Transition from Dntch to English Rule 707 of the Overseers for the own Particular Officers, time being, have power as Constables, Serveyors to Ordaine such or so for the High-wayes, and many peculier Constitu- the like annually or tions as are Necessary otherwise as need Re- to the welfare and Im- quires ; And to make provement of their such Lawes and Con- Towne ; Provided they stitutions as may Con- bee not of a Criminall cerne the Welfare of Nature, And that the their Town. Provided Penaltyes Exceed not they be not of a Crimi- Twenty Shillings for nail, but of a pru- one Offence, and that dentiall Nature, and they be not Repugnant that their penalties ex- to the publique Lawes ; ceed not twenty shil- And if any Inhabitant lings for one Offence, shall neglect or refuse and that they be not to observe them The Repugnant to the pub- Constable and Over- lick Lawes and Orders seers shall have power of the Country. . . . to Levie such fines by " 2. A n d every distress." N. V. Col. Township hath power Laws, L 63. to chuse yearly or for less time, a convenient number of fit men to order the planting and prudential affairs of their Townes accord- ing to instruction given to them in Writing, pro- vided nothing be done by them, contrary to the Laws and orders of the Country. . . . " Book of General Laivs, 1660, p. 75. Comparing Nicholls's code with the Massachusetts laws, the gov- ernor appears desirous to keep as many zuords of the original as possible, while in fact he was changing vitally the real principle of the New England town system. One of the strongest features of the New England political sys- tems was the matter of freemanship, which had been introduced into their practice by the corporate nature of their local and pro- vincial governments. This fiction of freemanship, copied from the customs of English municipal and trading corporations, received a far wider application in the colonies than had been dreamed of in England. Through it the political and religious oligarchy of Mass- achusetts had been maintained ; by it objectionable persons had been excluded from local and provincial affairs in Connecticut; and
