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Sheweth That his Majesty King Charles the first by Letters
Patent under the Great Scale of England in the eighth year of his
Reign Granted to Cecilius Calvert Baron of Baltimore your Peti-
tioners Ancestor and his heirs A large Tract of Land in America
named Maryland and thereby appointed the said Baron of Baltimore
and his heirs absolute Lords and Proprietarys of the said County
which was thereby Erected into a province To Hold in soccage and
not in Capite or by knights service and his said Majesty Granted to
the said Baron of Baltimore and heirs full power and Authority to
make and Issue any laws whatsoever for the good and welfare of the
said province either in respect to the publick conveniency or for the
private benefit of Individuals at his and their own Discretion but
with the advice and approbation of the Freeholders of the said prov-
ince or the Major part of them or their Representatives (whom the
said Proprietarys were thereby Authorised to summon for the pur-
pose of making such Laws as often as occasion should require) and
such Laws to Publish under the Seal of the said proprietary and
his heirs with full power to Enforce the Execution thereof by
Capital and other Punishment Imprisonment and Fine and which
Laws by the Express Terms of the said Grant were and are to be
Subject to no other Limitation or restriction whatever Than that
the same be Consonant to Reason and neither Repugnant or con-
trary but as near as may be agreeable to the Laws Statutes Custome
and Rights of England And power was likewise given to the said
Lord Baltimore and his heirs from time to time to make proper and
wholesome ordinances for the better Government of the said prov-
ince with several other extensive Rights powers and privileges And
the said Charter or grant is directed to be construed in the most
favourable and Beneficial manner for the Grantee and his heirs
That from 1632 to this present year 1748/9 the powers of Legis-
lature have been Exercised within this province in the full Extent
of the Royal Grant by the Lords Proprietarys in their own persons
or by their Governors by them appointed by the advice and Con-
currence of the freeholders in their General Assemblys who have
from time to time of their own sole Authority made and Enacted
such wholesome Laws for the better ordering of the said province
as the Exigencys of Government required without the least repug-
nancy in such Laws either to Reason or the Laws of their Mother
Country, the only Test and Standard prescribed by their Charter,
and as your Petitioners Ancestors from their steady and uniform
adherence to the strict Terms of their Grant were never Interrupted
in the Exercise and Enjoyment of their Rights and priviledges so
your Petitioner had no Doubt but that from a steady pursuing the
like uniformity of behaviour He should have handed down to his
posterity the great Priviledges conferred upon his Ancestors by the
Crown, as a reward for their Services, pure and Inviolate as they
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Calvert
Papers
428
No date
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