ing of Administrations within the Precincts aforesaid) and with what Power soever, and in such Form, as to the said William Penn or his Heirs, shall seem most convenient: Also to remit, release, pardon, and abolish (whether before Judgment or after) all Crimes and Offences whatsoever, committed within the said Country, against the said Laws, (Treason and wilful and malicious Murder only excepted, and in those Cases to grant Reprieves, until our Pleasure may be known therein) and to do all and every other Thing and Things, which unto the compleat Establishment of Justice unto Courts and Tribunals, Forms of Judicature, and Manner of Proceedings do belong, although in these Presents express Mention be not made thereof; and by Judges by them delegated, to award Process, hold Pleas, and determine in all the said Courts and Tribunals all Actions, Suits, and Causes whatsoever, as well criminal as civil, personal, real, and mixt; which Laws so, as aforesaid, to be published, our Pleasure is, and so we enjoin, require, and command, shall be most absolute and availa ble in Law; and that all the Liege People and Subjects of us, our Heirs and Successors, do observe and keep the same inviolably in those Parts, so far as they concern them, under the Pain therein expressed, or to be expressed. Provided nevertheless, That the

same Laws be consonant to Reason, and not repugnant or contrary, but (as near as conveniently may be) agreeable to the Laws and Statutes, and Rights of this our Kingdom of England, and saving and reserving to us, our Heirs and Successors, the receiving, hearing, and determining of the Appeal and Appeals of all or any Person or Persons, of, in, or belonging to the Territories aforesaid, or touching any Judgment to be there made or given.

SECT. VI.

AND forasmuch as in the Government of so great a Country, sudden Accidents do often happen, whereunto it will be necessary to apply Remedy before the Freeholders of the said Province, or their Delegates or Deputies can be assembled to the making of Laws; neither will it be convenient that instantly upon every such emergent Occasion, so great a Multitude should be called together: Therefore (for the better Government of the said Country) we will, and ordain, and by these Presents, for us, our Heirs and Successors, do grant unto the said William Penn and his Heirs, by themselves or by their Magistrates and Officers, in that Behalf duly to be ordained as aforesaid, to make and constitute fit and wholesome Ordinances, from Time to

Time, within the said Country to be kept and observed, as well for the Preservation of the Peace, as for the better Government of the People there inhabiting; and publickly to notify the same to all Persons, whom the same doth or may any Ways concern. Which Ordinances our Will and Pleasure is, shall be observed inviolably within the said Province, under the Pains therein to be expressed, so as the said Ordinances be consonant to Reason, and be not repugnant nor contrary, but (so far as conveniently may be) agreeable with the Laws of our Kingdom of England, and so as the said Ordinances be not extended in any Sort to bind, change, or take away the Right or Interest of any Person or Persons, for or in their Life, Members, Freehold, Goods, or Chattles. And our farther Will and Pleasure is, That the Laws for regulating and governing of Property within the said Province, as well for the Descent and Enjoyment of Lands, as likewise for the Enjoyment and Succession of Goods and Chattles, and likewise as to Felonies, shall be and continue the same, as they shall be for the Time being, by the general Course of the Law in our Kingdom of England, until the said Laws shall be altered by the said William Penn, his Heirs or Assigns, and by the Freemen of the said Province, their Delegates or Deputies, or the greater Part of them.

SECT. VII.

AND to the End that the said William Penn, or his Heirs, or other the Planters, Owners, or Inhabitants of the said Province, may not at any Time hereafter (by Misconstruction of the Power aforesaid) through Inadvertency or Design, depart from that Faith and due Allegiance, which by the Laws of this our Realm of England, they and all our Subjects, in our Dominions and Territories, always owe to us, our Heirs and Successors, by Colour of any Extent or Largeness of Powers hereby given, or pretended to be given, or by Force or Colour of any Laws hereafter to be made in the said Province, by Virtue of any such Powers; OUR farther Will and Pleasure is, That a Transcript or Duplicate of all Laws, which shall be so as aforesaid made and published within the said Province, shall within five Years after the making thereof, be transmitted, and delivered to the Privy Council, for the Time being of us, our Heirs and Successors: And if any of the said Laws within the Space of six Months after that they shall be so transmitted and delivered, be declared by us, our Heirs and Successors, in our or their Privy Council, inconsistent with the Sovereignty, or lawful Prerogative of us, our Heirs or

Successors, or contrary to the Faith and Allegiance due to the legal Government of this Realm, from the said William Penn, or his Heirs, or of the Planters and Inhabitants of the said Province, and that thereupon any of the said Laws shall be adjudged and declared to be void by us, our Heirs and Successors, under our or their Privy Seal, that then and from thenceforth, such Laws, concerning which such Judgment and Declaration shall be made, shall become void: Otherwise the said Laws so transmitted, shall remain, and stand in full Force, according to the true Intent and Meaning thereof.

SECT. VIII.

FURTHERMORE, that this new Colony may the more happily increase, by the Multitude of People resorting thither; Therefore we, for us, our Heirs and Successors, do give and grant by these Presents, Power, Licence, and Liberty unto all the Liege People and Subjects, both present and future, of us, our Heirs and Successors, (excepting those who shall be especially forbidden) to transport themselves and Families unto the said Country, with such convenient Shipping as by the Laws of this our Kingdom of England they ought to use, and with fitting Provision, paying only the Customs therefore due, and there