of a Jury of Six men. And one of the Terms is to be the Last Fourth day of the week commonly Called Wednesday, in the month of February, and the other is the Second Wednesday of the next following Month of September." This action is deserving of particular no tice for several reasons : first, it is the initial attempt, so far as any record is known, to organize a court among the English-speak ing colonists of New Jersey; second, it originated with the people for their own guidance; third, it guarded the rights of suitors through the intervention of jurors; and fourth, it fully exhibited the subordina tion to law of these founders of an empire. They claimed the fullest liberty, but that liberty should be subject to order and only exercised within the limits of a due obser vance of the principles of eternal justice. The two magistrates selected were the very best men in the colony; they were revered and respected for their Christian character istics and for their virtues; they had been the leaders of the people in all their move ments, both before their departure from their homes on the Connecticut as well as after they found themselves on the Passaic. But even such men were not permitted to sit in judgment upon the rights of their fellow-citizens, nor to settle their disputes
