those on the law exported to the Colonies. And it was to this disposition that he ascribed the fact, that while in other countries the people were in the habit of judging of an ill principle only by an actual grievance, here they anticipated the evil, and judged of the pressure of the grievance by the badness of the principle, auguring misgovernment at a distance, and snuffing the approach of tyranny in every tainted breeze.1

But we are not from this to suppose, that at the early period of which we are now speaking, those who were lawyers by profession composed a very large class of the community. On the contrary, if we may believe Oldmixon, there was a time when New Jersey was deemed worthy the name of Paradise, because, in addition to its natural advantages, it was blessed by the absence of lawyers, physicians, and parsons. And, as if for the purpose of

1 Speech on Conciliation with America. Burke's Works, II. 36. "This study," he adds, "renders men acute, inquisitive, dextrous, prompt in attack, ready in defence, full of resources."

"Oldmixon's Brit. Empire, I. 144. Gabriel Thomas too, in his Historical and Geographical Account of Pennsylvania and West New Jersey, thus discourses irreverently of the Profession: "Of Lawyers and Physicians I shall say nothing, because this country is very peaceable and

healthy; long may it so continue, and never have occasion for the tongue of the one nor the pen of the other, both equally destructive to men's estates and lives." This little work was first published in 1698, and is dedicated to "Friend William Penn." The author terms it a "plain and peasant-like piece," and assures us he was prompted to write it by "no plot in his pate, or deep design," an assurance which no one who reads it will be disposed to question.

perpetuating this blissful state of things, at least so far as lawyers were concerned, the Fundamental Constitutions of the twenty-four proprietors of East Jersey provided, that in all Courts, persons of all persuasions, might freely appear in their own way, and there plead their own causes themselves, or if unable, by their friends; and that no person should be allowed to take money for pleading or advice in such cases.1 But this happy exemption was not of long continuance. Lawyers, as well as parsons and physicians, soon found their way into this Eden. For in 1694, we find an act of Assembly for the regulation of Attornies at Law within the Province, and which prohibited Justices of the Peace, Sheriffs, and Clerks of the Courts, from acting as Attornies under the penalty of twenty pounds. And in 1698, Governor Basse was instructed to procure the passage of a law, by which no Attorney or other person should be suffered to practice or plead for fee or hire in any Court of Judicature, unless he had been regularly admitted to practice by license from the Governor.3 In fact, there existed in the Province of East Jersey, at a very early day, a most prolific source of strife and litigation, and one that called loudly for the ser

1 Grants and Concessions, p. 153. * Ibid, p. 343.

Ibid, p. 223.

vices of lawyers. I allude to the conflicting claims of those who held lands under grants from the Indians, and those who deduced their titles from the Proprietors. The agitation of this controversy in 1695, shook to their centre the Provincial Courts, and fifty years later, was the subject of that famous bill in Chancery, of which I shall have occasion hereafter to speak, and in which is embodied so much of the early history of our State.

Thus far we have spoken only of the Courts of Justice in East Jersey. Those of West Jersey, under its Proprietary Government, will now claim our attention. They consisted, in the first place, of a Court for small causes, held by a single Justice of the Peace, having jurisdiction only in actions of debt under forty shillings, with a right of appeal to the County Court.1 County Courts, or Courts of Sessions, as they were called, were first established by act of Assembly for Burlington and Salem in 1682,2 and were extended in 1693 to the newly erected county of Cape May. They were to be held four times a year by the Justices of the Peace in each county. They seem to have had unlimited jurisdiction in all cases civil and criminal, with this single exception, that they could not try offences

Grants and Concessions, p. 509. 2 Ibid, p. 448.

3 Ibid, p. 514.

of a capital nature. They were the great Courts of the Province, and for a long time there was no appeal from their decisions. But in 1693,1 a Supreme Court of Appeals was erected, consisting of one or more of the Justices of each county, and one or more of the Governor's Council for the time being, any three of whom, one being of the Council, were to constitute a quorum. This Court, as originally organized, was strictly an appellate tribunal, but in 1699, during the administration of Governor Hamilton, its title and constitution underwent, an essential change. It was to be called the Provincial Court, and to be composed of three Judges to be chosen by the House of Representatives of the Province, and one or more of the Justices of each county, of whom any three of the said Justices, in conjunction with two of the said Judges, were to be a quorum. It was to be held twice a year in each county, to have original as well as appellate jurisdiction, and when the matter in controversy amounted to twenty pounds, there was to be an appeal from its judgments to the General Assembly. By an act passed in 1700, it was made the duty of the Sheriff of each county, to meet the Provincial Judges and other officers, when riding the circuit, at the verge of his county, and to

Grants and Concessions, p. 517.

2 Ibid, p. 563.

attend and conduct them safely through his Bailiwick to the place of their sitting, or in case of further travel, to the entrance of the next county, the Sheriff of which was likewise to receive and conduct them in manner aforesaid.1 In 1693, a Court of Oyer and Terminer was established for the trial of capital crimes, to be composed of a Judge appointed by the Governor and Council,' assisted by two or more Justices of the county where the crime was committed. And it is an interesting fact, that up to this period, there was really no tribunal in West Jersey competent to try offences of a capital nature.3 How strongly does this remind us of that feature in the code of the great lawgiver of Athens, by which no provision was made for the punishment of parricide, from an unwillingness to suppose that a crime so abhorrent to nature would ever be committed. So much for the Courts of Justice in West Jersey. I cannot find any traces of a

1 Grants and Concessions, p. 572. This practice of meeting the Judges when riding the Circuit, at the verge of the county, and escorting them to the place where the Courts were held, continued to prevail until many years after the Revolution.

2 Ibid, p. 520.

3 Properly speaking, there were no capital offences in West Jersey, that is, there were no crimes for which

the punishment of death was prescribed. But it was provided, that whenever a person should be found guilty of murder or treason, the sentence and way of execution were to be left to the General Assembly to determine as they in the wisdom of the Lord should judge meet and expedient.-Grants and Concessions, p. 404.