A N D forasmuch as in the Government of so great a Country, sudden
Accidents do often happen, whereunto it will be necessary to apply
Remedy before the Freeholders of the said Province, or their Delegates
or Deputies can be assembled to the making of Laws; neither will it be
convenient that instantly upon every such emergent Occasion, so great a
Multitude should be called together: Therefore (for the better
Government of the said Country) we will, and ordain, and by these
Presents, for us, our Heirs and Successors, do grant unto the said
_William Penn_ and his Heirs, by themselves, or by their Magistrates and
Officers, in that Behalf duly to be ordained as aforesaid, to make and
constitute fit and wholesome Ordinances, from Time to Time, within the
said Country to be kept and observed, as well for the Preservation of
the Peace, as for the better Government of the People there inhabiting;
and publickly to notify the same to all Persons, whom the same doth or
may any Ways concern. Which Ordinances our Will and Pleasure is, shall
be observed inviolably within the said Province, under the Pains therein
to be expressed, so as the said Ordinances be consonant to Reason, and
be not repugnant nor contrary, but (so far as conveniently may be)
agreeable with the Laws of our Kingdom of _England_, and so as the said
Ordinances be not extended in any Sort to bind, change, or take away the
Right or Interest of any Person or Persons, for or in their Life,
Members, Freehold, Goods, or Chattles. And our farther Will and
Pleasure is, That the Laws for regulating and governing of Property
within the said Province, as well for the Descent and Enjoyment of
Lands, as likewise for the Enjoyment and Succession of Goods and
Chattles, and likewise as to Felonies, shall be and continue the same,
as they shall be for the Time being, by the general Course of the Law in
our Kingdom of _England_, until the said Laws shall be altered by the
said _William Penn_, his Heirs or Assigns, and by the Freemen of the
said Province, their Delegates or Deputies, or the greater Part of them.