As Compiled By Mr. JOHN LOCKE.
Our Sovereign Lord The King having, out of his royal grace and bounty,
granted unto us the province of CAROLINA, with all the royalties,
properties, jurisdictions and privileges of a county palatine, as large
and ample as the county palatine of Durham, with other great privileges;
for the better settlement of the government of the said place, and
establishing the interest of the Lords Proprietors with equality, and
without confusion; and that the government of this province may be made
most agreeable to the monarchy under which we live, and of which this
province is a part; and that we may avoid erecting a numerous democracy:
we the Lords and Proprietors of the province aforesaid, have agreed to
this following form of government to be perpetually established amongst
us, unto which we do oblige ourselves, our heirs and successors, in the
most binding ways that can be devised.
I. The eldest of the Lords Proprietors shall be Palatine; and, upon the
decease of the Palatine, the eldest of the seven surviving proprietors
shall always succeed him.
II. There shall be seven other chief offices erected, viz. the admirals,
chamberlains, chancellors, constables, chief justices, high stewards, and
treasurers; which places shall be enjoyed by none but the Lords
Proprietors, to be assigned at first by lot; and upon the vacancy of any
one of the seven great offices by death, or otherwise, the eldest
proprietor shall have his choice of the said place.
III. The whole province shall be divided into counties; each county shall
consist of eight signiories, eight baronies, and four precincts; each
precinct shall consist of six colonies.
IV. Each signiory, barony, and colony, shall consist of twelve thousand
acres; the eight signiories being the share of the eight proprietors, and
the eight baronies of the nobility; both which shares, being each of them
one fifth part of the whole, are to be perpetually annexed, the one to
the proprietors, the other to the hereditary nobility, leaving the
colonies, being three fifths, amongst the people; that so in setting out,
and planting the lands, the balance of the government may be preserved.
V. At any time before the year one thousand seven hundred and one, any of
the Lords Proprietors shall have power to relinquish, alienate, and
dispose, to any other person, his proprietorship, and all the signiories,
powers, and interest, thereunto belonging, wholly and entirely together,
and not otherwise. But, after the year one thousand seven hundred, those
who are then Lords Proprietors shall not have power to alienate or make
over their proprietorship, with the signiories and privileges thereunto
belonging, or any part thereof, to any person whatsoever otherwise than
as in Paragraph XVIII; but it shall all descend unto their heirs male,
and, for want of heirs male, it shall all descend on that Landgrave or
Cassique of CAROLINA, who is descended of the next heirs female of the
Proprietor; and, for want of such heirs, it shall descend on the next
heir general; and, for want of such heirs, the remaining seven
proprietors shall, upon the vacancy, chuse a Landgrave to succeed the
deceased proprietor, who being chosen by the majority of the seven
surviving proprietors, he and his heirs successively shall be
proprietors, as fully to all intents and purposes as any of the rest.
VI. That the number of eight proprietors may be constantly kept; if, upon
the vacancy of any proprietorship, the seven surviving proprietors shall
not chuse a Landgrave to be a proprietor, before the second biennial
parliament after the vacancy; then the next biennial parliament but one
after such vacancy, shall have power to chuse any landgrave to be a
proprietor.
VII. Whosoever after the year one thousand seven hundred, either by
inheritance or choice, shall succeed any proprietor in his proprietorship,
and signiories thereunto belonging shall be obliged to take the name and
arms of that proprietor whom he succeeds; which from thenceforth shall be
the name and arms of his family and their posterity.
VIII. Whatsoever Landgrave or Cassique shall any way come to be a
proprietor, shall take the signiories annexed to the said proprietorship;
but his former dignity, with the baronies annexed, shall devolve into the
hands of the Lords Proprietors.
IX. 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 members of
parliament. Each landgrave shall have four baronies, and each cassique
two baronies, hereditarily and unalterably annexed to, and settled upon,
the said dignity.
X. The first landgraves and cassiques of the twelve first counties to be
planted, shall be nominated thus; that is to say, of the twelve
landgraves the Lords Proprietors shall each of them separately for
himself nominate and chuse one; and the remaining four landgraves of the
first twelve, shall be nominated and chosen by the Palatine's court. In
like manner of the twenty-four first cassiques, each proprietor for
himself shall nominate and chuse two, and the remaining eight shall be
nominated and chosen by the Palatine's court; and when the twelve first
counties shall be planted, the Lords Proprietors shall again in the same
manner nominate and chuse 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.
XI. Any landgrave or cassique at any time before the year one thousand
seven hundred and one shall have power to alienate, sell, or make over,
to any other person, his dignity, with the baronies thereunto belonging,
all entirely together. But, after the year one thousand seven hundred, no
landgrave or cassique shall have power to alienate, sell, make over, or
let, the hereditary baronies of his dignity, or any part thereof,
therwise than as in Paragraph XVIII; but they shall all entirely, with
the dignity thereunto belonging, 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 devolve into the hands of the Lords
Proprietors.
XII. That the due number of landgraves and cassiques may be always kept
up; if, upon the devolution of any land graveship or cassiqueship, the
Palatine'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 cassique in the room of
him, who, dying without heirs, his dignity and baronies devolved.
XIII. No one person shall have more than one dignity, with the signiories
or baronies thereunto belonging. But whensoever it shall happen that any
one, who is already proprietor, landgrave, of 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 annexed, to be enjoyed by
him, who, not being his heir apparent and certain successor to his
present dignity, is next of blood.
XIV. 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.
XV. Since the dignity of proprietor, landgrave, or cassique, cannot be
divided, and the signiories or baronies thereunto annexed must for ever
all entirely descend with, and accompany that dignity; whensoever, for
want of heirs male, it shall descend on the issue female, the eldest
daughter and her heirs shall be preferred, and in the inheritance of
those dignities, and the signiories or baronies annexed, there shall be
no co-heirs.
XVI. In every signiory, barony and manor, the respective 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 of forty 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.
XVII. Every manor shall consist of not less than three thousand acres,
and not above twelve thousand aces, in one entire piece and colony; but
any three thousand acres or more in one piece, and the possession of one
man, shall not be a manor unless it be constituted a manor by the grant
of the Palatine's court.
XVIII. The lords of signiories and baronies shall have power only of
granting estates not exceeding three lives, or thirty-one years, in two
thirds of the said signiories or baronies, and the remaining third shall
be always demesne.
XIX. Any lord of a manor may alienate, sell, or dispose, to any other
person and his heirs for ever, 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, or for any
longer term than three lives, or one and twenty years, shall be good
against the next heir.
XX. No manor, for want of issue male, shall he divided amongst co-heirs;
but the manor, if there be but one, shall all entirely descend to the
eldest daughter and her heirs. If there be more manors 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 parceling out to several owners, must
necessarily cease.
XXI. Every lord of a manor, within his manor, shall have all the powers,
jurisdictions, and privileges, which a landgrave or cassique have in his
baronies.
XXII. In every signiory, barony, and manor, all the leet-men shall be
under the jurisdiction of the respective 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, without licence obtained from their said
lord, under hand and seal.
XXIII. All the children of leet-men shall be leet-men, and so to all
generations.
XXIV. No man shall be capable of having a court-leet, or leet-men, but a
proprietor, landgrave, cassique, or lord of a manor.
XXV. Whoever shall voluntarily enter himself a leet-man, in the registry
of the county-court, shall be a leet-man.
XXVI. 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 therefore not more than one eighth part of all the yearly
produce and growth of the said ten acres.
XXVII. No landgrave or cassique shall be tried for any criminal cause in
any but the chief justice's court, and that by a jury of his peers.
XXVIII. There shall be eight supreme courts. The first called the
Palatine's court, consisting of the palatine and the other seven
proprietors. The other seven courts of the other seven great officers,
shall consist 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
chosen, 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 cassique's chamber;
four more of the twelve shall be chosen by the commons chamber, out of
such as have been, or are, members of parliament, sheriffs, or justices
of the county court, or the younger sons of proprietors, or eldest sons
of landgraves or cassiques; the two other shall be chosen by the
palatine's court, out of the same sort of persons, out of which the
commons chamber is to chuse.
XXIX. 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
colleges by the Palatine's court, out of the landgraves, cassiques, 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, out of the
proprietors younger sons, or eldest sons of landgraves, cassiques, or
commons, qualified as aforesaid.
XXX. 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 vacant 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 degree and choice
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, provided he be of the same
degree and choice. 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 removed. 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 parliament.
XXXI. No man, being a member of the grand council, or of any of the seven
colleges, shall be turned out but for misdemeanour, 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 council, but by those who first
chose him, and out of the same degree he was of who is expelled. But it
is not hereby to be understood, that the grand council hath any power to
turn out any one of the Lords Proprietors or their deputies, the Lords
Proprietors having in themselves an inherent original right.
XXXII. All elections in the parliament, in the several chambers of the
parliament, and in the grand council, shall be passed by balloting.
XXXIII. The Palatine's court shall consist of the Palatine and seven
proprietors, wherein nothing shall be acted without the presence and
consent of the Palatine or his deputy, and three others of the
proprietors or their deputies. This court shall have power to call
parliaments, to pardon all 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 treasurer 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
parliament, except only as in Paragraphs VI. and XII.; and shall have all
the powers granted to the Lords Proprietors, by their patent from OUR
SOVEREIGN LORD THE KING, except in such things as are limited by these
FUNDAMENTAL CONSTITUTIONS.
XXXIV. 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 present; and
the proprietor, in whose court the Palatine then presides, shall during
his presence there be but as one of the council.
XXXV. 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 palatine, under which all charters 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 writing, which is not signed by the Palatine or his deputy, and
three other proprietors or their deputies. To this court also belong all
state matters, dispatches, 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
belonging to this court shall be called recorders.
XXXVI. Whatever passes under the seal of the palatinate, shall be
registered in that proprietor's court, to which the matter therein
contained belongs.
XXXVII. 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.
XXXVIII. 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 appeals in cases both civil and criminal, except all 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 jurisdiction of this court. The twelve
assistants of this court shall be called masters.
XXXIX. 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 whatever belongs unto
war. His twelve assistants shall be called lieutenant-generals.
XL. In time of actual war, the constable, while 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.
XLI. 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 flows, 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-merchant, as shall be most
convenient for trade. The twelve assistants, belonging to this court,
shall be called proconsuls.
XLII. In time of actual war, the admiral, whilst he is at sea, shall
command in chief, and his six counsellors, or such of them as the
Palatine's court shall for that time and service appoint, shall be the
immediate great officers under him, and the proconsuls next to them.
XLIII. The treasurer's court, consisting of a proprietor and his his
counsellors, called under-treasurers, shall take care of all matters that
concern the public revenue and treasury. The twelve assistants shall be
called auditors.
XLIV. The high-steward's court, consisting of a proprietor 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;
contrary 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, or any new highway, 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, belonging to this court, shall be called
surveyors.
XLV. The chamberlain's court, consisting of a proprietor and his six
counsellors, called vice-chamberlains, shall have the care of all
ceremonies, precedency, heraldry, reception of public messengers,
pedigrees, the registry of all births, burials, and marriages,
legitimation, and all cases concerning matrimony, 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 assistants, belonging to this court, shall be called
provosts.
XLVI. All causes belonging to, or under the jurisdiction of, any of the
proprietors courts, shall in them respectively be tried, and ultimately
determined, without any farther appeal.
XLVII. The proprietors courts shall have a power to mitigate all fines,
and suspend all executions in criminal causes, either before or after
sentence, in any of the other inferior courts respectively.
XLVIII. In all debates, hearings, or trials, in any of the proprietor's
courts, the twelve assistants belonging to the said courts respectively,
shall have liberty to be present, but shall not interpose, unless their
opinions be required, nor have any 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.
XLIX. In all the proprietors courts, the proprietor, and any three of his
counsellors, shall make a quorum; 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.
L. The grand council shall consist of the Palatine and seven proprietors,
and the forty-two counsellors of the several proprietors courts, who
shall have power to determine any controversies that may arise between
any of the proprietors courts, about their respective jurisdictions, or
between the members of the same court, about their manner and methods of
proceeding; to make peace and war, leagues, treaties, &c. with any of the
neighbour Indians; to issue out their general orders to the constable's
and admiral's courts, for the raising, disposing, or disbanding the
forces, by land or by sea.
LI. The grand council shall prepare all matters to be proposed in
parliament. Nor shall any matter whatsoever be proposed in parliament,
but what hath first passed the grand council; which, after having been
read three several days in the parliament, shall by majority of votes be
passed or rejected.
LII. 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 otherwise
should have been tried in the court in which the said counsellor is judge
himself.
LIII. The grand council, by their warrants to the treasurer's court,
shall dispose of all the money given by the parliament and by them
directed to any particular public use.
LIV. The quorum of the grand council shall be thirteen, whereof a
proprietor or his deputy shall be always one.
LV. The grand council shall meet the first Tuesday in every month, and as
much oftener as either they shall think fit, or they shall be convocated
by the chamberlain's court.
LVI. The Palatine, or any of the Lords Proprietors, shall have power
under hand and seal, to be registered 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
Paragraph LXXVI, and except also in nominating and chusing landgraves and
cassiques, as in Paragraph X. All such deputations shall cease and
determine at the end of four years, and at any time shall be revocable at
the pleasure of the deputator.
LVII. No deputy of any proprietor shall have any power whilst the
deputator is in any part of CAROLINA, except the proprietor, whose deputy
he is, be a minor.
LVIII. During the minority of any proprietor his guardian shall have
power to constitute and appoint his deputy.
LIX. The eldest of the Lords Proprietors, who shall be personally in
CAROLINA, shall of course be the Palatine's deputy, and if no proprietor
be in CAROLINA, he shall chuse 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 Proprietors above one and twenty years old
in CAROLINA, then he shall chuse for deputy any one of the landgraves of
the grand council; and till he have by deputation under hand and seal
chosen any one of the forementioned heirs apparent or landgraves to be
his deputy, the eldest man of the landgraves, and, for want of a
landgrave, the eldest man of the cassiques, who shall be personally in
CAROLINA, shall of course be his deputy.
LX. 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.
LXI. In every county there shall be a court, consisting of a sheriff, and
four justices of the county, for every 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.
LXII. 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.
LXIII. In every precinct there shall be a court consisting of a steward
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 judge 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 either party, upon paying five pounds sterling to
the Lords Proprietors use, shall have liberty of appeal to the
county-court.
LXIV. No cause shall be twice tried in any one court, upon any reason or
pretence whatsoever.
LXV. For treason, murder, and all other offences punishable with death,
there shall be a commission, twice a year at least, granted onto one or
more members of the grand council or colleges, who shall come as
itinerant judges to the several counties, and with the sheriff 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.
LXVI. 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 defects,
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 sitting. And
whatsoever therein concerns the execution of laws already made; the
several proprietors courts, in the matters belonging to each of them
respectively, shall take cognizance of it and give such order about it,
as shall be effectual for the due execution of the laws. But whatever
concerns the making of any new law, shall be referred to the several
respective courts to which that matter belongs, and be by them prepared
and brought to the grand council.
LXVII. For terms, there shall be quarterly such a certain number of days,
not exceeding one and twenty at any one time, as the several respective
courts shall appoint. The time for the beginning of the term, in the
precinct-court, shall be the first Monday in January, April, July, and
October; in the county-court, the first Monday in February, May, August,
and November, and in the proprietors courts, the first Monday in March,
June, September, and December.
LXVIII. In the precinct-court no man shall be a jury-man under fifty
acres of freehold. In the county-court, or at the assizes, no man shall
be a grand jury-man under three hundred acres of freehold; and no man
shall be a petty jury-man under two hundred acres of freehold. In the
proprietors courts no man shall be a jury-man under five hundred acres of
freehold.
LXIX. Every jury shall consist of twelve men; and it shall not be
necessary they should all agree, but the verdict shall be according to
the consent of the majority.
LXX. It shall be a base and vile thing to plead for money or reward; nor
shall any one (except he be a near kinsman, not farther off than
cousin-german to the party concerned) be permitted to plead another man's
cause, till, before the judge in open court, he hath taken an oath, that
he doth not plead for money or reward, nor hath nor will receive, nor
directly nor indirectly bargained with the party, whose cause he is going
to plead; for money or any other reward for pleading his cause.
LXXI. There shall be a parliament, consisting of the proprietors or their
deputies, the landgraves and cassiques, and one freeholder out of every
precinct, to be chosen by the freeholders of the said precinct
respectively. They shall sit all together in one room, and have every
member one vote.
LXXII. No man shall be chosen a member of parliament, who hath less than
five hundred acres of freehold within the precinct for which he is
chosen; nor shall any have a vote in chusing the said member that hath
less than fifty acres of free-hold within the said precinct.
LXXIII. A new parliament shall be assembled the first Monday of the month
of November every second year, and shall meet and sit in the town they
last sat in, without any summons, unless by the Palatine's court they be
summoned to meet at any other place. And if there shall be any occasion
of a parliament in these intervals, it shall be in the power of the
Palatine's court to assemble them in forty days notice, and at such time
and place as the said court shall think fit; and the Palatine's court
shall have power to dissolve the said parliament when they shall think
fit.
LXXIV. At the opening of every parliament, the first thing that shall be
done, shall be the reading of these FUNDAMENTAL CONSTITUTIONS, which the
Palatine and proprietors, and the rest of the members then present shall
subscribe. Nor shall any person whatsoever sit or vote in the parliament,
till he hath that session subscribed these FUNDAMENTAL CONSTITUTIONS, in
a book kept for that purpose by the clerk of the parliament.
LXXV. In order to the due election of members for the biennial
parliament, it shall be lawful for the freeholders of the respective
precincts to meet the first Tuesday in September every two years, in the
same town or place that they last met in, to chuse parliament-men; and
there chuse those members that are to sit the next November following,
unless the steward of the precinct shall, by sufficient notice thirty
days before, appoint some other place for their meeting, in order to the
election.
LXXVI. No act or order of parliament shall be of any force, unless it he
ratified in open parliament during the same session, by the Palatine or
his deputy, and three more of the Lords Proprietors or their deputies;
and then not to continue longer in force but until the next biennial
parliament, unless in the mean time it be ratified under the hands and
seals of the Palatine himself, and three more of the Lords Proprietors
themselves, and by their order published at the next biennial parliament.
LXXVII. Any proprietor or his deputy may enter his protestation against
any act of the parliament, before the Palatine or his deputy's consent be
given as aforesaid; if he shall conceive the said act to be contrary to
this establishment, or any of these FUNDAMENTAL CONSTITUTIONS of the
government. And in such case, after full and free debate, the several
estates shall retire into four several chambers; the Palatine and
proprietors into one; the landgraves into another; the cassiques into
another; and those chosen by the precincts into a fourth: and if the
major part of any of the four estates shall vote that the law is not
agreeable to this establishment and these FUNDAMENTAL CONSTITUTIONS of
the government, then it shall pass no farther, but be as if it had never
been proposed.
LXXVIII. The quorum of the parliament shall be one half of those who are
members, and capable of fitting in the house that present session of
parliament. The quorum of each of the chambers of parliament shall be one
half of the members of that chamber.
LXXIX. To avoid multiplicity of laws, which by degrees always change the
right foundations of the original government, all acts of parliament
whatsoever, in whatsoever form passed or enacted, shall, at the end of an
hundred years after their enacting, respectively cease and determine of
themselves, and without any repeal become null and void, as if no such
acts of laws had ever been made.
LXXX. Since multiplicity of comments, as well as of laws, have great
inconveniences, and serve only to obscure and perplex; all manner of
comments and expositions on any part of these FUNDAMENTAL CONSTITUTIONS,
or any part of the common or statute law of CAROLINA, are absolutely
prohibited.
LXXXI. There shall be a registry in every precinct, wherein shall be
enrolled all deeds, leases, judgments, mortgages, and other conveyances,
which may concern any of the land within the said precinct; and all such
conveyances not so entered or registered, shall not be of force against
any person nor party to the said contract or conveyance.
LXXXII. No man shall be register of any precinct, who hath not at least
three hundred acres of freehold within the said precinct.
LXXXIII. The freeholders of every precinct shall nominate three men; out
of which three, the chief justice's court shall chuse and commission one
to be register of the said precinct, whilst he shall well behave himself.
LXXXIV. There shall be a registry in every signiory, barony, and colony,
wherein shall be recorded all the births, marriages and deaths, that
shall happen within the respective signiories, baronies, and colonies.
LXXXV. No man shall be register of a colony, that hath not above fifty
acres of freehold within the said colony.
LXXXVI. The time of every one's age, that is born in CAROLINA, shall be
reckoned from the day that his birth is entered in the registry, and not
before.
LXXXVII. No marriage shall be lawful, whatever contract and ceremony they
have used, till both the parties mutually own it before the register of
the place where they were married, and he register it, with the names of
the father and mother of each party.
LXXXVIII. No man shall administer to the goods, or have right to them, or
enter upon the estate of any person deceased, till his death be
registered in the respective registry.
LXXXIX. He that doth not enter in the respective registry the birth or
death of any person that is born or dies in his house or ground, shall
pay to the said register one shilling per week for each such neglect,
reckoning from the time of each birth or death respectively, to the time
of registering it.
XC. In like manner the births, marriages, and deaths of the Lords
Proprietors, Landgraves, and Cassiques, shall be registered in the
chamberlain's court.
XCI. There shall be in every colony one constable to be chosen annually
by the freeholders of the colony; his estate shall be above a hundred
acres of freehold within the said colony, and such subordinate officers
appointed for his assistance as the county-court shall find requisite,
and shall be established by the said county-court. The election of the
subordinate annual officers shall be also in the freeholders of the
colony.
XCII. All towns incorporate shall be governed by a Mayor, twelve
Aldermen, and twenty-four of the common-council. The said common-council
shall be chosen by the present housholders of the said town; the aldermen
shall be chosen out of the common-council; and the mayor out of the
aldermen, by the Palatine's court.
XCIII. It being of great consequence to the plantation, that Port-Towns
should be built and preserved; therefore, whosoever shall lade or unlade
any commodity at any other place but a Port-Town, shall forfeit to the
Lord's Proprietors for each run so laden or unladen, the sum of ten
pounds sterling; except only such goods as the Palatine's court shall
license to be laden or unladen elsewhere.
XCIV. The first port-town upon every river shall be in a colony, and be a
port-town for ever.
XCV. No man shall be permitted to be a freeman of CAROLINA, or to have
any estate or habitation within it, that doth not acknowledge a GOD; and
that God is publicly and solemnly to be worshipped.
XCVI. [As the country comes to be sufficiently planted and distributed
into fit divisions, it shall belong to the parliament to take care for
the building of churches, and the public maintenance of divines, to be
employed in the exercise of religion, according to the church of England;
which being the only true and orthodox, and the national religion of all
the king's dominions, is so also of CAROLINA; and therefore it alone
shall be allowed to receive public maintenance, by grant of
parliament].[2]
[2] This article was not drawn up by Mr. LOCKE; but inserted by some of
the chief of the proprietors, against his judgment; as Mr. LOCKE
himself informed one of his friends, to whom he presented a copy of
these Constitutions.
XCVII. But since the natives of that place, who will be concerned in our
plantation, are utterly strangers to Christianity, whose idolatry,
ignorance, or mistake, gives us no right to expel, or use them ill; and
those who remove from other parts to plant there, will unavoidably be of
different opinions concerning matters of religion, the liberty whereof
they will expect to have allowed them, and it will not be reasonable for
us on this account to keep them out; that civil peace may be maintained
amidst the diversity of opinions, and our agreement and compact with all
men may be duly and faithfully observed; the violation whereof, upon what
pretence soever, cannot be without great offence to almighty God, and
great scandal to the true religion, which we profess; and also that Jews,
Heathens, and other dissenters from the purity of Christian religion, may
not be scared and kept at a distance from it, but, by having an
opportunity of acquainting themselves with the truth and reasonableness
of its doctrines, and the peaceableness and inoffensiveness of its
professors, may by good usage and persuasion, and all those convincing
methods of gentleness and meekness suitable to the rules and design of
the gospel, be won over to embrace and unfeignedly receive the truth;
therefore any seven or more persons agreeing in any religion, shall
constitute a church or profession, to which they shall give some name, to
distinguish it from others.
XCVIII. The terms of admittance and communion with any church or
profession, shall be written in a book, and therein be subscribed by all
the members of the said church or profession; which book shall be kept by
the public register of the precinct where they reside.
XCIX. The time of every one's subscription and admittance shall be dated
in the said book of religious record.
C. In the terms of communion of every church or profession, these
following shall be three; without which no agreement or assembly of men,
upon pretence of religion, shall be accounted a church or profession
within these rules: