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Sioussat's The English Statutes in Maryland, 1903
Volume 195, Page 95   View pdf image (33K)
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559] The English Statutes in Maryland. 95
the Number, Ability, Interest, or Fortune, of our Patriots bear any
Proportion, to those that England has been blest with, in all Ages.
Whether we are greater Lovers of Justice, and Equity, than other
People, or have less Occasion for Laws, to restrain those that are
unruly amongst us, and to secure and protect those that are peace-
able, and innocent, than our Neighbors have. And whether Men
of the greatest Authority, and Interest among us, may not have as
strong Inclinations for Power, and Dominion, and of Lording it
•over their Inferiors, as we are told Great Men in other Parts of the
World have. By a serious Consideration of these Things, we may be
able, to form some Judgment, of the Condition we should be in, if
•we were to forfeit the Benefit of all the Laws, that have been made;
I mean, the Statutes to declare the Subject's Right at the Common
Law; and to establish, strengthen, and confirm, that Right. " If
Men (says an ingenious Author) will be great Knaves, in spight of
Opposition; how much greater would they be, if there were none.*
(*) Cato's Letters,
p. 20 Some People, will object several Book Cases; wherein the Judges
have resolved, that the English Laws did not extend to Ireland;
'till it was expressly enacted that they should: And that the English
Acquisitions in France, were never governed but by their own Laws:
From whence, the Necessity of enacting the English Statutes, in
Maryland, before it's Inhabitants can have the Benefit of them, is
often inferred. But this Objection, (I conceive) will be of no great
Weight; when it is considered, that those Countries, were inhabited,
by civilized, sociable People, conversant with Arts, Learning and
Commerce; that had Laws, suited, and adapted to the Order, and
Engagements of Society; by which, themselves, and others that
went to live among them, might be peaceably, and happily governed:
The Cause was wanting here, and so must the Effect be, fur Mary-
land, before it was settled by the English, was. as to Law. and Gov-
ernment in the same Condition, with an uninhabited Wilderness:
" And in Case of an uninhabited Country, newly found out, by the
"English Subjects; All Laws in Force in England, are in Force
there. T
The native Indians, were rude, savage, and ignorant; destitute of
Letters, Arts, or Commerce; and almost, of the common Notions.
of Right, and Wrong—A People, thus qualified, must make excel-
(t) P. Holt C. i. 2 Salk 41;.

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Sioussat's The English Statutes in Maryland, 1903
Volume 195, Page 95   View pdf image (33K)
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