TO WILLIAM PENN, AND LAWS OF THE PROVINCE OF PENNSYLVANIA, PASSED BETWEEN THE YEARS 1682 AND 1700, PRECEDED BY DUKE OF YORK'S LAWS IN FORCE FROM THE APPENDIX CONTAINING LAWS RELATING TO THE ORGANIZATION OF THE PROVINCIAL The compilation and publication of the laws and other matter contained within this volume were authorized by the following act of the General Assembly, viz: "AN ACT For the compilation and publication of the provincial laws of Pennsylvania prior to the year seventeen hundred. WHEREAS, There are in existence among the miscellaneous records of the several departments of the commonwealth and in private hands, original copies of the various laws enacted by the legislative assemblies of Pennsylvania, from the year one housand six hundred and eighty-two, down to the year seventeen hundred, and also other valuable papers pertaining to the legislative doings of said years, which have a most important bearing upon the early legal history of Pennsylvania, and which have not heretofore been published: And whereas, A compilation and publication of said original copies and other papers is desirable, since in their present shape they are inaccessible for general historical and legal reference, on account of their time-worn and mutilated condition or the fact of their being in the possession of private individuals: And whereas, Time, expense, and tedious labor are necessary for the collection, proper examination, and correct arrangement of said original copies and other papers; therefore, SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in General Assembly mel, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That the secretary of the commonwealth be and he is hereby authorized to employ two or more competent persons, to whom shall be entrusted the collection, examination, and arrangement for publication of said original copies and other papers, at a cost not to exceed two thousand dollars, which sum shall be paid by the state treasurer on warrant of the auditor general, upon account duly approved by the secretary of the commonwealth and filed in the office of the auditor general. SECTION 2. That the secretary of the commonwealth be and he is hereby further nuthorized to have said compilation of original copies and other papors published by the state printer in neat and durable shape, to the number of five thousand copies of each volume (should there be more than one volume of the same). Said copies to bo distributed, as follows: Ten copies to each member of the senate and house of representatives, and the clerks thereof, five copies to the head of the several state departments, five copies to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, ten copies to the state library, the balance to be sold to individuals on subscription, at a rate not to exceed one dollar per volume; the proceeds of said sale shall go into the state treasury, and be applied to meet in part the expenses of said publication. E. REED MYER, Speaker of the House of Representatives. JOHN LATTA, President of the Senate. APPROVED-The twelfth day of June, Anno Domini one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight. J. F. HARTRANFT." When the work of arranging this matter for publication began, but few of the original rolls, prior to the year 1700, could be found among the records of the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, and those on file were so time-worn and mutilated, that to decipher their contents has been attended with long and tedious labor. Where the rolls were not found in the Secretary's office, their existence had to be ascertained by persistent, and often times discouraging search. The present publication embraces: First, the laws of the Duke of York, which were in force in the territory afterwards comprised within the limits of Pennsylvania, from the year 1676 to 1682. These laws in manuscript are preserved among the records of the town clerk of Hempstead, in Long Island, but are in a much mutilated condition. Fortunately, however, a certified copy of this record was secured by the New York Historical Society, in the year 1798, and published in their records in 1809. Second. The Royal Charter and Frames of government of the province, and the laws passed by the different General Assemblies of Pennsylvania, from the year 1682 to 1700, complete, excepting one for the sale of the old Court-House at Chester, in the year 1697, of which only a synopsis could be given. The appendix consists of two parts: First. A compilation of the laws and ordinances establishing the several courts of judicature of the Province of Pennsylvania, covering a period extending from the year 1682 to 1722, with an explanatory introduction. Second. Historical notes on the early government and legislative councils and assemblies of Pennsylvania, covering a period extending from the first European settlement on the Delaware, in 1623, to the year 1700. In these notes, a connectcd but brief history of the foundations of government in Pennsylvania, (executive and legislative,) is aimed at. In most cases, original papers are quoted verbatim. The difficulty experienced in this part of the work, arose from the fact that a large portion of the original papers relative to the period covered are not to be found. A large number of legislative records, extending back from 1836 to the days of the Province, were destroyed or lost during the late war. The seals, fac similes of autographs, &c., with which the title pages and appendix arc illustrated, are taken from the originals on documents in the offices of the Auditor General, the Secretary of the Commonwealth, the Department of Internal Affairs, the Pennsylvania State Library, &c. In indexing the work, the plan of making a separate index for each portion has been adopted, that the general index to the laws might be entirely free from extraneous matter. In closing these prefatory remarks, the editors desire to express their thanks to the officers of the Pennsylvania Historical Society for their encouragement and assistance in the prosecution of the work. |