USA > North Carolina > The history of North Carolina from the earliest period, Volume I > Part 27
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APPENDIX.
9. There shall be just as many landgraves as there " are counties, and twice as many cassiques, and no more. These shall be the hereditary nobility of the province, and by right of their dignity be mem- bers of parliament. Each landgrave shall have four baronies. and each cassique two baronies hereditari- ly and unalterably annexed to, and settled upon, the said dignity.
10. The first landgraves and cassiques of the twelve first counties to be planted, shall be nominat- ed thus; that is to say. of the twelve landgraves, the lords proprietors shall each of them, separately for himself, nominate and choose one; and the remain- ing four landgraves, of the first twelve, shall be nom- inated and chosen by the palatine's court. In like manner of the twenty-four cassiques, cach proprietor for himself shall nominate and choose two, and the remaining eight shall be nominated and chosen by the palatine's court: and when the twelve first coun- ties shall be planted, the lords proprietors shall again in the same manner, nominate and choose twelve more landgraves and twenty-four cassiques, for the twelve next counties to be planted; that is to say, two thirds of each number by the single nomination of each proprietor for himself, and the remaining one third by the joint election of the palatine's court. and so proceed in the same manner till the whole province of Carolina be set out and planted, according to the proportions in these Fundamental Constitutions.
11. Any landgrave or cassique at any time before the year one thousand seven hundred and one, shall
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have power to alienate. sell, or make over. to any other person. bis dignity. with the baronios thereunto belonging, all entirely together. But. after the year one thousand seven hundred. no landgrave or cas- sique shall have power to alienate. sell. make over, or let. the hereditary baronies of his dignity, or any part thereof, otherwise than as in $. XVIII; but they shall all entirely, with the dignity thereunto belong- ing, descend unto his heirs male; and, for want of heirs male, all entirely and undivided, to the next heir general; and for want of such heirs, shall de- volve into the hands of the lords proprietors.
12. That the dne number of landgraves and cas- siques may be always kept up: if. upon the devolu- lution of any landgraveship or cassiqueship, the pala- tine's court shall not settle the devolved dignity, with the baronies thereunto annexed. before the second biennial parliament after such devolution; the next biennial parliament but one after such devolution. shall have power to make any one landgrave or cas- sique in the room of him, who, dying without heirs. his dignity and baronies devolved.
13. No one person shall have more than one digni- ty, with the signiories and baronies thereunto belong- ing. But whensoever it shall happen that any one. who is already proprietor, landgrave. or cassique, shall have any of these dignities descend to him by inheritance. it shall be at his choice to keep which of the dignities, with the land annexed, he shall like best; but shall leave the other, with the lands annex- ed, to be enjoyed by him, who, not being his heir ap-
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parent and certain successor to his present dignity, is next of blood.
14. Whosoever, by the right of inheritance, shall " come to be landgrave or cassique, shall take the name and arms of his predecessor in that dignity, to be from thenceforth the name and arms of his family and their posterity.
15. Since the dignity of proprietor, landgrave, or cassique, cannot be divided, and the signiories or ba- ronies thereunto annexed, must forever all entirely descend with, and accompany that dignity; whenso- ever, for want of heirs male, it shall descend on the issue female, the eldest daughter, and her heirs shall be preferred, and the inheritance of those dignities, and the signiories or baronies annexed, there shall be no co-heirs.
16. In every signiory, barony and manor, the res- pective lord shall have power. in his own name, to hold court-leet there, for trying of all causes both civil and criminal; but where it shall concern any person being no inhabitant, vassal, or leet-man of the said signiory, barony, or manor, he, upon paying down the sum of 40 shillings to the lords proprietor's use, shall have an appeal from the signiory or barony court to the county court, and from the manor court to the precinct court.
17. Every manor shall consist of not less than three thousand acres, and not above twelve thousand acres, in one entire piece and colony; but any three thousand acres or more in one piece, and the pos-
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session of one man, shall not be a manor, unless it be constituted a manor by the grant of the palatine's court.
18. The lords of signiories and baronies shall have power only of granting estates not exceeding three lives, thirty-one years, in two thirds of said signiories or baronies, and the remaining third shall be always demesne.
19. Any lord of a manor may alienate, sell or dis- pose, to any other person and his heirs forever, his manor, all entirely together, with all the privileges and leet-men thereunto belonging, so far forth as any colony lands; but no grant of any part thereof, either in fee, for any longer term than three lives, or one and twenty years, shall stand good against the next heir.
20. No manor, for want of issue male, shall be di- vided amongst co-heirs; but the manor, if there be but one, shall all entirely descend to the eldest daugh- ter and her heirs. If there be more minors than one, the eldest daughter first shall have her choice, the second next, and so on, beginning again at the eldest, till all the manors be taken up; that so the privileges which belong to manors being indivisible, the lands, of the manors, to which they are annexed, may be kept entire, and the manor not lose those privileges, which, upon parcelling out to several owners, must necessarily cease.
21. Every lord of manor, within his manor, shall have all the rights, powers, jurisdictions and privi-
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leges, which every landgrave or cassique hath in his baronies.
: 22. In every signiory. barony and manor. all the - leet-men shall be under the jurisdiction of the respec- tive lords of the said signiory, barony, or manor, without appeal from him. Nor shall any leet- man or leet-woman, have liberty to go off from the land of their particular lord, and live any where else, with- out license obtained from their said lord, under hand and seal.
23. All the children of leet-men shall be leet-men, and so to all generations.
24. No man shall be capable of having a court-leet or leet-men, but a proprietor, landgrave cassique, or lord of a manor.
25. Whoever shall voluntarily enter himself a leet- man, in the registry of a county court, shall be a leet- man.
26. Whoever is lord of leet-men, shall, upon the marriage of a leet-man or leet-woman, of his, give them ten acres of land for their lives: they paying to him, therefor. not more than one eighth part of all the yearly produce and growth of the said ten acres.
27. No landgrave or cassiqne shall be tried for any criminal cause. in any but the chief justice's court, and that by a jury of his peers.
28. There shall be eight supreme courts. The first called the palatine's court, consisting of the pal-
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atine and the other seven proprietors. The other se- ven courts of the other seven great officers, shall con- sist each of them of a proprietor, and six counsellors added to him. Under each of these latter seven courts, shall be a college of twelve assistants. The twelve assistants of the several colleges shall be cho- sen, two out of the landgraves, cassiques, or eldest sons of proprietors. by the palatine's court; two out of the landgraves, by the landgraves' chamber; two out of the cassiques, by the cassiques' chamber; four more of the twelve shall be chosen by the commons' chamber, out of such as have been, or are, members of parliament, sheriff's, or justices of the county court, or the younger sons of proprietors, or eldest sons of landgraves or cassiques; the two others shall be chosen by the palatine's court, out of the same sort of persons, out of which the commons' chamber is to choose.
29. Out of these colleges shall be chosen at first, by the palatine's court, six counsellors, to be joined with each proprietor in his court; of which six, one shall be of those who were chosen in any of the colle- ges by the palatine's court, ont of the landgraves, cas- siques, or eldest sons of proprietors; one out of those who were chosen by the landgraves' chamber; and one out of those who were chosen by the cassiques' chamber: two out of those who were chosen by the commons' chamber: and one out of those who were chosen by the palatine's court, ont of the proprietors younger sons, or eldest sons of landgraves, cassiques or commons, qualified as aforesaid.
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30. When it shall happen that any counsellor dies, and thereby there is a vacancy, the grand council shall have power to remove any counsellor that is willing to be removed out of any of the proprietors courts, to fill up the vacancy; provided they take a man of the same degree and choice the other was of, whose va- cant place is to be filled up. But if no counsellor consent to be removed, or upon such remove, the last remaining vacant place, in any of the proprietor's courts, shall be filled up by the choice of the grand council, who shall have power to remove out of any of the colleges, any assistant, who is of the same de- gree and choice that that counsellor was of, into whose vacant place he is to succeed. The grand council also shall have power to remove any assistant, that is willing. out of one college into another, provi- ded he be of the same degree andchoice. But the last remaining vacant place in any college, shall be filled up by the same choice, and out of the same degree of persons the assistant was of, who is dead or remo- ved. No place shall be vacant in any proprietor's court above six months. No place shall be vacant in any college longer than the next session of parlia- ment.
31. No man, being a member of the grand council, or of any of the seven colleges, shall be turned out for misdemeanor, of which the grand council shall be judge; and the vacancy of the person so put out, shall be filled, not by the election of the grand coun- cil, but by those who first chose him, aud out of the same degree he was of who is expelled. But it is not hereby to be understood, that the grand council hath
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any power to turn out any one of the lords proprie- tors or their deputies, the lords proprietors having in themselves an inherent original right. -
32. All elections in the parliament, in the sever- al chambers of the parliament, and in the grand council, shall be passed by balloting.
33. The palatine's court sh ill consist of the pal- atine and seven proprietors, wherein nothing shall be acted without the presence and consent of the palatine or his deputy, and three others of the pro- prietors or their deputies. This court shall have power to call parliaments, to pardon ali offences, to make elections of all officers in the proprietor's dispose, and to nominate and appoint port towns; and also shall have power by their order to the trea-' surer to dispose of all public treasure, excepting money granted by the parliament, and by them directed to some particular public use; and also shall have a negative upon all acts, orders, votes and judgments, of the grand council and the par- liament, except only as in §. vi. and x11; and shall have all the powers granted to the lords proprie- tors, by their patent from our sovereign lord the king, except in such things as are limited by these fundamental constitutions.
34. The palatine himself, when he in person shall be either in the army or in any of the proprietors courts, shall then have the power of general, or of that proprietor, in whose court he is then pre sent; and the proprietor, in whose court the pal-
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atine then presides, shall during his presence there be but as one of the council.
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35. The chancellor's court, consisting of one of the proprietors, and his six counsellors, who shall be called vice-chancellors, shall have the custody of the seal of the palatinate, under which all char- ters of lands, or otherwise, commissions and grants of the palatine's court, shall pass. And it shall not be lawful to put the seal of the palatinate to any writ- ing, which is not signed by the palatine or his de- puty, and three other proprietors or their deputies. To this court also belong all state matters, dis- patches, and treaties with the neighbour Indians. To this court also belong all invasions of the law, of liberty of conscience, and all disturbances of the public peace, upon pretence of religion, as also the licence of printing. The twelve assistants belong- ing to this court shall be called recorders.
36. Whatever passes under the seal of the pala- tinate, shall be registered in that proprietor's court, to which the matter therein contained belongs.
37. The chancellor or his deputy shall be always speaker in parliament, and president of the grand council, and, in his and his deputy's absence, one of his vice-chancellors.
38. The chief justice's court, consisting of one of the proprietors and his six counsellors, who shall be called justices of the bench, shall judge all ap- peals in cases both civil and criminal, except all
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such cases as shall be under the jurisdiction and cognizance of any other of the proprietor's courts, which shall be tried in those courts respectively. The government and regulation of the registries of writings and contracts, shall belong to the jurisdic- tion of this court. The twelve assistants of this court shall be called masters.
39. The constable's court, consisting of one of the proprietors and his six counsellors, who shall be called marshals, shall order and determine of all military affairs by land, and all land-forces, arms, ammunition, artillery, garrisons, forts, &c. and what- ever belongs unto war. His twelve assistants shall be called lieutenant-generals.
40. In time of actual war, the constable, whilst he is in the army, shall be general of the army, and the six counsellors, or such of them as the palatine's court shall for that time or service appoint, shall be the immediate great officers under him, and the lieutenant-generals next to them.
41. The admiral's court, consisting of one of the proprietors, and his six counsellors, called consuls, shall have the care and inspection over all ports, moles, and navigable rivers, so far as the tide tlows, and also all the public shipping of Carolina, and stores thereunto belonging, and all maritime affairs. This court also shall have the power of the court of admiralty; and shall have power to constitute judges in port-towns, to try cases belonging to law-mer- chant, as shall be most convenient for trade, The
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twelve assistants, belonging to this court, shall be called proconsuls.
42. In time of actual war, the admiral, whilst he is at sea, shall command in chief. and his six coun- sellors, or such of them as the palatine's court shall for that time and service appoint, shall be the im- mediate great officers under him, and the procon- suls next to them.
43. The treasurer's court, consisting of a propri- etor and his six counsellors, called under-treasurers, shall take care of all matters that concern the pub- lic revenue and treasury. The twelve assistants shall be called auditors.
44. The high-steward's court, consisting of a pro- prietor and his six counsellors, called comptrollers, shall have the care of all foreign and domestic trade, manufactures, public buildings, work-houses, high- ways, passages by water above the flood of the tide, drains, sewers, and banks against inundations, bridges, post, carriers, fairs, markets, corruption or infection of the common air or water, and all things in order to the public commerce and health; also setting out and surveying of lands; and also setting out and appointing places for towns to be built on in the precincts, and the prescribing and determining the figure and bigness of the said towns, according to such models as the said court shall order; con- trary or differing from which models it shall not be lawful for any one to build in any town. This court shall have power also to make any public building,
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or any new high-way, or enlarge any old high-way, upon any man's land whatsoever; as also to make cuts, channels, banks, locks and bridges, for making rivers navigable, or for draining fens, or any other public use. The damage the owner of such lands (on or through which any such public things shall be made) shall receive thereby, shall be valued, and satisfaction made by such ways as the grand council shall appoint. The twelve assistants, be- longing to this court, shall be called surveyors.
45. The chamberlain's court, consisting of a pro- prietor and his six counsellors, called vice-cham- berlains, shall have the care of all ceremonies, pre- cedency, heraldry, reception of public messengers, pedigrees, the registry of all births, burials, mar- riages, legitimation, and all cases concerning ma- trimony, or arising from it; and shall also have power to regulate all fashions, habits, badges, games and sports. To this court also it shall belong to convocate the grand council. The twelve assist- ants, belonging to this court, shall be called pro- vosts.
46. All causes belonging to, or under the juris- diction of any of the proprietors courts, shall in them respectively be tried, and ultimately deter- mined, without any farther appeal.
47. The proprietors courts shall have a power to mitigate all fines, and suspend all executions in cri- minal causes, either before or after sentence, in any of the other inferior courts repectively.
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48. In all debates, hearings. or trials, in any of the proprietor's courts, the twelve assistants be- longing to the said courts respectively, shall have liberty to be present, but shall not interpose, unless their opinions be required, nor have anv vote at all; but their business shall be, by the direction of the respective courts. to prepare such business as shall be committed to them; as also to bear such offices, and dispatch such affairs, either where the court is kept or elsewhere, as the court shall think fit.
49. In all the proprietor's courts, the proprietor, and any three of his counsellors, shall make a quo- rum; provided always, that, for the better dispatch of business, it shall be in the power of the palatine's court, to direct what sort of causes shall be heard and determined by a quorum of any three.
50. The grand council shall consist of the pal- atine and seven proprietors, and the forty-two coun- sellors of the several proprietor's courts, who shall have power to determine any controversies that may arise between any of the proprietor's courts, about their respective jurisdictions, or between the members of the same court, about their manner and methods of proceedings; to make peace and war. leagues, treaties, &c. with any of the neighbour In- dians: to issue out their general orders to the con- stable's and admiral's courts. for the raising, dis- posing, or disbanding the forces, by land or by sea.
51. The grand council shall prepare all matters to be proposed in parliament, Nor shall any mat-
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ter whatsoever be proposed in parliament, but what hath first passed the grand council; which, after having been read three several days in the parlia- ment, shall by majority of votes be passed or re- jected.
52. The grand council shall always be judges of all causes and appeals that concern the palatine, or any of the lords proprietors, or any counsellor of any proprietor's court, in any cause, which other- wise should have been tried in the court in which the said counsellor is judge himself.
53. The grand council, by their warrants to the treasurer's court, shall dispose of all the money giv- en by the parliament, and by them directed to any particular public use.
54. The quorum of the grand council shall be thirteen, whereof a proprietor or his deputy shall be always one.
55. The grand council shall meet the first Tues- day in every month, and as much oftener as either they shall think fit, or they shall be convocated by the cham- berlain's court.
56. The palatine, or any of the lords proprietors, shall have power under hand and seal, to be regis- tered in the grand council, to make a deputy, who shall have the same power to all intents and purposes as he himself who deputes him; except in confirming acts of parliament, as in §. LXXVI, and except also in nominating and choosing landgraves and cassiques, as 12*
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in §.x. All such deputations shall cease and deter- mine at the end of four year, and at any time shall be revocable at the pleasure of the deputator.
57. No deputy of any proprietor shall have any pow- er whilst the deputator is in any part of Carolina, ex- cept the proprietor, whose deputy he is, be a minor,
58. During the minority of any proprietor, his guar- dian shall have power to constitute and appoint his deputy.
59. The eldest of the lords proprietors, who shall be personnally in Carolina, shall of course be the pal- atine's deputy, and if no proprietor be in Carolina, he shall choose his deputy out of the heirs apparent of any of the proprietors, if any such be there; and if there be no heir apparent of any of the lords proprie- tors above one and twenty years old in Carolina, then he shall choose for deputy any one of the landgraves of the grand council; and till he have by deputation un- der hand and seal chosen any one of the foremention- ed heirs apparent or landgraves to be his deputy, the eldest man of the landgraves, and, for want of a land- grave, the eldest man of the cassiques, who shall be personnally in Carolina, shall of course be his deputy.
60. Each proprietor's deputy shall be always one of his own six counsellors respectively; and in case any of the proprietors hath not, in his absence out of Carolina, a deputy, commissioned under his hand and seal, the eldest nobleman of his court shall of course be his deputy.
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61. In every county there shall be a court, consist- ing of a sheriff, and four justices of the county, for ev- ery precinct one. The sheriff shall be an inhabitant of the county, and have at least five hundred acres of freehold within the said county; and the justices shall be inhabitants, and have each of them five hundred acres a-piece freehold within the precinct for which they serve respectively. These five shall be chosen and commissioned from time to time by the palatine's court.
62. For any personal causes exceeding the value of two hundred pounds sterling, or in title of land, or in any criminal cause; either party, upon paying twenty pounds sterling to the lords proprietors use, shall have liberty of appeal from the county court unto the respective proprietor's court.
63. In every precinct there shall be a court, con- sisting of a stewart and four justices of the precinct, being inhabitants, and having three hundred acres of freehold within the said precinct, who shall judge all criminal causes; except for treason, murder, and any other offences punishable with death, and except all criminal causes of the nobility; and shall juge also all civil causes whatsoever ; and in all personal actions not exceeding fifty pounds sterling, without appeal; but where the cause shall exceed that value, or concern a title of land, and in all criminal causes; there cither party, upon paying five pounds sterling to the lords pro- prietors use, shall have liberty of appeal to the county- court.
61. No cause shall be twice tried in any one court, upon any reason or pretence whatsoever.
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65. For treason murder, and all other offences pun- ishable with death, there shall be a commission, twice a year at least, granted unto one or more members of - the grand council or colleges; who shall come as itin- erant judges to the several counties, and with the sher_ iff and four justices shall hold assizes to judge all such causes; but, upon paying of fifty pounds sterling to the lords proprietors use, there shall be liberty of appeal to the respective proprietor's court,
66. The grand jury at the several assizes, shall, upon their oaths, and under their hands and seals, deliver in to the itinerant judges a presentment of such grievances, misdemeanors, exigences, or de- fects, which they think necessary for the public good of the county; which presentments shall, by the itinerant judges, at the end of their circuit, be delivered in to the grand council at their next sit- ting. And whatsoever therein concerns the execu- tion of laws already made; the several proprietors courts. in the matters belonging to each of them res- pectively, shall take cognizance of it, and give such order about it. as shall be effectual for the due exe- cution of the laws. But whatever concerns the making of any new law, shall be referred to the sev- eral respective courts to which that matters belong, and be by them prepared and brough to the grand council.
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