§ 138. By the surrender of the charter, the whole government of the territory was vested in the crown (it had been in fact exercised by the crown ever since the overthrow of the proprietary government in 1720); and henceforward it became a royal Province, and was governed by commission under a form of government substantially like that established in the other royal provinces. This change of government was very acceptable to the people, and gave a new impulse to their industry and enterprise. At a later period (1732), for the convenience of the inhabitants, the Province was divided; and the divisions. were distinguished by the names of North Carolina and South Carolina:2

§ 139. The form of government conferred on Carolina when it became a royal Province was in substance this: It consisted of a governor and council appointed by the crown, and an assembly chosen by the people, and these three branches constituted the legislature. The governor convened, prorogued, and dissolved the legislature, and had a negative upon the laws, and exercised the executive authority.3 He possessed also the powers of the court of chancery, of the admiralty, of supreme ordinary, and of appointing magistrates and militia officers. All laws were subject to the royal approbation or dissent; but were in the mean time in full force.

§ 140. On examining the statutes of South Carolina, a close adherence to the general policy of the English laws is apparent. As early as the year 1712, a large body of the English statutes was, by express legislation, adopted as part of its own code; and all English statutes respecting allegiance, all the test and supremacy acts, and all acts declaring the rights and liberties of the subjects, or securing the same, were also declared to be in full force in the Province. All and every part of the common law, not altered by these acts or inconsistent with the constitutions, customs, and laws of the Province, was also adopted as part of its jurisprudence. An exception was made of ancient abolished. tenures, and of ecclesiastical matters inconsistent with the then church establishment in the Province. There was also a saving of the liberty of conscience, which was allowed to be enjoyed

1 Marsh. Colon. ch. 9, p. 247.

2 Marsh. Colon. ch. 9, p. 237; 1 Holmes's Annals, 544.

8 2 Hewatt's South Car. ch. 7, p. 1, et seq. ; 1 Ramsay's South Car. ch. 4, p. 95.

by the charter from the crown and the laws of the Province.1 This liberty of conscience did not amount to a right to deny the Trinity.2 The Church of England had been previously established in the Province (in 1704), and all members of the assembly were required to be of that persuasion. Fortunately Queen Anne annulled these obnoxious laws; and though the Church of England was established, dissenters obtained a toleration, and the law respecting the religious qualification of assemblymen. was shortly afterwards repealed.

§ 141. The laws of descents of intestate real estates, of wills, and of uses, existing in England, seem to have acquired a permanent foundation in the colony, and remained undisturbed, until after the period of the American Revolution. As in the other colonies, the registration of conveyances of lands was early provided for, in order to suppress fraudulent grants.

§ 142. In respect to North Carolina, there was an early declaration of the legislature (1715) conformably to the charter, that the common law was and should be in force in the colony. All statute laws for maintaining the royal prerogative and succession to the crown, and all such laws made for the establishment of the church, and laws made for the indulgence to Protestant dissenters; and all laws providing for the privileges of the people, and security of trade; and all laws for the limitation of actions and for preventing vexatious suits, and for preventing immorality and fraud, and confirming inheritances and titles of land, were declared to be in force in the Province. The policy thus avowed was not departed from down to the period of the American Revolution; and the laws of descents and the registration of conveyances in both the Carolinas were a silent result of their common origin and government.

1 Grimke's South Carolina Laws (1712), pp. 81, 98, 99, 100.

2 Id. Act of 1703, p. 4.

3 1 Holmes's Annals, 489, 490, 491; 1 Hewatt's South Carol. 166 to 177.

42 Ramsay's South Car. 130. The descent of estates was not altered until 1791. 5 Iredell's North Car. Laws, 1715, pp. 18, 19.

CHAPTER XV.

GEORGIA.

§ 143. In the same year in which Carolina was divided (1732), a project was formed for the settlement of a colony upon the unoccupied territory between the rivers Savannah and Altamaha. 1 The object of the projectors was to strengthen the Province of Carolina, to provide a maintenance for the suffering poor of the mother country, and to open an asylum for the persecuted Protestants in Europe; and in common with all the other colonies to attempt the conversion and civilization of the natives.2 Upon application, George the Second granted a charter to the company (consisting of Lord Percival and twenty others, among whom was the celebrated Oglethorpe), and incorporated them by the name of the Trustees for establishing the Colony of Georgia in America. The charter conferred the usual powers of corporations in England, and authorized the trustees to hold any territories, jurisdictions, etc., in America for the better settling of a colony there. The affairs of the corporation were to be managed by the corporation, and by a common council of fifteen persons, in the first place nominated by the crown, and afterwards, as vacancies occurred, filled by the corporation. The number of common-councilmen might, with the increase of the corporation, be increased to twenty-four. The charter further granted to the corporation seven undivided parts of all the territories lying in that part of South Carolina which lies from the northern stream of a river, there called the Savannah, all along the sea-coast to the southward unto the southernmost stream of a certain other great river, called the Altamaha, and westward from the heads. of the said rivers respectively in direct lines to the South Seas, to be held as of the manor of Hampton Court, in Middlesex, in

1 1 Holmes's Annals, 552; Marsh. Colonies, ch. 9, p. 247 : 2 Hewatt's South Car. 15, 16; Stokes's Hist. Colonies, 113.

21 Holmes's Annals, 552; 2 Hewatt's South Car. 15, 16, 17.

3 Charters of N. A. Provinces, 4to, London, 1766.

free and common socage, and not in capite. It then erected all the territory into an independent Province by the name of Georgia. It authorized the trustees for the term of twenty-one years to make laws for the Province "not repugnant to the laws and statutes of England, subject to the approbation or disallowance of the crown, and after such approbation to be valid." The affairs. of the corporation were ordinarily to be managed by the common council. It was further declared that all persons born in the Province should enjoy all the privileges and immunities of natural-born subjects in Great Britain. Liberty of conscience was allowed to all inhabitants in the worship of God, and a free exercise of religion to all persons, except Papists. The corporation were also authorized, for the term of twenty-one years, to erect courts of judicature for all civil and criminal causes, and to appoint a governor, judges, and other magistrates. The registration of all conveyances of the corporation was also provided for. The governor was to take an oath to observe all the acts of Parliament relating to trade and navigation, and to obey all royal instructions pursuant thereto. The governor of South Carolina was to have the chief command of the militia of the Province; and goods were to be imported and exported without touching at any port in South Carolina. At the end of the twenty-one years the crown was to establish such form of government in the Province, and such method of making laws therefor, as in its pleasure should be deemed meet; and all officers should be then appointed by the crown.

§ 144. Such is the substance of the charter, which was obviously intended for a temporary duration only; and the first measures adopted by the trustees, granting lands in tail male, to be held by a sort of military service, and introducing other restrictions, were not adapted to aid the original design or foster the growth of the colony. It continued to languish until at length the trustees, wearied with their own labors and the complaints of the people, in June, 1751, surrendered the charter to the crown.2 Henceforward it was governed as a royal Province enjoying the same liberties and immunities as other royal provinces; and in process of time it began to flourish, and at the period of the

1 Marshall's Colon. ch. 9, pp. 248, 249, 250; 2 Holmes's Annals, 4-45; 2 Hewatt's South Car. 41, 42, 43.

22 Holmes's Annals, 45.

American Revolution it had attained considerable importance among the colonies.1

§ 145. In respect to its ante-revolutionary jurisprudence, a few remarks may suffice. The British common and statute law lay at the foundation.

The same general system prevailed as in the Carolinas, from which it sprung. Intestate estates descended according to the course of the English law. The registration of conveyances was provided for, at once to secure titles and to suppress frauds; and the general interests of religion, the rights of representation, of personal liberty, and of public justice, were protected by ample colonial regulations.

1 Stokes's Hist. of Colonies, 115, 119; 2 Hewatt's South Car. 145; 2 Holmes's Annals, 45, 117.

2 Stokes's Hist. of Colon. 119, 136.