clear space clear space clear space white space
A
 r c h i v e s   o f   M a r y l a n d   O n l i n e

PLEASE NOTE: The searchable text below was computer generated and may contain typographical errors. Numerical typos are particularly troubling. Click “View pdf” to see the original document.

  Maryland State Archives | Index | Help | Search		 search for:
clear space
white space
Sioussat's The English Statutes in Maryland, 1903
Volume 195, Page 68   View pdf image (33K)
 Jump to  
   << PREVIOUS  NEXT >>
clear space clear space clear space white space

68 The English Statutes in Maryland. [533
extension of English law, they claimed, was purely a volun-
tary act of the colonists-
Now, after this somewhat lengthy excursus, let us return
to our documentary material in the Maryland controversy.
Let us notice Dulany's citation of Locke to show that the
Marylanders had an equal right to the English laws, with
the inhabitants of England: let us follow his quotations of
Grotius and Puffendorf, to support a similar idea; and let us
observe in the closing paragraph a somewhat timid sugges-
tion that the people of Maryland had a right from a state of
nature to choose what law they would. What have we here
but the very doctrine of 1774, expressed in a rude and unde-
veloped form? Not only in Dulany's pamphlet, but also in
Eversfield's book. do we have the consent of the people urged
as the only authority that gives binding force to law. More-
over, returning to Dulany's pamphlet, we meet the very
phrases that did such service in later times: "a state of
equality," " life, liberty, and property," " inherent rights." "
Let us be far from suggesting that Dulany's pamphlet in-
troduced those ideas, or that from it did the later writers draw
any ideas. What we wish to demonstrate is that the natural
rights philosophy as applied to government, and its termin-
ology or vocabulary, which are too often first mentioned in
connection with James Otis or Samuel Adams, were common
property a generation before Otis' first pamphlet saw the
light." During all this time these ideas were sinking in upon
the colonists' minds, and if, when the Revolution came, their
law failed them, they were ready with a philosophical justifi-
cation of their position. To the verity of this statement, for
Maryland, Dulany's pamphlet and Eversfield's notes bear
ample witness.
One more point, before we close. As we ail know, it was
when the colonists, after a certain period of laissez-faire had
11 The Right of the Inhabitants, etc., passim.
12 Similar ideas, based on Puffendorf, appear in John Wise's A
Vindication of the Government of New England Churches, pub-
lished about 1717.

  		clear space
clear space
white space

Please view image to verify text. To report an error, please contact us.
Sioussat's The English Statutes in Maryland, 1903
Volume 195, Page 68   View pdf image (33K)
 Jump to  
   << PREVIOUS  NEXT >>


This web site is presented for reference purposes under the doctrine of fair use. When this material is used, in whole or in part, proper citation and credit must be attributed to the Maryland State Archives. PLEASE NOTE: The site may contain material from other sources which may be under copyright. Rights assessment, and full originating source citation, is the responsibility of the user.

Tell Us What You Think About the Maryland State Archives Website!

An Archives of Maryland electronic publication.
For information contact mdlegal@mdarchives.state.md.us.

©Copyright  October 06, 2023
Maryland State Archives