effect. And, becauſe ſeveral of the colonies had claimed the ſole and excluſive right of impoſing taxes upon themſelves, the ſtatute 6 Geo. III. c. 12. expreſſly declares, that all his majeſty’s colonies and plantations in America have been, are, and of right ought to be, ſubordinate to and dependent upon the imperial crown and parliament of Great Britain; who have full power and authority to make laws and ſtatutes of ſufficient validity to bind the colonies and people of America, ſubjects of the crown of Great Britain, in all caſes whatſoever.
These are the ſeveral parts of the dominions of the crown of Great Britain, in which the municipal laws of England are not of force or authority, merely as the municipal laws of England. Moſt of them have probably copied the ſpirit of their own law from this original; but then it receives it’s obligation, and authoritative force, from being the law of the country.
As to any foreign dominions which may belong to the perſon of the king by hereditary deſcent, by purchaſe, or other acquiſition, as the territory of Hanover, and his majeſty’s other property in Germany; as theſe do not in any wiſe appertain to the crown of theſe kingdoms, they are entirely unconnected with the laws of England, and do not communicate with this nation in any reſpect whatſoever. The Engliſh legiſlature had wiſely remarked the inconveniences that had formerly reſulted from dominions on the continent of Europe; from the Norman territory which William the conqueror brought with him, and held in conjunction with the Engliſh throne; and from Anjou, and it’s appendages, which fell to Henry the ſecond by hereditary deſcent. They had ſeen the nation engaged for near four hundred years together in ruinous wars for defence of theſe foreign dominions; till, happily for this country, they were loſt under the reign of Henry the ſixth. They obſerved that, from that time, the maritime intereſts of England were better underſtood and more cloſely purſued: that, in conſequence of this attention, the nation, as ſoon as ſhe had reſted from her civil wars, began at this
