USA > Pennsylvania > Annals of Pennsylvania, from the discovery of the Delaware > Part 59
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" VIII. That the governor and provincial council shall Laws to be take care that all laws, statutes, and ordinances, which shall executed. at any time be made within the said province, be duly and diligently executed.
" IX. That the governor and provincial council shall at all Guardians times have the care of the peace and safety of the province, of the go- vernment. and that nothing be by any person attempted to the subver- sion of this frame of government.
" X. That the governor and provincial council shall at all Situation of times settle and order the situation of all cities, ports, and towns, &c. how ap- market-towns, in every county, modelling therein all public pointed.
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ing and acil ers
f the e de- "me, all said eld, ants
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WILLIAM PENN, PROPRIETARY AND GOVERNOR.
1682.
buildings, streets, market-places, and shall appoint all neces- sary roads and highways in the province.
"XI. That the governor and provincial council shall at all Inspection of times have power to inspect the management of the public the trea- sury. treasury, and punish those who shall convert any part thereof to any other use than that which hath been agreed upon by the governor, provincial council, and general as- sembly.
Public schools.
" XII. That the governor and provincial council shall erect and order all public schools, and encourage and reward the authors of useful sciences and laudable inventions, in the said province.
Council di- vided into four com- mittees.
" XIII. That for the better management of the powers and trust aforesaid, the provincial council shall from time to time divide itself into four distinct and proper committees, for the more easy administration of the affairs of the pro- vince, which divides the seventy-two into four eighteens, every one of which eighteens shall consist of six out of each of the three orders or yearly elections, each of which shall have a distinct portion of business, as followeth : First, a com- mittee of plantations, to situate and settle cities, ports, and market-towns, and highways, and to hear and decide all suits and controversies relating to plantations. Secondly, a com- mittee of justice and safety, to secure the peace of the pro- vince, and punish the maladministration of those who subvert justice, to the prejudice of the public or private interest. Thirdly, a committee of trade and treasury, who shall regu- late all trade and commerce according to law, encourage manufacture and country growth, and defray the public charge of the province; and fourthly, a committee of man- ners, education, and arts, that all wicked and scandalous living may be prevented, and that youth may be successively trained up in virtue and useful knowledge and arts: the quorum of each of which committees being six, that is, two out of each of the three orders or yearly elections, as afore- said, make a constant and standing council of twenty-four, which will have the power of the provincial council, being the quorum of it, in all cases not excepted in the fifth article; and in the said committees and standing council of the pro- vince, the governor or his deputy shall or may preside as aforesaid, and in the absence of the governor or his deputy, if no one is by either of them appointed, the said committees
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Sanction of laws.
Laws to be enrolled.
W. MARKHAM, DEPUTY .- CHARLES II.
or councils shall appoint a president for that time, and not otherwise ; and what shall be resolved at such committees shall be reported to the said council of the province, and shall be by them resolved and confirmed, before the same shall be put in execution ; and that these respective commit- tees shall not sit at one and the same time, except in cases of necessity.
"XIV. And to the end that all laws prepared by the go- Assembly vernor and provincial council aforesaid, may yet have the how and when more full concurrence of the freemen of the province, it is chosen. declared, granted, and confirmed, that at the time and place or places for the choice of a provincial council as aforesaid, the said freemen shall yearly choose members to serve in a general assembly as their representatives, not exceeding two Number of hundred persons, who shall yearly meet, from the 20th day members. of the second month, which shall be in the year one thousand six hundred eighty and three following, in the capital town or city of the said province, where during eight days the several members may freely confer with one another, and if any of them see meet, with a committee of the provincial council, (consisting of three out of each of the committees aforesaid, being twelve in all,) which shall be at the time purposely ap- pointed to receive from any of them proposals for the altera- tions or amendments of any of the said proposed and promul- gated bills ; and on the ninth day from their so meeting, the said general assembly, after reading over the proposed bills by the clerk of the provincial council, and the occasion and 1 motives for them being opened by the governor or his deputy, shall give their affirmative or negative, which to them seemeth best, in such manner as hereinafter is expressed. But not less than two-thirds shall make a quorum in the passing of laws, and choice of such officers as are by them to be chosen.
" XV. That the laws so prepared and proposed as aforcesaid, that are assented to by the general assembly, shall be en- rolled as laws of the province, with this style, 'By the go- Title. vernor, with the assent and approbation of the freemen in provincial council and general assembly.'
"XVI. That for the better establishment of the govern- Number of ment and laws of this province, and to the end there may be assembly may be in- an universal satisfaction in the laying of the fundamentals creased. thereof, the general assembly shall or may, for the first year, consist of all the freemen of and in the said province, and
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WILLIAM PENN, PROPRIETARY AND GOVERNOR.
1682. ever after it shall be yearly chosen as aforesaid; which num- ber of two hundred shall be enlarged as the country shall increase in people, so as it do not exceed five hundred at any time, the appointment and proportioning of which, as also the laying and methodizing of the choice of the provincial council and general assembly, in future time, most equally to the divisions of the hundreds and counties, which the country shall hereafter be divided into, shall be in the power of the provincial council to propose, and the general assembly to resolve.
Courts how established.
Judges and other officers, how chosen.
"XVII. That the governor and the provincial council shall erect, from time to time, standing courts of justice, in such places and number as they shall judge convenient for the good government of the said province, and that the provincial councils shall, on the 13th day of the first month, yearly, elect and present to the governor or his deputy, a double number of persons, to serve for judges, treasurers, masters of rolls, within the said province, for the year next ensuing ; and the freemen of the said province, in the county courts, when they shall be erected, and till then in the general assem- bly, shall, on the three and twentieth day of the second month, yearly, elect and present to the governor or his de- puty, a double number of persons to serve for sheriffs, jus- tices of the peace, and coroners, for the year next ensuing, out of which respective elections and presentments, the go- vernor or his deputy shall nominate the proper number for each office, the third day after the said presentments, or else the first named in such presentment for each office shall stand and serve for that office the year ensuing.
Penn com- missions the first officers.
"XVIII. But forasmuch as the present condition of the province requires some immediate settlement, and admits not of so quick a revolution of officers, and to the end the said province may, with all convenient speed, be well ordered and settled, I, William Penn, do therefore think fit to nominate and appoint such persons for judges, treasurers, masters of the rolls, sheriffs, justices of the peace, and coroners, as are most fitly qualified for those employments, to whom I shall make and grant commissions for the said officers, respectively, to hold to them to whom the same shall be granted, for so long time as every such person shall well behave himself in the office or place to him respectively granted, and no longer. And upon the decease or displacing of any of the said
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assembly.
"XIX. That the general assembly shall continue so long as may be needful to impeach criminals fit to be there im- Duties of peached, to pass bills into laws that they shall think fit to pass into laws, and till such time as the governor and provincial council shall declare that they have nothing further to pro- pose unto them for their assent and approbation, and that declaration shall be a dismissal to the general assembly for that time ; which general assembly shall be, notwithstanding, capable of assembling together upon the summons of the provincial council, at any time during that year, if the said provincial council shall see occasion for their so assembling.
" XX. That all the elections of members or representatives Election to of the people, to serve in provincial council and general assembly, and all questions to be determined by both or either of them, that relate to passing of bills into laws, to the choice of officers, to impeachments made by the general assembly, and judgment of criminals upon such impeachments by the provincial council, and to all other cases by them re- spectively judged of importance, shall be resolved and deter- mined by the ballot ; and unless on sudden and indispensable occasions, no business, in provincial council, or its respective committees, shall be finally determined the same day that it is moved.
"XXI. That at all times when, and so often as it shall Infancy of happen that the governor shall or may be an infant under the governor; guardians to age of one and twenty years, and no guardians or commis- be appointed. sioners are appointed in writing by the father of the said infant, or that such guardians or commissioners shall be de- ceased, that during such minority, the provincial council shall from time to time, as they shall see meet, constitute and ap- point guardians or commissioners, not exceeding three, one of which three shall preside as deputy and chief guardian, during such minority, and shall have and execute, with the consent of the other two, all the power of a governor, in all the pub- lic affairs and concerns of the said province.
"XXII. That as often as any day of the month mentioned Provision for in any article of this charter, shall fall upon the first day of the Lord's Day. the week, commonly called the Lord's Day, the business ap- pointed for that day shall be deferred till the next day, unless in case of emergency.
be by ballot.
W. MARKHAM, DEPUTY .- CHARLES II.
officers, the succeeding officer or officers shall be chosen as aforesaid.
um- hall any lso cial to try the to
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568
WILLIAM PENN, PROPRIETARY AND GOVERNOR.
1682.
"XXIII. That no act, law, or ordinance whatsoever, shall at any time hereafter be made or done by the governor of this province, his heirs or assigns, or by the freemen in the provincial council or the general assembly, to alter, change, or diminish the form or effect of this charter, or any part or clause thereof, or contrary to the true intent and meaning thereof, without the consent of the governor, his heirs or assigns, and six parts of seven of the said freemen, in pro- vincial council and general assembly.
Alterations of charter guarded.
Penn's pledge to the grants, &c. here made.
"XXIV. And lastly, that I, the said William Penn, for my- self, my heirs and assigns, have solemnly declared, granted, and confirmed, and do hereby solemnly declare, grant, and confirm, that neither I, my heirs nor assigns, shall procure or do any thing or things whereby the liberties in this charter contained and expressed shall be infringed or broken ; and if any thing be procured by any person or persons, contrary to these premises, it shall be held of no force or effect.
" In witness whereof, I, the said William Penn, have unto this present charter of liberties set my hand and broad seal, this five and twentieth day of the second month, vulgarly called April, in the year of our Lord one thousand six hun- dred and eighty-two. WILLIAM PENN."1
May. Mark New- by's half- pence autho- rized.
For the purpose of payment of small sums, the assembly of New Jersey pass an act authorizing the circulation of Mark Newby's halfpence, called Patrick's halfpence, at their par value, he being required to give security to the speaker of the house, that he will " change the said halfpence for pay equivalent, upon demand, and provided, that no person or persons be obliged to take more than five shillings in one payment." These were Irish halfpence, a parcel of which Newby had brought in with him. This is the first mention of coin that we have noticed legally authorized. It is pro- bable some of them may have found their way into Penn- sylvania.2
May 15.
The frame of government was shortly followed by certain laws passed in England, which were intended to be altered or Laws agreed amended by an assembly in Pennsylvania, and which was on in Eng- land. afterwards done. For the purpose of comparison, they are inserted at length.
" Laws agreed upon in England, gc .- I. That the charter
1 Reg. Penns. vol. i. pp. 337-340.
2 Leaming & Spicer, p. 444. Smith's N. J. p. 153.
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W. MARKHAM, DEPUTY .- CHARLES II.
of liberties declared, granted, and confirmed the five and 1682. twentieth day of the second month, called April, 1682, before - divers witnesses, by William Penn, governor and chief pro- prietor of Pennsylvania, to all the freemen and planters of the said province, is hereby declared and approved, and shall be for ever held as fundamental in the government thereof, according to the limitations mentioned in the said charter.
tions of a freeman. " II. That every inhabitant in the said province that is or Qualifica- shall be a purchaser of one hundred acres of land, or up- wards, his heirs and assigns, and every person who shall have paid his passage, and taken up one hundred acres of land at one penny an acre, and have cultivated ten acres thereof; and every person that hath been a servant or bondman, and is free by his service, that shall have taken up his fifty acres of land, and cultivated twenty thereof; and every inhabitant, artificer, or other resident in the said province, that pays scot and lot to the government, shall be deemed and accounted a freeman of the said province ; and every such person shall and may be capable of electing or being elected representa- tives of the people in provincial council or general assembly in the said province.
" III. That all elections of members or representatives of the people and freemen of the province of Pennsylvania, to serve in provincial council or general assembly, to be held within the said province, shall be free and voluntary, and that the elector that shall receive any reward or gift, in meat, drink, moneys, or otherwise, shall forfeit his right to elect ; and such person as shall directly or indirectly give, promise, or bestow such reward as aforesaid, to be elected, shall forfeit his election, and be thereby incapable to serve as aforesaid : and the provincial council and general assembly shall be the sole judges of the regularity or irregularity of the elections of their own respective members.
"IV. That no money or goods shall be raised upon, or paid Taxes, &c. , by any of the people of this province, by way of public tax, posed by only im- custom, or contribution, but by a law for that purpose made; law. and whosoever shall levy, collect, or pay any money or goods contrary thereto, shall be held a public enemy to the province, and a betrayer of the liberties of the people thereof.
" V. That all courts shall be open, and justice shall neither All courts be sold, denied, or delayed. open.
" VI. That in all courts, all persons of all persuasions may
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Charter of liberties con- firmed.
Election. Bribery, how punished.
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shall or of the nge, t or king or ro- ay- ed, nd or er if to 0 1
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WILLIAM PENN, PROPRIETARY AND GOVERNOR.
1682. freely appear in their own way, and according to their own manner, and there personally plead their own cause them- selves, or if unable, by their friend; and the first process Persons may shall be the exhibition of the complaint in court, fourteen days before the trial, and that the party complained against may be fitted for the same, he or she shall be summoned no less than ten days before, and a copy of the complaint de- livered him or her, at his or her dwelling-house. But before the complaint of any person be received, he shall solemnly declare in court, that he believes in his conscience his cause is just.
plead in their own
case.
Cause must be just. Regulations.
Proceedings to be short, and in Eng- lish.
"VII. That all pleadings, processes, and records in court, shall be short, and in English, and in an ordinary and plain character, that they may be understood, and justice speedily administered.
Juries; mode of se- lecting.
" VIII. That all trials shall be by twelve men, and as near as may be, peers or equals, and of the neighbourhood, and men without just exception. In cases of life, there shall be first twenty-four returned by the sheriff's for a grand inquest, of whom twelve at least shall find the complaint to be true, and then the twelve men or peers, to be likewise returned by the sheriff, shall have the final judgment. But reasonable challenges shall be always admitted against the said twelve men, or any of them.
Fees mode- rate, and to be hung up.
"IX. That all fees in all cases shall be moderate, and set- tled by the provincial council and general assembly, and be hung up in a table in every respective court, and whosoever shall be convicted of taking more, shall pay twofold, and be dismissed his employment, one moiety of which shall go to the party wronged.
"X. That all prisons shall be workhouses for felons, va- Prisons to be grants, and loose and idle persons, whereof one shall be in work-houses.
every county.
Bailable offences.
" XI. That all persons shall be bailable by sufficient sure- ties, unless for capital offences, where the proof is evident, or the presumption is great.
False impri- sonment.
"XII. That all persons wrongfully imprisoned or prose- cuted at law, shall have double damages against the informer or prosecutor.
" XIII. That all prisons shall be free as to fees, food, and Prisons free. lodging.
"XIV. That all lands and goods shall be liable to pay
deb goo sh be F q
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1682.
W. MARKHAM, DEPUTY .- CHARLES II.
debts, except where there is legal issue, and then all the goods, and one-third of the land only.
"XV. That all wills in writing, attested by two witnesses, shall be of the same force as to lands, as other conveyances, Wills. being legally proved within forty days, either within or without the said province.
"XVI. That seven years quiet possession shall give an un- Right by questionable right, except in cases of infants, lunatics, married possession. women, or persons beyond the seas.
"XVII. That all briberies and extortions whatsoever shall Bribery.
be severely punished.
"XVIII. That all fines shall be moderate, and saving Fines mode- rate.
men's contenements, merchandise, or wainage.
"XIX. That all marriages (not forbidden by the law of Marriages. God, as to nearness of blood and affinity by marriage) shall be encouraged; but the parents or guardians shall be first consulted, and the marriage shall be published before it be solemnized, and it shall be solemnized by taking one another Ceremony. as husband and wife, before credible witnesses, and a certifi- cate of the whole, under the hands of parties and witnesses, shall be brought to the proper register of that county, and shall be registered in his office.
"XX. And to prevent frauds and vexatious suits within Deeds, &c. to the said province, that all charters, gifts, grants, and convey- be enrolled and regis- ances of land, (except leases for a year or under,) and all tered. bills, bonds, and specialties above five pounds, and not under three months, made in the said province, shall be enrolled or registered in the public enrolment office of the said province, within the space of two months next after the making thereof, . else to be void in law. And all deeds, grants, and convey- ances of land, (except as aforesaid,) within the said province, and made out of the said province, shall be enrolled or regis- tered as aforesaid, within six months next after the making thereof, and settling and constituting an insolvent office or register within the said province, else to be void in law against all persons whatsoever.
" XXI. That all defacers or corrupters of charters, gifts, Defacers, &c. grants, bonds, bills, wills, contracts, and conveyances, or that of instru- ments, how shall deface or falsify any enrolment, registry, or record, punished. within this province, shall make double satisfaction for the same, half whereof shall go to the party wronged, and they
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in ly r d
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WILLIAM PENN, PROPRIETARY AND GOVERNOR.
1682.
shall be dismissed of all places of trust, and be publicly dis- graced as false men.
Register of births, &c.
"XXII. That there shall be a register for births, mar -. riages, burials, wills, and letters of administration, distinct from the other registry.
And of ser- vants.
" XXIII. That there shall be a register for all servants, where their names, time, wages, and days of payment shall be registered.
Lands of felons made liable.
"XXIV. That all lands and goods of felons shall be liable to make satisfaction to the party wronged twice the value ; and for want of lands or goods, the felons shall be bondmen, to work in the common prison or workhouse, or otherwise, till the party injured be satisfied.
Estates of capital of- fenders.
"XXV. That estates of capital offenders, as traitors and murderers, shall go one-third to the next of kin to the suf- ferer, and the remainder to the next of kin to the criminal.
Witnesses' attestations.
Perjury.
"XXVI. That all witnesses coming or called to testify their knowledge in or to any matter or thing in any court, or before any lawful authority within the said province, shall there give or deliver in their evidence or testimony, by solemnly promising to speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, to the matter or thing in question. And in case any person so called to evidence shall be con- victed of wilful falsehood, such person shall suffer and undergo such damage or penalty as the person or persons against whom he or she bore false witness, did or should undergo; and shall also make satisfaction to the party wronged, and be publicly ex- posed as a false witness, never to be credited in any court, or before any magistrate, in the said province.
One office at a time.
"XXVII. And to the end that all officers chosen to serve within this province, may, with more care and diligence, an- swer the trust reposed in them, it is agreed, that no such person shall enjoy more than one public office at one time.
Children to be taught trades, &c.
"XXVIII. That all children within this province, of the age of twelve years, shall be taught some useful trade or skill, to the end none may be idle, but the poor may work to live, and the rich, if they become poor, may not want.
Servants.
"XXIX. That servants be not kept longer than their time, and such as are careful be both justly and kindly used in their service, and put in fitting equipage at the expiration thereof, according to custom.
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Charter of Free Traders confirmed.
W. MARKHAM, DEPUTY .- CHARLES II.
"XXX. That all scandalous and malicious reporters, back- biters, defamers, and spreaders of false news, whether against magistrates or private persons, shall be accordingly severely punished, as enemies to the peace and concord of this province.
"XXXI. That for the encouragement of the planters and traders in this province, who are incorporated into a society, the patent granted to them by William Penn, governor of the said province, is hereby ratified and confirmed.
" XXXII. *
"XXXIII. That all factors or correspondents in the said Breach of trust. province, wronging their employers, shall make satisfaction and one-third over, to the said employers ; and in case of the death of any such factor or correspondent, the committee of trade shall take care to secure so much of the deceased party's estate as belongs to his said respective employers.
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