Footnote #6

The Fundamental Constitutions, Granting North Carolina to the lord Proprietors

Version of July 21, 1669

OUR Sovereign Lord the King having, out of his royal grace and bounty, granted unto us the Province of Carolina, with all the royalties, Proprieties, Jurisdictions, and privileges of a County Palatine, as large and ample as the County Palatine of Durham, with other great privileges; for the better settlement of the Government of the said Place, and establishing the interest of the Lords Proprietors with Equality, and without confusion; and that the Government of this Province may be made most agreeable un to the Monarchy under which we live, and of which this province is a part; and that we may avoid erecting a numerous Democracy: We, the true and absolute Lords and Proprietors of the Province aforesaid, have agreed to this following form of Government, to be perpetually established amongst us, unto which we do oblige ourselves, our heirs and successors, in the most binding ways that can be devised.

2. Out of the eight Proprietors there shall be chosen, by themselves, a Palatine, who shall continue during life, whose son shall not be capable of immediately succeeding him after his death; but the eldest in Age of the other Proprietors shall succeed, to prevent the making the office in this little government Hereditary and to avoid the mischief of factions in Elections.

3. There shall be Seven other chief offices erected, viz., the chief Justice's, Chancellor's, Constable's, High Steward's, Treasurer's, Chamberlain's, Admiral's; which places shall be enjoyed by none but the Lords Proprietors, to be assigned at first by lot; and upon the vacancy of any one of the seven great Offices by death, or otherwise, the Eldest proprietor [shall] have his choice of the said place.

4. Each Province shall be divided into Counties; each County shall consist of eight Seigniories, eight Baronies, and four precincts; each Precinct shall consist of Six Colonies

5. Each Colony, Seigniory, and Barony shall consist of twelve thousand Acres, the eight Seigniories being the share of the eight Proprietors, and the eight Baronies of the Nobility; both which shares, being each of them a fifth part of the whole, are to be perpetually annexed, the one to the Proprietors, the other to the Hereditary Nobility, Leaving the Colonies, being three fifths, amongst the people; that so, in the Setting out and planting the lands, the Balance of Government may be preserved.

6. At any time before the year 1701, any of the [Lords] Proprietors shall have power to relinquish, Alienate, and dispose, to any other person, his Proprietorship, and all the Seigniories, powers, and Interest thereunto belonging, wholly and entirely together, and not otherwise. But after the year 1700, those who are then [Lords] Proprietors shall not have power to Alienate or make over their proprietorship, with Seigniories and privileges thereunto belonging, or any part thereof, to any person whatsoever , otherwise than as in article 18, but it shall descend unto their heirs male; and for want of heirs male, it shall descend on that Landgrave or Cacique of Carolina who is descended of the next heir female of the said Proprietor; and for want of Such heirs, it shall descend on the next heir general; and for want of Such heirs, the remaining Seven proprietors shall, upon the Vacancy, choose a Landgrave to succeed the deceased proprietor, who being chosen by the majority of the Seven Surviving proprietors, he and his heirs Successively shall be proprietors as fully, to all intents and purposes, as any of the rest.

7. And that the number of eight Proprietors may be constantly kept, if, upon the vacancy of any Proprietorship, the Surviving Seven Proprietors shall not choose a Landgrave or [Cacique] as a proprietor before the Second session of Parliament after the vacancy, then the Parliament, at the next Session but one after Such vacancy, shall have power to choose and Landgrave [or Cacique] to be Proprietor; but whosoever after the year 1700, either by inheritance or choice, shall Succeed any Proprietor in his proprietorship, and Seigniories thereunto belonging, shall be obliged to take the name and Arms of that proprietor whom he Succeeds, which from thenceforth shall be the name and Arms of his Family and their posterity.

8. Whatsoever Landgrave [or Cacique] shall be chosen into a proprietorship shall take the Seigniories annexed to the said proprietorship, but shall relinquish all the Baronies belonging to his Landgraveship [or Caciqueship] to be disposed of by the proprietors as in the following Articles.

9. To every County there shall be three as the hereditary Nobility of this Palatinate, who shall be called the one a Landgrave and the other two Caciques, and shall have place the in the Parliament there; the Landgrave shall have four Baronies, and the two Caciques, each of them, two apiece, hereditary, and unalterably annexed to and settled upon the said Dignity.

10. The first Landgrave and Caciques of every County shall be nominated, not by the Joint election of the Proprietors all together, but the eight Proprietors shall, each of them separately, nominate and choose one Landgrave and two Caciques for the eight first Counties to be planted; and when the said eight Counties shall be planted, the proprietors shall, n the same manner, nominate and Choose eight more Landgraves and sixteen aciques for the eight next Counties to be planted; and so proceed, in the same manner, till the whole province of Carolina be set out and planted according to the [proportions] in these fundamental Constitutions.

11. Any Landgrave or Cacique, at any time before the year 1701, shall ave power to alienate, sell, or make over, to any other person, his dignity, with the Baronies thereunto belonging, all entirely together; but after the year 1700, no Landgrave or Cacique shall have power to alienate, Sell, make over, or let the hereditary Baronies of his dignity, r any part thereof, otherwise than as in Article 18; but they shall all entirely, with the dignity thereunto belonging, descend unto his heirs male; and for want of Such heirs Male, all entirely and undivided, to the next heir general; and for want of Such heirs, shall devolve into the hands of the Proprietors.

12. That the due number of Landgraves and Caciques may be always kept up, if, upon the devolution of any Landgraveship or Caciqueship, the Proprietors shall not settle the devolved dignity, with the Baronies thereunto annexed, before the second Session of Parliament after Such devolution, the Parliament, at the next [Biennial] Session but one after Such devolution, shall have power to make any one Landgrave or Cacique in the Room of him, who dying with out heirs, his dignity and Baronies devolved.

13. No one person shall have more than one dignity, with the Seigniories or Baronies thereunto belonging; but whensoever it shall happen that any one who is already Proprietor, Landgrave, or Cacique shall have any of those dignities descend to him by inheritance, it shall be at his choice to keep one of the two dignities, with the Lands annexed, he shall like best, but shall leave the other, with the lands annexed, to be enjoyed by him who, not being his heir apparent, and certain successor to his present dignity, is next afterward.

14. Whosoever, by right of Inheritance, shall come to be Landgrave or Cacique shall take the name and Arms of his predecessor in that dignity, to be from thenceforth the Name and Arms of his Family and their posterity.

15. Since the dignity of Proprietor, of 8 Landgrave, or Cacique cannot be divided, and the Seigniories or Baronies thereunto annexed must for ever, all entirely, descend with and accompany that dignity, when ever, for want of heirs Male, it shall descend upon the Issue Female, the Eldest Daughter and her heirs shall be preferred; and in the Inheritance of those dignities, and in the Seigniories or Baronies annexed, there shall be no Coheirs.

16. After the year 1700, whatsoever Landgrave or Cacique shall, without leave from the Palatine's Court, be out of Carolina during two successive biennial Parliaments shall, at the end of the second biennial Parliament after such his absence, be summoned by Proclamation: and if he come not into Carolina before the next biennial Parliament after Such Summons, then it shall be lawful for the grand Council, at a price set by the said Council and approved by the Parliament, to sell the Baronies, with the Dignities thereunto belonging, of the said absent Landgrave or Cacique, all together, to any one to whom the said Council shall think fit; but the price so paid for said Dignity or Baronies shall be deposited in the Treasury, for the sole use and behoof of the former owner, or his [heirs or] assigns.

17. In every Seigniory, Barony, and Manor, the Lord shall have power in his own name, to hold Court there, for trying of all causes, both Civil and Criminal; but where it shall concern any other person being no Inhabitant, Vassal, or Leet man of the said Barony or Seigniory [or manor], he, upon paying down of forty shillings unto the Proprietors' use, shall have an appeal from thence unto the County Court; and if the Lord be cast, the said Lord shall pay unto the appellant the said forty shillings, with other charges.

18. The Lords of Seigniories and Baronies shall have power only of granting Estates, not exceeding three lives or one and thirty years, in two thirds of the said Seigniories or Baronies; and the remaining third shall be always Demesne.

19. Every Manor shall consist of not less than three thousand Acres and not above twelve thousand Acres in one entire piece; but any three thousand acres or more in one piece and the possession of one Man shall not be a manor unless it be constituted a manor by the grant of the Lords Proprietors.

20. Every Lord of a manor, within his manor, shall have all the powers, Jurisdictions, and Privileges which a Landgrave or Cacique has in his Baronies.

21. Any Lord of a manor may Alienate, sell, or dispose, to any other person, and his heirs, for ever, [his manor], all entirely together, with all the privileges and Leet men thereunto belonging, so far forth as any other Colony Lands; but no grant of any part thereof, either in fee or for any longer term than three lives or twenty one years, shall be good against the next heir; neither shall a manor, for want of Issue Male, be divided amongst Coheirs; but the manor, if there be but one, shall all entirely descend to the Eldest Daughter and [her] heirs; if there be more manors than one in the possession of Palatine the deceased, the Eldest Sister shall have her choice, the Second next, and so on, beginning [again] at the Eldest, till all the manors be taken up, that So, the privileges which belong to manors being indivisible, the lands of the manor to which they are annexed may be Kept entire, and the manor not lose those privileges, which upon parcelling out to Several owners must necessarily cease.

22.In every Seigniory, Barony, and manor, all the tenants or Leet men shall be under the Jurisdiction of the Lord of the said Seigniory, Barony, or Manor, without appeal from him unless as in the Article 26; nor shall any Leet man or Leet woman have liberty to go off from the Land of his particular Lord and live any where else without Licences obtained from his Said Lord, under hand and Seal.

23. All the Children of Leet men shall be Leet men, and so to all generations.

24. NO man shall be capable of having a Court Leet or Leet men but a Proprietor Landgrave, or Cacique, or Lord of a Manor.

25. Whoever is Lord of Leet men shall, upon the marriage of a Leet man or Leet woman of his, give them ten Acres of Land for their lives, they paying to him therefor one eighth of all the yearly increase and growth of the said acres.

26. In case the Lord of any Seigniory, Barony, or manor shall have made a Contract or agreement with his Tenants, which agreement, by consent, is Registered in the next [precinct] Registry, then, in Such case, the said Tenant may appeal unto, or bring his Complaint originally in, the County Court for the performance of such agreements, and not other wise.

27. There shall be eight Courts or Councils for the dispatch of all affairs, the first, Called the Palatine's Court, to consist of the Palatine and the other Seven Proprietors. The other seven courts of the other seven great Officers shall consist, each of them, of a Proprietor and Six Councillors added to him; under each of these latter seven [Courts] shall be a College of twelve assistants. The twelve assistants [out] of the Several Colleges shall be Chosen: two out of the Landgraves, by the Landgraves' Chamber during the Session of Parliament; two out of the Caciques, by the Caciques' Chamber during the Session of Parliament; two out of the Landgraves, Caciques, or Eldest sons of the Proprietors, by the Palatine's Court; four more of the twelve shall be chosen by the Commons' Chamber, during the Session of Parliament, out of such as have been or are members of Parliament, Sheriffs, or Justices of the County Court; the other two shall be Chosen by the Palatine's Court out of the aforesaid members of Parliament, or Sheriffs, or Justices of the County Court, or the Eldest sons of Landgraves or Caciques, or younger Sons of Proprietors.

28. Out of these Colleges shall be Chosen Six Councillors to be joined with each Proprietor in his Court; of which six, one shall be of those who were Chosen into any of the Colleges by the Palatine's Court out of the Landgraves, Caciques, or Eldest Sons of Proprietors; one out of those who were Chosen into any of the Colleges by the Landgraves' Chamber; and one [out of] those who were Chosen into any one of the Colleges by the Caciques' Chamber; two out of those who were Chosen into any one of the Colleges by the Commons' Chamber; and one out of those who were Chosen by the Palatine's Court into any of the Colleges out of the Proprietors' younger Sons, or Eldest Sons of Landgraves or Caciques, or Commons Qualified as aforesaid.

29. When it shall happen that any Councillor dies, and thereby there is a vacancy, the grand council shall have power to remove any Councillor that is willing to be removed out of any other of the Proprietors' Courts to fill up this vacancy, provided they take a man of the Same degree and choice the other was [of] whose vacant place [is] to be filled; but if no Councillor consent to be removed, or upon Such remove, the last remaining vacant place in any of the Proprietors' Courts shall be filled up by the choice of the grand Council, who shall have power to remove out of any of the Colleges any Assistant who is of the same degree and choice that Councillor was [of] into whose vacant place he is to succeed; the grand Council, also, shall have power to remove any Assistant that is willing out of one College into another, provided he be of the same degree and choice; but the last remaining vacant place in any College shall be filled up by the same choice and out of the same degree of persons the Assistant was of who is dead or removed. No Place shall be vacant in any Proprietors' Court above six Months; no place shall be vacant in any College longer than the next session of Parliament.

30. No man being a member of the grand Council or of any of the seven Colleges shall be turned out but For misdemeanor, of which the grand Council shall be Judge; and the vacancy of the person so put out shall be filled, not by the Election of the grand Council, but by those who first chose him, and out of the same degree he was [of] who is expelled.

31. All Elections in the Parliament, in the Several Chambers of the Parliament, and in the grand Council shall be passed by balloting.

32. The Palatine's Court shall consist of the Palatine and Seven Proprietors, wherein nothing shall be acted without the presence and consent of the Palatine, or his Deputy, and three others of the Proprietors, or their Deputies. [This Court] shall have power to call Parliaments, to pardon all Offences, to make Elections of all Officers in the Proprietors' dispose; and also, they shall have power, by their Order to the Treasurer, to dispose of all public Treasure, excepting money granted by the Parliament and by them directed to Some [particular] public use; and also, they shall have a Negative upon all Acts, Orders, Votes, and Judgments of the grand Council and the Parliament; and shall have all the powers granted to the Proprietors by their patent, except in such things as are limited by these fundamental constitutions and form of government.

33. The Palatine him self, when he in person shall be either in the Army or in any of the Proprietors' Courts, shall then have the power of General or of that Proprietor in whose Court he is then present; and the Proprietor in whose Court the Palatine then presides shall, during his presence there, be but as one of the Council.

34. The Chancellor's Court, consisting of one of the Proprietors and his six Councillors, who shall be called vice-chancellors, shall have the Custody of the Seal of the Palatinate, under which all charters, of Lands or otherwise, Commissions, and grants of the Palatine's Court shall pass, etc. To this Court, also, belongs all state matters, dispatches, and treaties, with the Neighbour Indians or any other, so far forth as us permitted by our Charter from our Sovereign Lord the King. To this office, also, belongs all Innovations of the Law of Liberty of conscience, and all disturbances of the public peace upon pretence of Religion, as also, the Licence of printing. The twelve assistants belonging to this Court shall be called Recorders.

35. The Chancellor, or his Deputy, shall be always Speaker in Parliament and President of the grand council, and in his and his Deputy's absence, one of his Vice-Chancellors.

The Chief Justice's Court, consisting of one of the proprietors and his six Councillors, who shall be called Justices of the Bench, shall Judge all appeals, both in cases Civil and Criminal, except all Such cases as shall be under the Jurisdiction and Cognizance of any other of the Proprietors' Courts, which shall be tried in those Courts respectively. The Government and regulations of the Registries of writings and contracts shall belong to the Jurisdiction of this Court. The twelve assistants of this Court shall be called Masters.

36. The High Constable's Court, consisting of one of the Proprietors and his six Councillors, who shall be called Marshals, shall order and determine of all Military affairs concern by land, and all land forces, Arms, Ammunition, Artillery, Garrisons, and Forts, etc., and whatever belongs unto war. His twelve assistants shall be called Lieutenant Generals. In Court s time of actual war, The High Constable, whilst he is in the Army, shall be General of the 42 Army, and the six Councillors, or such of them as the Palatine's Court shall for that time Courts [and service] appoint, shall be the immediate great Officers under him, and the Lieutenant appeal. Generals next to them.

37. The Admiral's Court, consisting of one of the Proprietors and his Six Councillors, called Consuls, shall have the care and inspection over all ports, Moles, and Navigable Rivers so far as the Tide flows; and also, all the public Shipping of Carolina, and stores thereunto belonging, and all maritime affairs. This Court, also, shall have the power of the Court of Admiralty; and also, to hear and try by Law-Merchant all cases in Matters of shall Trade between the Merchants of Carolina amongst them selves, arising without the limits of Carolina; as also, all controversies in Merchandising that shall happen between be Denizens of Carolina and foreigners. The twelve Assistants belonging to this court shall be where l called proconsuls.

38. The Treasurer's Court, consisting of one proprietor and his Six Councillors, called under-Treasurers, shall take care of all matters that concerns the public revenue and Treasury. The twelve assistants shall be called Auditors.

39. The High Steward's court, consisting of a proprietor and his six Councillors, who shall be called Comptrollers, shall have the care of all foreign and domestic Trade, factures, public buildings and work-houses, high ways, passages by water above the flood the of the Tide, drains, sewers and Banks against inundations, Bridges, Posts, Carriers, Fairs, Markets, and all things in order to Travel and commerce, and anything that may corrupt, deprave, or Infect the common Air or water, and all other things wherein the Public [trade], commerce, or health is concerned; and also, the setting out and surveying of lands; and also, the setting out and appointing [places] for towns to be built on in the Precincts, and the prescribing and determining the Figure and bigness of the said Towns according to such Models as the said court shall order, contrary or differing from which Models it shall not be lawful for any one to build in any Town.

40. This Court shall have power, also, to make any public building or any new highway, or enlarge any old high way, upon any Man's Land whatsoever; as also, to make cuts, Channels, Banks, locks, and Bridges, for making Rivers Navigable, for draining of Fens, or any other public uses; the damage the owner of such land, on or through where any such public thing shall be made, shall receive thereby shall be valued by a Jury of twelve men of the Precinct in which any such thing is done, and satisfaction shall be made accordingly by a Tax, either on the County or that particular precinct, as the grand Council shall think fit to order in that particular case. The twelve assistants belonging to this Court shall becalled Surveyors.

41. The Chamberlain's Court, consisting of a proprietor and his six Councillors, called Vice-Chamberlains, shall have the power to convocate the grand Council; shall have the care of all Ceremonies, Precedency, Heraldry, reception of public Messengers, and pedigrees; the registries of all Births, Burials, and Marriages; legitimation and all cases concerning Matrimony or arising from it; and shall, also, have power to Regulate all Fashions, Habits, Badges, Games, and Sports. The twelve assistants belonging to this Court shall be called Provosts.

42. All causes belonging to, or under the Jurisdiction of, any of the Proprietors' Courts shall in them respectively be tried and ultimately determined, without any further appeal.

43. The proprietors' Courts shall have a power to mitigate all fines and suspend all executions, either before or after sentence, in any of the other respective Inferior Courts.

44. In all debates, hearings, or Trials in any of the Proprietors' Courts, the twelve assistants belonging to the Said Court respectively shall have Liberty to be present, but shall not interpose unless their opinions be required, nor have any Vote at all; but their [business shall] be, by direction of the respective courts, to prepare Such business as shall be committed to them; as also, to bear Such Offices and dispatch Such affairs, either where the Court is kept or else where, as the Court shall think fit.

45. In all the Proprietors' Courts [any] three shall make a Quorum.

46. The grand Council shall consist of the Palatine, and Seven Proprietors, and the forty two Councillors of the Several Proprietors' Courts; who shall have power to determine any Controversies that may arise between any of the Proprietors' Courts about their respective Jurisdictions; to make peace and war, Leagues, Treaties, etc., with any of the Neighbour Indians; To issue out their General Orders to the Constable's and Admiral's Court for the Raising, disposing, or disbanding the Forces, by land or by Sea; to prepare all matters to be proposed in Parliament; nor shall any Tax or law or other matters whatsoever be proposed, debated, or Voted in Parliament but what has first passed the grand Council and, in form of a bill to be passed, is by them presented to the Parliament; nor shall any bill So prepared [and presented by the grand Council to the Parliament to be enacted, whether it be an antiquated Law or otherwise, be voted or passed into an Act of Parliament], or be at all Obligatory, unless it be three Several days read openly in the Parliament, and then, afterwards, by Majority of Votes, Enacted, during the same session wherein it was thrice read, and also confirmed by the Palatine and three of the Proprietors as is above said.

47. The grand Council shall always be Judges of all Causes and appeals that concerns the Palatine, or any of the proprietors, or any councillor of any Proprietors' Court in any Case which otherwise should have been Tried in that Court in which the said Councillor is Judge him self.

48. The Grand Council, by their warrants to the Treasurer's Court, shall dispose of all the money given by the Parliament and by them directed to any particular public use.

49. The Quorum of the grand Council shall be thirteen, whereof a Proprietor, or his Deputy, shall be always one.

50. The Palatine, or any of the Proprietors shall have power, under hand and seal, to be Registered in the grand Council, to make a Deputy; who shall have the same power, to all intents and purposes, that he himself who deputes him, except in confirming Acts of Parliament, as in Article [70]; all Such deputation shall cease and determine of them selves at the end of four years, and at any time shall be revocable at the pleasure of the Deputator.

51. No Deputy of any Proprietor shall have any power whilst the deputator is in any part of Carolina, except the Proprietor whose deputy he is be a Minor.

52. During the minority of any Proprietor, his Guardian shall have power to constitute and appoint his deputy.

53. The Eldest of the Proprietors who shall be personally in Carolina shall of Course be the Palatine's Deputy; and if no Proprietor be in Carolina, he shall choose his deputy out of the heirs apparent of any of the Proprietors, if any such be there; and if there be no heir apparent of any of the Proprietors, above twenty one years old, in Carolina, then he shall choose for Deputy any one of the Landgraves of the grand Council; and till he have, by deputation, under hand and Seal, Chosen any one of the forementioned heirs apparent or Landgrave to be his deputy, the Eldest Man of the Landgraves, and for want of Landgraves, the Eldest Man of the Caciques, who shall be personally in Carolina shall of course be his deputy.

54. The Proprietors' deputy shall be always one of their own Six Councillors respectively.

55. In every County there shall be a Court, consisting of a Sheriff and four Justices of the County, being Inhabitants and having, each of them, at least five hundred Acres of Freehold within the said County, to be chosen and Commissionated from time to time the Palatine's court; who shall try and Judge all appeals from any of the precinct Courts.

56. For any personal causes Exceeding the value of two hundred pounds, or in Title of Lands, or in any Criminal Cause, either party, upon paying twenty pounds to the Proprietors' use, shall have Liberty of Appeal from the County Court unto the respective Proprietors' Court.

57. In every Precinct there shall be a Court, consisting of a Steward and four Justices of the Precinct, being Inhabitants and having three hundred Acres of Freehold within the said Precinct; who shall Judge all Criminal causes, except for Treason, Murder, and any other offences punished with death; and all civil causes whatsoever, and in all personal actions not exceeding fifty pounds without appeal; but where the Cause shall exceed that Value, or concern a Title of land, and in all Criminal causes, there, either party, upon paying five pounds to the Proprietors' use, shall have Liberty of appeal unto the County Court.

58. No cause shall be twice tried in any one Court, upon any reason or pretence whatsoever.

59. For Treason, Murder, and all other offences punishable with death, there shall be a Commission, twice a year at least, granted unto one or more members of the [Grand] Council or Colleges, who shall come as Itinerant Judges to the Several Counties, and , with the Sheriff and four Justices, shall hold assizes, and Judge all Such causes. But upon paying of fifty pounds to the proprietors' use, there shall be Liberty of appeal to the respective Proprietors' Court.

60. The grand Juries at the Several assizes shall have, upon their Oaths, and, under their hands and Seals, deliver in to the Itinerant Judges a presentment of Such grievances, Misdemeanors, exigencies, or defects which they shall think necessary for the Public good of the Country; which presentment shall, by the Itinerant Judges, at the End of their circuit, be delivered in to the grand Council at their next Sitting; and whatsoever therein concerns the Execution of Laws already made, the Several Proprietors' Courts, in the matters belonging to each of them respectively, shall take Cognizance of [it], and [give] such order about it as shall be Effectual for the due Execution of the laws; but whatever concerns the making of any new laws shall be referred to the Several respective Courts to which that matter belongs, and by them prepared and brought to the grand Council.

61. For Terms, there shall be quarterly Such a certain number of days, not exceeding twenty one at any one time, as the Several respective Courts shall appoint; the time for the beginning of the Term in the precinct Court shall be the first Monday in January, April, July, and October; and in the County Court, the first Monday of February, May, August, November; and in the Proprietors' [Courts], the first Monday of March, June, September, and December.

62. For Juries in the Precinct Court, no Man shall be a Jury Man under fifty Acres of Freehold. In the County Court, or at the assizes, no man shall be a Jury Man under two hundred acres of Freehold. No man shall be a Grand Jury Man under three hundred acres of freehold; and in the Proprietors' Courts, no Man shall be a Jury Man under five hundred acres of Freehold.

63. Every Jury shall consist of twelve Men; and [it] shall [not] be necessary they should all agree, but the Verdict shall be according to the consent of the Majority.

64. It shall be a base and vile thing to Plead for money or Reward; nor shall any one, except he be a Near Kinsman, not farther off than Cousin German to the party concerned, be admitted to plead another man's cause till, before the Judge in open Court, he has taken an Oath that he does [not] pleas for money or reward, nor has nor will receive, nor directly nor indirectly bargained with the party, whose cause he is going to Plead, for any money or other reward for Pleading his Cause.

65. There shall be a Parliament, consisting of the Proprietors, or their deputies, the Landgraves and Caciques, and one Freeholder out of every Precinct, to be Chosen by the Freeholders of the said Precinct respectively. They shall sit all together in one Room, and have every member one Vote.

66. No man shall be Chosen a member of Parliament who has less than five hundred Acres of Freehold within the Precinct for which he is Chosen; nor shall any have a vote in choosing the said member that has less than fifty acres of Freehold within the said precinct.

67. A new Parliament shall be assembled the first Monday of the Month of November every second year, and shall meet and Sit in the Town they last Sat in, without any Summons, unless by the Palatine, or his Deputy, together with any three of the Proprietors, or their Deputies, they be Summoned to meet at any other place; and if there shall be any occasion of a Parliament in these Intervals, it shall be in the power of the Palatine, with any three of the Proprietors, to assemble them on forty days' notice, at such time and place as they shall think fit; and the Palatine, or his Deputy, with the ad vice and consent of any three of the Proprietors, or their Deputies, shall have power to dissolve the Said Parliament when they shall think fit.

68. At the opening of every Parliament, the first thing that shall be done shall be the reading of these fundamental constitutions, which the Palatine, and Proprietors, and the rest of the members then present shall Subscribe. Nor shall any Person whatsoever Sit or Vote in the Parliament till he has, that Sessions, Subscribed these fundamental constitutions in a book kept for that purpose by the Clerk of the Parliament.

69. And in order to the due Election of members for this Biennial Parliament, it shall be lawful for the Freeholders of the respective precincts to meet the first Tuesday in September every two years, in the Same Town or place that they last met in, to choose Parliament men, and there choose those members that are to Sit the next November following, unless the Steward of the Precinct shall, by Sufficient notice Thirty days before, appoint some other place for their meeting in order to the Election.

70. No act or Order of Parliament shall be of any force unless it be Ratified in open Parliament, during the same Session, by the Palatine, or his Deputy, and three more of the Proprietors, or their deputies; and then not to continue longer in force but until the End of the next Biennial Parliament, unless in the mean time it be Ratified under the hand and seal of the Palatine him self and three more of the Proprietors them selves, and, by their Order, published at the next Biennial Parliament.

71. Any Proprietor, or his Deputy, may enter his Protestation against any act of the Parliament, before the Palatine or his deputy's consent be given as aforesaid, if he shall conceive the said act to be contrary to this Establishment or any of these Fundamental Constitutions of the Government; and in Such case, after a full and free debate, the several Estates shall retire into four several Chambers, the Palatine and Proprietors into one, the Landgraves into another, and the Caciques into another, and those Chosen by the Precincts into a fourth; and if the major part of any four of these Estates 2'shall Vote that the law is not agreeable to this Establishment and fundamental constitution of the Government, then it shall pass no further, but be as if it had never been proposed.

72. To avoid multiplicity of laws, which by degrees always change the Right foundations of the Original Government, all acts of Parliament whatsoever, in what form soever passed or enacted, shall, at the end of Sixty years after their enacting, respectively Cease and determine of them selves, and, without any repeal, become Null and void, as if no such acts or laws had ever been made.

73. Since multiplicity of Comments, as well as of laws, have great inconveniences, and Serve only to obscure and perplex, all manner of comments and expositions on any part of these fundamental constitutions, or on any part of the Common or Statute law of Carolina, are absolutely prohibited.

74. There shall be a Registry in every precinct, wherein shall be enrolled all deeds, Leases, Judgments, or other conveyances which may concern any of the land within the Said Precinct; and all Such conveyances not so entered or Registered shall not be of force against any person not privy to the Said contract or conveyance.

75. No man shall be Register of any Precinct who has not at least three hundred acres of Freehold within the Said Precinct.

76. The freeholders of every Precinct shall nominate three men, out of which three the Chief Justice court shall choose and Commission one to be Register of the Said precinct, whilst he shall well behave him self.

77. There shall be a Registry in every Colony, wherein shall be Recorded all the Births, Marriages, and deaths that shall happen within the said Colony.

78. No man shall be Register of a Colony that has not above fifty acres of Freehold within the said Colony.

79. The time of every one's Age shall be Recorded from the day that his Birth is entered in the Registry, and not before.

80. No Marriage shall be lawful, whatever Contract or Ceremonies they have used till both the parties mutually own it before the Colony Register, and he enter it, with the names of the Father and mother of such party.

81. No man shall administer to the goods, or have right to them, or enter upon the Estate, of any person deceased till his death be Registered in the Colony Registry.

82. He that does not enter in the Colony Registry the death or Birth of any person that dies in his house or ground shall pay to the said Register one shilling per week for each Such neglect, Reckoning from the time of each death or birth respectively to the time of Registering it.

83. In like manner, the births, Marriages, and deaths of the Lords Proprietors, Landgraves, and Caciques shall be Registered in the Chamberlain's Court.

84. There shall be in every Colony one Constable, to be Chosen annually by the Freeholders of the Colony, his Estate to be above one hundred acres of Freehold within the Said Colony; and Such Subordinate officers appointed for his assistance as the precinct court shall find requisite, and shall be Established by the Precinct court; the Election of the Subordinate annual officers shall be also in the Freeholders of the Colony.

85. All Towns incorporate shall be Governed by a Mayor, twelve Aldermen, and twenty four of the Common Council; the Said Common Council to be chosen by the present householders of the Said Town; and the Aldermen to be Chosen out of the Common Council, and the Mayor out of the Aldermen, by the Palatine and the Proprietors.

86. No man shall be permitted to be a Freeman of Carolina, or to have any Estate or habitation within it, that does not acknowledge a God, and that God is publicly and Solemnly to be worshipped.

87. But since the Natives of that place, who will be concerned in our Plantations, are utterly Strangers to Christianity, whose Idolatry, Ignorance, or mistake gives us no right to expel or use them ill; and those who remove from other parts to Plant there will unavoidably be of different opinions concerning matters of Religion, the liberty whereof they will expect to have allowed them, and it will not be reasonable for us, on this account, to keep them out- that Civil peace may be maintained amidst the diversity of opinions, and our agreement and compact with all men may be duly and faithfully observed, the violation whereof, upon what pretence soever, cannot be without great offence to Almighty God, and great Scandal to the true Religion that we profess; and also, that heathens, Jews, and other dissenters from the purity of Christian Religion may not be Scared and kept at a distance from it, but, by having an opportunity of acquainting them selves with the truth and reasonableness of its Doctrines, and the peaceableness and inoffensiveness of its professors, may, by good usage and persuasion, and all those convincing Methods of Gentleness and meekness Suitable to the Rules and design of the Gospel, be won over to embrace and unfeignedly receive the truth: Therefore, any Seven or more persons agreeing in any Religion shall constitute a church or profession, to which they shall give Some name to distinguish it from others.

88. The terms of admittance and communion with any church or profession shall be written in a book and therein be Subscribed by all the members of the said church or profession.

89. The time of every one's Subscription and admittance shall be dated in the said book, or record.

90. In the terms of Communion of every church or profession, these following shall be three, without which no agreement or assembly of men upon pretence of Religion shall be accounted a Church or Profession within these Rules:

1. That there is a God.

2. That God is publicly to be worshipped.

3. That it is lawful, and the duty of every man, being thereunto called by those that Govern, to bear witness to truth; and that every church or profession shall, in their Terms of Communion, Set down the External way whereby they witness a truth as in the presence of God, whether it be by laying hands on and Kissing the Gospel, as in the Protestant and Papist Churches, or by holding up the hand, or any other Sensible way.

91. No person above seventeen years of Age shall have any benefit or protection of the law, or be capable of any place of profit or honor, who is not a member of Some church or profession, having his name recorded in Some one, and but one Religion Record at once.

92. The Religious Record of every church or profession shall be kept by the public Register of the Precinct where they reside.

93. No man of any other Church or profession shall disturb or molest any Religious Assembly.

94. No person whatsoever shall speak any thing in their Religious assembly Irreverently or Seditiously of the Government or Governors or States matters.

95. Any person Subscribing the terms of Communion of any church or profession in the Record of the said church before the Precinct Register and any one member of the church or profession shall be thereby made a member of the Said church or profession.

96. Any person striking out his own name out of any Record, or his name being struck out by any officer thereunto Authorized by any church or profession, shall cease to be a member of that Church or profession.

97. No person shall use any reproachful, Reviling, or abusive language against the Religion of any Church or Profession, that being the certain way of disturbing the public peace, and of hindering the conversion of any to the truth, by engaging them in Quarrels and animosities, to the hatred of the professors and that profession, which otherwise they might be brought to assent to.

98. Since Charity obliges us to wish well to the Souls of all men, and Religion ought to alter nothing in any man's civil Estate or Right, It shall be lawful for Slaves, as all others, to enter them selves and be of what church any of them shall think best, and thereof be as fully members as any freemen. But yet, no Slave shall hereby be exempted from that civil dominion his Master has over him, but be in all other things in the same State and condition he was in before.

99. Assemblies, upon what pretence soever of Religion, not observing and performing the above said Rules shall not be Esteemed as churches, but unlawful meetings, and be punished as other Riots.

100. No person whatsoever shall disturb, molest, or persecute another for his speculative opinions in Religion or his way of worship.

101. Every Freeman of Carolina shall have absolute Authority over his Negro Slaves, of what opinion or Religion soever.

102. No person whatsoever shall hold or claim any land in Carolina, by Purchase or gift or otherwise, from the Natives or any other person whatsoever, but merely from and under the [Lords] Proprietors, upon pain of forfeiture of all his Estate, moveable or unmoveable, and perpetual Banishment.

103. Whoever shall possess any Freehold in Carolina, upon what Title or grant soever, shall, at the farthest, from and after the year 1689, pay yearly unto the Proprietors for each acre of Land, English measure, as much fine Silver as is at this present in one English penny, or the Value thereof, to be as a Chief Rent and acknowledgment of the Proprietors, their heirs and Successors, for ever; and it shall be lawful for the proprietors, by their Officers, at any time, to take a new Survey of any man's land, not to out him of any part of his possession, but that by Such a Survey, the Just number of acres he possesses may be known, and the Rent thereupon due may be paid by him.

104. All wrecks, mines, minerals, Quarries of Gems and precious stones, with whale fishing, [Pearl fishing], and one half of all ambergris, by whom soever found, shall wholly belong to the Proprietors.

105. All Revenues and profits arising out of any thing but their distinct particular Lands and possessions shall be divided into ten parts, whereof the Palatine shall have three, and each Proprietor one; but if the Palatine shall Govern by a Deputy, his Deputy shall have one of those three tenths, and the Palatine the other two tenths.

106. All Inhabitants and freemen of Carolina above seventeen years of Age and under Sixty shall be bound to bear Arms and serve as Soldiers whenever the grand Council shall find it necessary.

[No 107 in manuscript]

108. A true Copy of these Fundamental Constitutions shall be kept in a great book by the Register of every precinct, to be Subscribed before the said Register. Nor shall any person, of what condition or degree soever, above seventeen years Old, have any Estate or possession in Carboline, or protection or benefit of the law there, who has not Subscribed these fundamental constitutions in this form: I, A. B., do promise to bear faith and true allegiance to our sovereign Lord King Charles the Second; and will be true and faithful to the [ Palatine and ] Lords Proprietors of Carolina; and, with my utmost power, will defend them and maintain the Government, according to this Establishment in these fundamental constitutions.

109. And whatsoever Alien shall, in this form, before any Precinct Register, Subscribe these fundamental Constitutions shall be thereby Naturalized.

110. In The Same manner shall every person at his admittance into any Office Subscribe these fundamental constitutions.

111. These fundamental constitutions, [in number 111], and every part thereof, shall be, and remain as, the Sacred unalterable form and Rule of Government [of Carolina] for ever. Witness our hands and Seals, this twenty first day July, in the year of our Lord 1669.