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Sioussat's The English Statutes in Maryland, 1903
Volume 195, Page 21   View pdf image (33K)
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485] The English Statutes in Maryland. 21
That Jamaica was alleged to be a conquered country caused
upon other occasions, some of which we shall notice later, con-
siderable difficulty in determining the legal system of the
island. The decision, it seems, is adverse to the extension of
English laws, though the judges did not lay stress on the
distinction between common and statute law.
A clearer statement appears in the opinion of the Attorney-
General, West, rendered in 1720, in which he said:
" The common law of England is the common law of the.
plantations, and all statutes in affirmance of the common law,
passed in England antecedent to the settlement of a colony,
are in force in that colony, unless there is some private Act
to the contrary; though no statutes, made since those settle-
ments. are thus in force unless the colonists are particularly
mentioned. Let an Englishman go where he will, he carries
as much of law and liberty with him as the nature of things
will bear.""
Nine years later, in connection with the dispute in Mary-
land, Sir P. Yorke, then Attorney-General, gave an opinion
on the same subject, which affords an interesting comparison
with that of West.
" Such genera! statutes, as have been made since the settle-
ment of Maryland, 'and are not by express words located
either to the plantations in general or to this Province in par-
ticular are not in force there, unless they have been intro-
duced and declared to be Laws by some Acts of Assembly of
the Province, or have been received there by a long uninter-
rupted usage or practice which may impart a tacit consent of
the Lord Proprietary and of the people of the colony that they
should have the force of a law there."'
The modification here evident was without doubt a reflec-
tion of the agitation in Maryland to which we shall devote
extended discussion hereafter.
6 Chalmers' Opinions, Vol. I.. pp. 194-105.
7 Chalmers' Opinions, Vol. I.. p. 206. Also in Calvert Papers
(MS.) No. 52, p. 14. Chalmers dates this March 9, 1729. The
Jamaican controversy referred to below had been settled in the
meantime; while the controversy in Maryland had reached its
height.

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Sioussat's The English Statutes in Maryland, 1903
Volume 195, Page 21   View pdf image (33K)
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