It is thus seen that in the very elements of their constitution the regulated companies were merely a development of the local guilds adapted for trading purposes beyond the seas. The reasons which caused the scales to tip on the side of the joint-stock companies are thus stated by the same learned authors: Then came the time when, with the growth of wealth and experience, these pioneer traders in foreign lands acquired a deeper consciousness of their latent powers, a greater sense of their higher destinies, and especially that mutual confidence in each other which was needed for the adoption of the joint-stock principle. As in the regulated associations each member retained his personal independence, and mainly acted on his own account-traded on his own bottom,' as was the phrase - so in the joint' concerns the individual was largely merged in the corporate body, all working together primarily for the common good rather than for their direct personal advantage. . . . It was by the general adoption of this principle that the great chartered companies acquired their enormous expansion, and in some memorable instances were by the force of circumstances gradually transformed from mere commercial associations of Adventurers into powerful political organizations.1 On December 31, 1600, Queen Elizabeth granted to George, Earl of Cumberland, and to two hundred fifteen Knights, Aldermen, and Merchants a charter whose terms are thus stated in Anderson's Origin of Commerce: That, at their own costs and charges, they might set forth one or more voyages to the East Indians, in the country and parts of Asia and Africa, and to the islands thereabouts,- divers of which countries, islands, &c. have long sithence been discovered by others of our subjects;- to be one body politic and corporate, by the name of, The Governor and Company of Merchants of London trading to the East Indies; - to have succession; - to purchase lands (without limitation;) to have one Governor, and twenty-four persons, to be elected annually, who shall be called Committees, jointly to have the direction of the voyages, the provision of the shipping and merchandize, also the sale of the merchandize, and the management of all other things belonging to the said Company.- Sir Thomas Smith, Alderman of London, was to be the first Governor, and a Deputy-Governor to be elected in a General Court; both the Governors and all the Committees to take the oath of fidelity. As also, every member shall take an oath, before being admitted, to traffic as a freeman of this Company.- The Company . . . may. freely and solely trade, by such ways and passages as are already found out, or which shall hereafter be discovered . . . beyond the cape of Bona Speranza to the Streights of Magellan, where any traffic of merchandize may be used to and from every of them, in such manner as shall, from time to time, be limited and agreed on at any public assembly or general court of the Company; any statute, usage, diversity of religion or faith, or any matter, to the contrary notwithstanding; so as it be not to any country already possessed by any Christian potentate in amity with her Majesty, who shall declare the same to be against his or their good liking. Either the Governor or Deputy Governor must always be one in general assemblies, when they may make all reasonable laws, constitutions, &c. agreeable to the laws of England, for 1 Cawston and Keane, Early Chartered Companies, pp. 11-12, 13. Spread to their good government, by plurality of voices, and may punish, by fines and imprisonment, the offenders against their laws. . . None of the Queen's subjects, but the Company, their servants, or assigns, shall resort to India, without being licensed by the Company, upon pain of forfeiting ships and cargoes, with imprisonment, till the offenders give one thousand pounds bond to the Company, not to trade thither again.- Nevertheless, for the encouragement of merchant-strangers and others to bring in commodities into the realm, the Queen gives power to the Company to grant licenses to trade to the East Indies; and she promises not to grant leave to any others to trade thither during the Company's term, without their consent. The majority of any general meeting of the Company may admit apprentices, servants, factors, &c. to the fellowship or freedom of the said Company. 1 Under this charter, the East India Company was formed which, after many vicissitudes, became in 1876, the Empire of India. In other words the Company consisted of a governor, a deputy governor and a committee or council of twenty-four persons. The governor (the first being named in the charter) and all other officers were to be chosen in a general court or assembly of the whole company; and every member, upon admission, was required under oath " to traffic as a freeman of the Company." The general assembly, consisting of the governor, the council, and the members of the corporation sitting as a body, was presided over by the governor or deputy governor, and the assembly was authorized "to make all reasonable laws, constitutions, etc., agreeable to the laws of England for their good Government by a plurality of voices "; and also "to punish by fines and imprisonment the offenders against these laws." It is to be observed, in the first place, that this charter for the Asiatic trade was granted before an English colony was permanently planted on the mainland of America; and, in the second place, that the company was a body politic and corporate, possessed of legislative, executive and judicial functions, although they are not stated separately and in detail. Upon the death of Queen Elizabeth in 1603, that great monarch was succeeded by James I of England and VI of Scotland, who granted his first charter of Virginia in 1606, six years after that of his predecessor to the East India Company, to the vast tract of land named in honor of the Virgin Queen, and "this charter, with its subsequent modifications," to quote Mr. Morey's illuminating paper on The Genesis of a Written Constitution, "may be said to form the beginning of the constitutional history of the United States." 2 This charter, drawn in first instance by Sir John Popham, Chief Justice of the King's Bench, and in final form by Sir Edward Coke, then Attorney General, and Sir James Doderidge, Solicitor General, divided, as is well known, the North American coast into two parts, assigning the southern por 1 Adam Anderson, Historical and Chronological Deduction of the Origin of Commerce, Coombe ed., 1790, Vol. ii, pp. 261-2. 2 Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 1891, Vol. i, p. 537. tion, between the 34th and 41st degrees of latitude to the London Company, and the northern portion, between the 38th and 45th degrees, to the Plymouth Company. Each company was to have a council of thirteen members residing therein, to be appointed and removed by the Crown. For these two companies there was to be appointed in England a council of Virginia, consisting of thirteen persons, to be appointed by the Crown, and to pass upon and to control the actions of the colonies subject to the instructions of the Crown. The colonists, whether born in England or in the plantations, were specifically endowed with "all Liberties, Franchises and Immunities within any of our other Dominions, to all Intents and Purposes, as if they had been abiding and born, within this our realm of England, or any other of our said Dominions." 1 The two colonies overlapped. It was later provided in the charter that there should be a space of 100 miles between the colonies planted in accordance with the charter. The north and the south were thus to be separated geographically, as they have been historically. The southern colonies have, as a matter of fact, been modeled upon the charter and the institutions of Virginia. The northern colonies have been modeled upon the charter of New England and its institutions. In their broad lines the development of the two sections has been similar, although not identical. It is also to be noted that this first charter of Virginia in 1606 is less liberal than that of the East India Company,― because James I was more of a believer in divine right and less of a statesman than Elizabeth,— in that it does not contain a grant of legislative power, and subjected the council in the colony and the council in England to the royal pleasure, as expressed in the King's instructions. Charter The settlements under this charter did not thrive. It was an experiment A Second which, within less than three years, had proved defective. Larger powers and more specific privileges were requisite. The result therefore was a second charter, probably drawn in first instance by Sir Edward Sandys, and in final form by Sir Henry Hobart, Attorney, and Sir Francis Bacon, Solicitor General. Under this second charter the company or association is created a body politic, to be known, called and incorporated by the name of "The Treasurer and Company of Adventurers and Planters of the City of London, for the first Colony in Virginia." The council and treasurer, or any of them, should in the future be nominated and chosen "out of the Company of the said Adventurers, by the Voice of the greater part of the said Company and Adventurers, in their Assembly for that Purpose." The council, under the presidency of its treasurer or his deputy, was to appoint all "Governors, Officers, and Ministers . . . fit and needful to be . . . used for the Government of 1 Thorpe, Charters and Constitutions, Vol. 7, p. 3788; Poore, pp. 1891-2. A Third Court and Assembly the said Colony and Plantation;" and the council should hereafter likewise make, ordain, and establish all Manner of Orders, Laws, Directions, Instructions, Forms and Ceremonies of Government and Magistracy, fit and necessary for and concerning the Government of the said Colony and Plantation." The Treasurer and Company "and such Governors, Officers, and Ministers" appointed by them for that purpose, should, within the precincts of Virginia, "have full and absolute Power and Authority to correct, punish, pardon, govern, and rule" the King's subjects residing within the Colony, "according to such Orders, Ordinances, Constitutions, Directions, and Instructions," established by the council, and "in Defect thereof in case of Necessity, according to the good Discretion of the said Governor and Officers respectively, as well in Cases capital and criminal, as civil, both Marine and other; So always as the said Statutes, Ordinances and Proceedings as near as conveniently may be, be agreeable to the Laws, Statutes, Government, and Policy of this our Realm of England.” 1 1 By this second charter the Company is created a body politic, with legislative, executive and judicial functions, and the council created by the first charter to reside within the colony is displaced by a governor and officers invested by the corporation with powers of supervision and control. Time and experience having shown the need of ampler powers, a third charter, likewise drafted in first instance by Sir Edward Sandys and finally by Sir Henry Hobart, Attorney, and Sir Francis Bacon, Solicitor General, was granted in 1612, by virtue of which the London Company received the authority requisite to plant, develop and cultivate the colony as the Crown had and the proprietor should possess. Passing over minor matters, such as the grant of the Bermuda Island to the Company, the Treasurer and Company of Adventurers and Planters were empowered, once a week or oftener at their pleasure, to "hold, and keep a Court and Assembly for the better Order and Government of the said Plantation, and such Things as shall concern the same; And that any five Persons of our Council for the said first Colony in Virginia, for the Time being, of which Company the Treasure [r], or his Deputy, to be always one, and the Number of fifteen others, at the least, of the Generality of the said Company, assembled together in such Manner, as is and hath been heretofore used and accustomed, shall be said, taken, held, and reputed to be, and shall be a sufficient Court of the said Company, for the handling and ordering, and dispatching of all such casual and particular Occurrences, and accidental Matters, of less Consequence and Weight, as shall from Time to Time happen, touching and concerning the said Plantation." 2 Here we have a corporation au 1 Thorpe, Charters and Constitutions, Vol. 7, pp. 3795, 3797, 3798, 3801; Poore, pp. 1893, 1898, 1899, 1901. 2 Thorpe, ibid., p. 3805; Poore, p. 1904. thorized to hold weekly meetings of such members as happened to be present, under the presidency of its executive, provided not less than fifteen members of the company attend, for the transaction of ordinary matters. But the affairs of the company beyond the seas were not ordinary matters, and they needed the attention, not of the few who might happen to attend, but of the many who should be present and take part in their settlement. Therefore, the charter provided for this eventuality in the passage of its text immediately succeeding that which has been quoted: And that nevertheless, for the handling, ordering, and disposing of Matters and Affairs of greater Weight and Importance, and such as shall or may, in any Sort, concern the Weal Publick and general Good of the said Company and Plantation, as namely, the Manner of Government from Time to Time to be used, the ordering and Disposing of the Lands and Possessions, and the settling and establishing of a Trade there, or such like, there shall be held and kept every Year, upon the last Wednesday, save one, of Hillary Term, Easter, Trinity, and Michaelmas Terms, for ever, one great, general, and solemn Assembly, which four Assemblies shall be stiled and called, The four Great and General Courts of the Council and Company of Adventurers for Virginia; In all and every of which said Great and General Courts, so assembled, our Will and Pleasure is, and we do, for Us, our Heirs and Successors, for ever, Give and Grant to the said Treasurer and Company, and their Successors for ever, by these Presents, that they, the said Treasurer and Company, or the greater Number of them, so assembled, shall and may have full Power and Authority, from Time to Time, and at all Times hereafter, to elect and chuse discreet Persons, to be of our said Council for the said first Colony in Virginia, and to nominate and appoint such Officers as they shall think fit and requisite, for the Government, managing, ordering, and dispatching of the Affairs of the said Company; And shall likewise have full Power and Authority, to ordain and make such Laws and Ordinances, for the Good and Welfare of the said Plantation, as to them from Time to Time, shall be thought requisite and meet: So always, as the same be not contrary to the Laws and Statutes of this our Realm of England; 1 Bearing in mind the fact that the third charter confirmed the powers and privileges granted by the second, while adding to them in the respects quoted, we have at last reached, by three successive steps the charter of the East India Company, granted by Queen Elizabeth in 1600, created for profit, with the difference that, in addition to the profit from trade, the charter of Virginia contemplated the settlement of a plantation and the creation of a colony as well. For this purpose the Company was empowered to admit new members, who, when admitted, became entitled to the rights and privileges possessed by the other members, thus making it possible for the Company to include all persons who should become inhabitants of the colony. Thus, the full and general court, assembled as aforesaid, was authorized from time to time and for all time to "elect, choose and admit into their Company, and 1 Thorpe, Charters and Constitutions, Vol. 7, p. 3805; Poore, pp. 1904-5. Great and General |