Speech #560119923

When denied by England these rights of English subjects. the colonists rebelled and successfully reproclaimed and ordained these rights. The law of this colonial land then and before our independence was the common and statute law of England. with its unobjectionable features omitted. To bring hither the laws of England thus purged of oppressive or unsuited features is at least the American law of colonization. and the supreme judges of Pennsylvania well state this contention. replying to the direct question. "What laws are in force in or what is the law in Pennsylvania?" It is the true principle of colonization that the emigrants from the mother country carry with them such laws as are useful in their new situation. and none other. (Supreme Judges of Pennsylvania (1808). 3 Binn. p. 5K0.) Mr. Webster. in 1834. in an argument before the Supreme Court of the United States. said: The common law was carried to Pennsylvania on its settlement. The supreme judges of Pennsylvania held. in brief. that the common and statute law of England as brought to and as promulgated by the settlers of Pennsylvania was the law of that land or State.