dinance for establishing fees within this province;" "an act for acknowledging and recording of deeds and conveyances of land within each respective county of this province."

As to the general purview of which acts I have no objection; but inasmuch as those acts are represented by the Governor and by the judges of the supreme courts of justice in that province, to be entirely destructive of their jurisdiction, and, as in their opinion, not fit to be passed into law, especially considering that they are intended to be perpetual, and have also been represented unto me that those acts are very prejudicial to the right of those officers who are appointed by patents from the Crown, by lessening their usual and accustomed fees in such a manner as that there is not a sufficient encouragement for any person to undertake the execution of those offices; I am therefore of opinion, that those acts are not proper to be passed, unless there be clauses inserted into them to save the jurisdiction of the superior courts, and the rights of those few officers in the province, who are appointed by patent from the Crown.

December 11, 1718.

RICH. WEST.

(36.) The report of the Attorney and Solicitor-General, Ryder and Murray, on some singular acts of the New Jersey Assembly.

To the Right Honorable, the Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations.

In

May it please your Lordships;

pursuance of your Lordships' directions, signified to us by Mr. Hill, in his letter of the 17th of July, 1749, with the five hereinafter-mentioned acts passed in the province of New Jersey in February, 1747-8, desiring

our opinion thereupon as soon as we conveniently can, viz: "an act for naturalizing Peter Landerbouch, Catherine, Elizabeth, and Barbara, his three daughters ;" "an act for punishing the coiners and counterfeiters of foreign coin passing current, and the counterfeiters of bills of credit of this province;" "an act for avoiding actions of slander, and for stay of proceeding, until the first day of October, 1748, in other civil actions against the late rioters;" "an act for the suppressing and preventing of riots, tumults, and other disorders within this colony;" "an act to pardon the persons guilty of the insurrections, riots, and disorders, raised and committed in this province."

Mr. Hill is further directed by your Lordships to acquaint us, that the first of these acts appears to be of an unusual nature, and that you do not find that acts of this sort have, at any time, been passed in his Majesty's colonies in America; that the four last mentioned acts were passed on occasion of great riots and disorders having been committed in that province, and which now are arisen to such a height as to claim the serious attention of his Majesty's ministers, who have had one meeting thereupon, and are to meet again in a few days: your Lordships, therefore, desire that you may be favored with our opinion with all possible dispatch, the province being in the utmost confusion.

As to the act for punishing coiners, &c. we do not see any objection to that part which concerns the coiners of foreign coin made current by lawful authority; but the extending the penalty to coiners of foreign coin, that is, or shall be, by common consent, usually passed, and taken or received as full satisfaction for debts, appears to us very improper, both on account of the great uncer

tainty of the description on which the capital punishment is to depend, and the too great credit that is given to what is called common consent, not founded on the act of his Majesty, or of the general assembly.

As for the act for naturalization of Landerbouch, &c. since your Lordships have been pleased to acquaint us, by Mr. Hill's letter, that you do not find any acts of this sort have, at any time, been passed in his Majesty's colonies in America, and there appears nothing special in this case: we cannot think it advisable to begin the precedent now, and in this colony.

As to the act of pardon to the persons guilty of the late insurrectious, which by the act itself appears to have been thought to amount to high treason in some of the parties, it is a mattor that must rest entirely in his Majesty's royal breast, weighing all the circumstances and consequences that may be foreseen or apprehended.

But it appears to us very extraordinary, that in a matter of so great moment, in which the peace of the whole province has been disturbed, and the conduct of the rioters seems to have been no less than a rebellion, and the only alleviation, so much as insinuated as to any of the criminals, is their being artfully misled, a pardon of all should be granted, without excepting even those who misled the rest, or leaving any one to the justice of the law, besides those who have been actually indicted for treason, and their trial suspended.

As to the act for avoiding actions of slander, and for stay of proceedings in other civil actions, we do not know enough of the grounds of those actions of slander to form any judgment upon that part of it, much less to see how that is so connected with the late insurrections,

as to make those any reasons for such a suspension. With regard to the other part of the act relating to the stay of other civil actions against the late rioters, we do not see upon what reason it can be founded, that his Majesty's subjects, who have been so grossly injured in their property, should be delayed in the recovery of that satisfaction which the law gives them.

As to the act for suppressing riots, &c. it appears to us to have a tendency not to suppress, but encourage riots, as it inflicts a much less punishment than what the law at present does, the penalty of ten pounds, and their own security in one hundred pounds for good behavior for three years, being by no means adequate to the crime.

July 21, 1749.

D. RYDER. WM. MURRAY.

(37.) Mr. West's opinion on the revenue acts of Jamaica, upon special questions put on them.

In November, 1716, three acts were passed, viz: "an act to oblige several inhabitants of this island to provide themselves with a sufficient number of white people, and to maintain such as shall come over ;" an act, entitled "an act to encourage the bringing over and settling of white people in this island;" and an act, entitled "an act to impose duties upon several commodities, to defray the extraordinary charges of the government, and applying the same to several uses," wherein are the clauses annexed, marked Nos. A. B. and C.; and in August, 1717, an act entitled "an act for continuing an act to impose duties on several commodities, to defray the extraordinary charges of the government, and applying the same to several uses," wherein is also the clause annexed, marked D.

In pursuance of the aforesaid acts, the commissioners severally entered into the bonds annexed, marked F. C. G. for duly complying with the said act.

The four acts above-mentioned, being transmitted to Great Britain, were, upon their being taken into consid eration, severally rejected by his Majesty.

In August, 1718, an assembly was called, and after ten weeks sitting, were prorogued to the 10th of November, without answering the ends of their being called, or appropriating any of the sums in the commissioners' hands, which, upon auditing the accounts, appeared to be upwards of £18,000.

On the 10th of November the assembly met again, according to the prorogation aforesaid, and sat some days; but the Governor finding, by the temper they were in, that the public was not to be served, prorogued them to the tenth of March, and has since dissolved them.

Though it appeared to the assembly that the treasury would want, by the 25th of March, by the receiver-general's computation, upwards of £9000 to answer the demand upon the public, yet they resolved to put only £5800, part of the aforesaid £18,000, in the several commissioners' hands.

This being the condition of the government, and it being likewise uncertain if another assembly be called, whether the majority may consist of such persons as will be for supporting the government, or supplying the treasury, and framing the laws they make agreeable to the King's instructions, or in such manner as they can be consented to by the council, as well as the Governor, without disregarding his Majesty's instructions, and rendering themselves entirely useless and insignificant: