Colonial Connections

Draught of H.M. Commission to Richard Philips to be Governor of Placentia and Cap. General and Governor in Chief of Nova Scotia or Accadie, June 19 1719

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The document, addressed to the Lords Justices, discusses the governance and development of the Province of Placentia and Nova Scotia. It highlights the unique circumstances of the province, noting that it has not been previously settled by British subjects. Consequently, the instructions for Colonel Philips, who is appointed as governor, draw heavily from those provided to the Governor of Virginia. These instructions aim to establish a new settlement, focusing on population growth, promoting the fishery industry, preserving timber for the Royal Navy, and encouraging the production of naval stores like hemp.

Colonel Philips is directed to maintain friendly relations with the Governor of Canada and French subjects, while also keeping a vigilant eye on French activities in neighboring territories. Additionally, there is emphasis on fostering goodwill with the indigenous Mi’kmaq people, including proposing intermarriages between British subjects and Mi’kmaq individuals to strengthen ties.

The instructions touch upon various aspects of governance, including encouraging settlement, regulating land grants, promoting the fishery industry, and ensuring the welfare of soldiers stationed in the region. There’s also a focus on transitioning inhabitants from Newfoundland to Nova Scotia for the colony’s development.

Overall, the instructions aim to establish a viable governance structure, promote economic growth, and secure British interests in the region amidst competition from other European powers.

“255. Council of Trade and Plantations to the Lords Justices. Enclose following. Continue: The Province [of Placentia and Nova Scotia] not being hitherto peopled or settled by H.M. subjects, we did not think it necessary, that either the Commission or Instructions for Col. Philips should be so extensive, as those for H.M. other Governors, in America etc. But for Col. Philips better Government, in addition to these Instructions, we have thought it necessary, that he should have with him, a copy of H.M. Instructions to His Governor of Virginia, which may be of use to him so far as they shall be applicable to cases that may happen and are not sufficiently provided for by these instructions, till H.M. further pleasure shall be known.

Your Excellencies will perceive that the Instructions we have prepared for Col. Philips, are entirely calculated for the laying out and making a new settlement, wherein we have made the best provision we are able to propose at present for the peopling of the country, for promoting the fishery, for the preservation of the timber fit for ye Royal Navy and for encouraging the productn. of Naval Stores, more particularly of hemp, which is very much wanted in H.M. Dominions. There is a clause in the said Instructions whereby the Govr. is directed to live in perfect friendship and good correspondence with the Governor of Canada and all officers and other subjects of his Most Christian Majesty in those parts, and to avoid as far as in him lies all occasions of dispute or contention with them. But at the same time, considering how formidable the French already are there, and how much reason there is to be jealous of their new settlements and extent of territory on the back of the British Plantations from ye Gulph and River of St. Lawrence down by the Lakes and the River Missisipi to the Bay of Mexico, we have prepared an Instruction directing Col. Philips to keep a watchful eye upon them, and to transmit from time to time the best accounts he can get of their proceedings. And as we are convinced from all the accounts that we have received from America, that nothing has so much contributed to strengthen the hands of the French in those parts, as the friendship they maintain, and the intermarriages they make with the [Mi’kmaq] we have not only prepared a clause in his said Instructions, requiring him to give all civil and friendly treatment to the [indigenous] Nations or clans within his Governmt., but have likewise taken the liberty to propose an Instruction for encouraging of intermarriages between H.M. subjects and the said [Mi’kmaq] , which we hope may have a very good effect there, and can occasion but a small expence to H.M. We were the rather induced to offer this Instruction because of ye weak condition Nova Scotia is in at present, being only inhabited by French planters, who have hitherto refused to take the oaths to H.M. and by the [Mi’kmaq] , who are very much influenced by the French Missionaries; to which may be added that this Province lies between the two French settlements of Cape Breton and Canada, where they are very strong and numerous, and daily encroaching upon H.M. territories in those parts. We think it highly necessary that a reservation should be made of certain tracts of land in proper places to be set apart for the production and preservation of timber for the use of the Royal Navy, and as we have proposed in the said Instructions, that the Govr. shall make no grants, till the country shall have been survey’d; we humbly offer that the Surveyor General of the Woods on the Continent of America have directions forthwith to repair to Nova Scotia, and mark out such parts thereof as are proper to be reserved for this purpose agreeable to the said Instruction. We have likewise prepared and herewith lay before your Excellencies another draught of Instructions for Col. Philips, which relate only to ye observance of the several Laws of Trade and Navigation, and are in the usual form etc. Repeat proposal for a ship to attend the Province etc.; “for in our humble opinion it will be impossible for Col. Philips either to protect the trade and fishery of H.M. subjects there, or to put the greatest part of his Instructions in execution, without such an assistance.” Annexed.

255. i. Draught of H.M. Commission to Richard Philips to be Governor of Placentia and Cap. General and Governor in Chief of Nova Scotia or Accadie. To appoint a Council not exceeding the number of 12, levy forces, grant lands under a moderate quit-rent, and “do execute and perform all and every such further act and acts as shall or may tend or conduce to the security of our said Province, and the good people thereof and to the honour of our Crown,” etc.

255. ii. Draught of H.M. Instructions to Governor Philips.

1-8. Usual Instructions as to Councillors.

(ix). And the better to enable H.M. to compleat what may be further wanting towards the establishing a civil Governmt. in the said Province, you are to give unto H.M. by one of his principal Secretaries of State, and to the Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, by the first opportunity after your arrival there, a true state of the said Province, particlarly with respect to the number and qualifications of the people that either are there, or hereafter shall resort thither, of what number it may be proper to constitute an Assembly? What persons are proper and fit to be judges, justices or sherrifs? and any other matter or thing, that may be of use to H.M. in the establishing a civil Government as aforesaid.

(x) In the meantime till such a Governmt. shall have been established you will receive herewith a copy of the Instructions given to the Governor of Virginia, by which you will conduct yourself, till H.M. further pleasure shall be known, as near as the circumstance of the place will admit, in such things as they can be applicable to, and where you are not otherwise directed by these Instructions. But you are not to take upon you to enact any laws till H.M. shall have appointed an Assembly and given you directions for your proceedings therein.

(xi) Whereas we are informed that the inhabitants of Nova Scotia (except those of the Garrison of Annapolis Royal) are most if not all of them French, who never took the oaths of fidelity and allegiance to H.M., or to the late Queen; notwithstanding such their undutiful behaviour, you are immediately upon your arrival there, to invite them in the most friendly manner by Proclamation and otherways, as you shall think fit to submit to your Government and swear allegiance to H.M., within the space of four months from the date of such your Proclamation, upon which condition, they shall enjoy the free exercise of their religion, and be protected in all their civil and religious rights and liberties so long as they shall behave themselves as becomes good subjects.

(xii) You shall take care to give notice to H.M. by one of his principal Secretaries of State and to the Comrs. for Trade and Plantations of the effect of this Proclamation and expect H.M. further orders thereupon for your conduct towards such of the sd. French inhabitants as shall not have comply’d therewith by the time therein prefix’d. But in the mean while, you are to observe that the sd. French inhabitants of Nova Scotia have long since lapsed the time, granted them by the Treaty of Utrecht, for removing their effects from thence to any part of the French Dominions in America; and therefore if any of the said French inhabitants should notwithstanding the encouragement given them to become good subjects to H.M. resolve to remove out of your Governmt. you are to take particular care as far as in you lies, that they do no damage, before such their removal to their respective houses and plantations, and that they be not permitted to carry off their effects with them.

(xii) And as it is not reasonable that such of the French inhabitants as shall neglect or refuse to take ye oaths of allegiance aforesaid, within ye time prefix’d, should enjoy ye same liberties and advantages with the rest of H.M. subjects in Nova Scotia, you are hereby directed, to debar them from fishing on the coast, till H.M. further pleasure be known concerning them.

(xiv) You are to send to H.M. by one of his principal Secretarys of State, and to the Comrs. for Trade and Plantations an accot. of the number of the said French inhabitants remaining in that Province; Where their settlements are? Whether they live in townships, or are scatter’d at distances from each other? What trade they carry on, either with the [Mi’kmaq] or otherwise? And how they employ themselves for the subsistance of their families? What number of ships they have? How they are employ’d? To what markets they carry the fish they catch? And what goods or commodities they bring back (and from what places) in return for their said fish? Also the like accounts with respect to such of H.M. natural born subjects, as are already setled in the said Province.

(xv) You shall after your arrival there propose to the Governor of Canada to appoint one or more Commissaries in behalf of ye French, to be joined with such as you shall appoint on H.M. part to view the limits between H.M. territories and those of France bordering on Nova Scotia pursuant to the Articles of the Treaty of Utrecht and to such further Instructions as you shall receive from hence for that purpose; and you shall send a full account of your proceedings herein to one of H.M. principal Secs. of State to be laid before H.M. and to the Comrs. for Trade and Plantations as aforesaid, with your opinion upon the whole.

(xvi) You shall live in good correspondence with the said Govr. and all other officers and subjects of the most Christian King, taking particular care that no violence be offer’d to them, whereby an occasion might be given to interrupt the friendship and good correspondence between the two Crowns, which more particularly in the present juncture. is so necessary for their mutual advantage, and in case the subjects of France should make any depredations upon those of H.M. or do them any other injury, you shall not make reprizals without further order from H.M., but you shall in an amicable manner demand redress of the Govr. of Canada, or such other officer as it may concern; But if it should so happen that he persist in justifying what such subjects of France may have done, and that either thro’ his obstinacy or the dubiousness of the case, you shall not be able to adjust the difference between yourselves, in a friendly manner, you shall represent the same to one of H.M. principal Secretaries of State, and to the Commissionrs. for Trade and Plantations to be laid before H.M., acquainting the said Govr. or other officer in the first place with your intention so to do, and offering to impart to him your represn. of the case if he will, in like manner communicate to you what he writes to the French Court upon that subject.

(xvii) You are notwithstanding to keep as strict a watch as possible upon the proceedings of the French at Cape Breton and in Canada and particularly you are to send to H.M. by one of his Secretaries of State and to the Commrs. for Trade and Plantations frequent accounts of their number, strength and situation—what commerce. they carry on—and what progress they have made in their settlement on the back of the British Plantations, especially with regard to the communication they are said to have opened from the Gulph and River of St. Lawrence to the Lakes of Ontario and Erie, and from thence down the River Missisipi to the Bay of Mexico.

(xviii) You shall to the utmost of your power encourage the growth and production of timber, masts, tar, hemp and other Naval Stores, in the Province of Nova Scotia, and you are to enquire, what trees there are in the said Province fit for masts for the use of the Royal Navy and in what parts of the country they grow at what distance they are from any rivers whereby they may be the more commodiously brought down, in order to be shipt for this Kingdom.

(xix) And you are in a particular manner to signify H.M. express will and pleasure to all the inhabitants that now are or hereafter shall come to settle there, and to take care yourself, that no trees fit for masts for the future, of the diameter of 24 inches and upwards at 12 inches from the ground be cut without H.M. particular licence.

(xx) You are to endeavour to get a survey made of the said Province of Nova Scotia as soon as conveniently may be; and in the mean time you are to send to H.M. by one of his principal Secretaries of State, and to the Commrs. for Trade and Plantations the best description of that country you are able to get, with relation to its extent and situation, with respect to ye neighbouring French of Canada and Cape Breton.

(xxi) You are also to send the most particular account you can of ye nature of the soil. What swamps there are in it? and whether those swamps do produce mast trees, or by drayning may not be made fit for raising of hemp? What other products the country is capable of? and how the same may best be improved for the advantage of this Kingdom? and what trade may be carried on with the [Mi’kmaq] for furrs and otherwise? What navigable rivers there are in ye said Province and what others fall into them?

(xxii) And whereas we have judged it highly necessary for H.M. service that you should cultivate and maintain a strict friendship and good correspondence with the [indigenous] Nations inhabiting within the precincts of your Governmt. that they may be reduced by degrees not only to be good neighbours to H.M. subjects. but likewise themselves become good subjects to H.M., we do therefore direct you upon your arrival in Nova Scotia to send for the several heads of the said [indigenous] Nations or clans, and promise them friendship and protection on H.M. part. You will likewise bestow on them, as your diseretion shall direct, such presents as you shall carry from hence in H.M. name for their use.

(xxiii) And as further mark of H.M. good will to the said [indigenous] Nations; you shall give all possible incouragement to intermarriages between H.M. British subjects and them for which purpose you are to declare in H.M. name, that H.M. will bestow on every white man being one of His subjects, who shall marry an [indigenous] woman, native and inhabitant of Nova Scotia, a free gift of the sum of £10 sterl. and 50 acres of land, free of quit rent for ye space of 20 years, and the like on any white woman being H.M. subject who shall marry an [indigenous] man, native and inhabitant of Nova Scotia, as aforesaid.

(xxiv) And whereas it will be of advantage to H.M. service and highly beneficial to the trade of Great Britain, that the said Province of Nova Scotia be peopled and settled as soon as conveniently may be; as an incouragemt. to all H.M. good subjects, that shall be disposed to settle themselves and their families there; you are hereby directed to make grants of such lands in fee simple as are not already disposed of by H.M., to any person that shall apply to you for the same; reserving nevertheless to H.M., his heirs and successors an annual rent of one shilling, or of three pound of hemp, clean, bright and water-rotted for every fifty acres so granted, at the election of the grantee; the said rent to commence three years after the making the grant, and not before; you are to take especial care, that there be a clause inserted in all ye said grants, declaring, that if any grantee shall refuse or neglect to pay the abovementioned rent for the space of three years, after ye same shall become due, his patent shall henceforth be null and void to all intents and purposes whatsoever,

(xxv) But as great inconveniencies have arisen from suffering one single Proprietor to possess too large tracts of land in H.M. Plantations. It is H.M. express will and pleasure, that for the better settling and peopling ye Collony under your Government, that you do not, upon any pretence whatsoever, grant unto any one person above the number of 500 acres; It being H.M. intention that no person whatsoever either in his own name or any others in trust for him, do hold any more than 500 acres as aforesaid until H.M. further pleasure shall be known thereupon. And in all such grants of land as you shall hereafter make; you are to have particular regard to the profitable and unprofitable acres, that is to say, that no man shall have his whole grant run lengthways upon the banks of a river, but that a due proportion of what shall be granted to him do run from ye river upwards into the country.

(xxvi) And whereas it is and hath been a common practice in H.M. Plantations in America for persons to take out patents for sundry tracts of land without being in any condition to cultivate the same; you are hereby directed to cause a clause to be inserted in every grant of land by you to be made, as aforesaid; whereby the said grant shall become void and null to all intents and purposes, if the grantee or his assigns do not cultivate, inclose, plant or improve at least one tenth part of the lands granted within the space of three year, to be accounted from the date of ye patent, and so progressively one other tenth part within the space of every other subsequent three years, until the whole tract of land contained in the said patent shall be cultivated, inclosed, planted or improved.

(xxvii) And that H.M. may at all times be exactly informed of the state of the Province, particularly with respect to the lands that shall be granted; you are to cause a book to be fairly kept wherein shall be registred all ye grants made by you specifying the names of the grantees, the number of acres granted, with their scituation and boundaries and the quit rents thereon reserv’d together with ye dates of each respective grant. And you are to transmit to H.M. by one of his principal Secretaries of State and to his Commissrs. for Trade and Plantations, transcripts of such registers at least once a year.

(xxviii) But as it is H.M. pleasure that certain tracts of land which shall be found upon a survey, to be most proper for producing of masts and other timber for the use of the Royal Navy, lying contiguous to the sea coast or navigable rivers, be reserved for H.M. service; you are not to grant any lands till such tracts shall have been marked out and set apart for H.M. use, not amounting to less than 200,000 acres in the whole, in which you shall strictly forbid all the inhabitants of Nova Scotia, or others that may come there, to cut any trees of any dimensions whatsoever, upon pain of H.M. highest displeasure and of the utmost penalties the Laws can inflict.

(xxix) It being H.M. intention to give all possible incouragement to the trade of all His subjects; you are to use your best endeavors that the fishery on the coast of Nova Scotia be encouraged and protected; and in order thereunto you shall not allow any settlements to be made on the coast, but what shall be at 200 yards distance from the sea or harbour, that there may be sufficient room left for beaches, flakes, stages, cook-rooms, and other necessary conveniencies between the said settlement and the sea, for any of H.M. subjects that shall come to catch and cure fish there, who are not to be impeded, molested or disturbed in their curing their fish, upon any pretence of grants or settlements upon the coast. Nor shall any of the planters and inhabitants demand any sum or sums of money or other acknowledgement from the fishermen for the liberty of curing upon the coast, unless they provide stages and cook-rooms with a shore man to each stage, and the usual necessaries for such fishing ships, as is done at Marblehead in New Engld. And in such case they shall ask no more than 12d. in New England money for every quintal.

(xxx) And to render the commerce of H.M. subjects in Nova Scotia, more commodious and practicable, you are to take especial care in all such grants of land as you shall make, pursuant to your Commission and these Instructions, that a continued space of land on the banks of all creeks and rivers, of the breadth of one hundred yards, be reserved free and common to all passengers and publick uses whatsoever.

(xxxi) Whereas there have been great complaints that H.M. soldiers in garrison at Annapolis have been very ill treated with regard to their clothing and provisions, and in several other respects; you shall make particular enquiry into any abuses of this kind that may have been heretofore, and transmit an account thereof to H.M. Secretary at War; and you shall take care that no occasion be given hereafter for complaints of this nature.

(xxxii) And whereas the settlements which have been made by H.M. subjects in Newfoundland have by experience been found prejudicial on many accounts to the trade of Great Britain, and it being apparently more for H.M. service and the intrest of his Dominions, to establish a British Colony in Nova Scotia sufficient to support its self against any attempts of other European nations and of the neighbouring [Mi’kmaq] ; you shall use all proper methods for inducing the present inhabitants of Newfoundland to remove to Nova Scotia as well for the better settlement and strengthening of that Colony as for improving the Fishery in those parts.

(xxxiii) And in order thereunto, you are hereby impowered to grant 100 acres of land to each family that shall transplant themselves from Newfoundland and settle under your Governmt. under the abovementioned Instructions for improvemt. of the said land to be held at a pepper corn rent for the first 20 years, from H.M., his heirs and successors, but to be afterwards subject to the same quit rents as shall be payable according to the preceding Instructions etc.

(xxxiv) The Officers of H.M. Ordnance having in pursuance to ye directions given in that behalf, appointed the making of a redoubt and other works at Placentia, which are judged sufficient for securing the fishery of H.M. subjects there, you shall give all the protection and assistance you are able to ye persons employ’d in raising the said fortifications. And when they shall be finished, you shall with the first convenient opportunity remove the garrison from thence to Annapolis Royal, leaving only such a number of men there, not exceeding 50, with proper officers as you shall judge sufficient for the defending of those works.

(xxxv) You shall strictly enjoin both the present and future garrison of Placentia and all H.M. Officers and soldiers, and other persons whatsoever belonging thereto, not to concern themselves in the fishery there nor interrupt the fishermen in ye curing of the fish nor to take up for themselves any beaches, stages or cook-rooms upon any pretence whatsoever, upon pain of H.M. highest displeasure. [C.O. 218, 1. pp. 417–448.]”

‘America and West Indies: June 1719, 16-30’, in Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies: Volume 31, 1719-1720, ed. Cecil Headlam (London, 1933), pp. 123-146. British History Online [accessed 30 December 2020]. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/colonial/america-west-indies/vol31/pp123-146

English Settlement and Local Governance

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nova scotia ensign

“Because post-Revolutionary American government resembled the practices of the corporation colonies, proprietary governments often have been neglected. Yet, the proprietary form represented an equally plausible approach to delegating governance authority. Englishmen interested in the settlements viewed the invention of the proprietary form as an improvement over the corporation colony; proprietaries achieved real settlement success. Nova Scotia (1621), Avalon (1623), Maryland (1632), and Maine (1639), as well as Carolina (1663), New York and New Jersey (1664), Pennsylvania (1681), and East Jersey (1682), all followed the proprietary form. The coexistence of settlements with authority delegated through corporate governance practices and those with authority delegated to individual feudal proprietors indicates the absence of preconceived notions about the appropriate manner of government for colonies.

Although we tend to think of the charter as emblematic of democratic constitutionalism, the term charter first appeared in the early proprietary grants. The proprietary form involved governing practices under which an inheritable proprietorship was given by the Crown to a nobleman, a cohort of titled lords served as councilors, and a dependent assembly assented to legislation. The proprietor acquired social status as the highest lord and the economic privilege of collecting quitrents (in essence, rents or taxes on land). His political authority was similar to the English palatinates of Durham and Chester; the social aspiration came from idealized English manorial society.

The impetus for proprietary charters seems to have arisen both from frustration with the corporation and the feudalistic aspirations of a few noblemen. The oft-forgotten Sir Ferdinando Gorges played an important role. Since 1607, Gorges had been involved in the failed colonial ventures of the Plymouth Company. In 1620, he abandoned the corporation approach and had the Company restructured as the “Council . . . for the planting, ruling, ordering, and governing of New-England” (the Council for New England). The Council was in form a board of proprietors, made up of noblemen and gentlemen. It held constitutionally limited lawmaking authority and granted land to Gorges, Council members, and friends. Some grants were never used and reverted; others did not prove particularly successful.

Although the Council’s grants did not prosper, others adopted the idea of proprietary settlements. In 1621, a Scottish nobleman, Sir William Alexander, obtained a charter from James I and the Scottish Privy Council naming him hereditary Lieutenant General over Nova Scotia (New Scotland). The charter, the first so described, gave Alexander extensive powers so long as the laws were “as consistent as possible” with those of Scotland. Alexander’s was a feudal vision: he established a Scottish-style feudal order, planned to raise money by creating hereditary Knights-Baronet, and obtained a coat of arms.

By contemporary standards, Nova Scotia was successful, surviving until the early 1630s when the settlement was evacuated pursuant to a French agreement. Other less successful settlements have drawn less attention.

On Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, older scholarship should be consulted:

D. W. Prowse, History of Newfoundland from the English, Colonial and Foreign Records (2d ed., London, 1896); St John Chadwick, Newfoundland: Island into Province (Cambridge, 1967); Thomas H. McGrail, Sir William Alexander, First Earl of Stirling: A Biographical Study (London, 1940), chapters 5 and 6 on Nova Scotia; George Pratt Insh, Scottish Colonial Schemes, 1620–1686 (Glasgow, 1922), ch. 2; and George Bourinot, Builders of Nova Scotia; A Historical Review (Toronto, 1900; includes the charter).”

Mary Sarah Bilder. “English Settlement and Local Governance.” The Cambridge History of Law in America Volume 1: Early America (1580–1815), Cambridge University Press (2008): 63-103. https://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1941&context=lsfp

On the origin and sources of the Law of Nova Scotia

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The preface to Volume One of the Epitome acknowledges James Kent’s Commentaries on American Law’s usefulness. Murdoch, like Kent, was concerned with the “reception” of English law. He based Nova Scotia’s law on its statutes, interpreting them in light of English law. Murdoch’s success in this historical legal endeavor was remarkable, with no attempt to supersede or replicate the Epitome for subsequent Nova Scotian legal developments.

Nova Scotia’s history of governance is traced from French rule to English sovereignty. The province transitioned from French edicts to English law, with the monarch exercising legislative power through appointed governors and instructions. The establishment of courts and assemblies under royal authority shaped Nova Scotia’s legal system.

The province adopted English common law and statutes, with the Crown retaining legislative power, evidenced by various governmental changes without legislative involvement. Murdoch emphasizes the importance of consulting English legal principles, colonial American treatises, and provincial statutes for legal guidance.

“In his preface to volume one of the Epitome, Murdoch also acknowledged the usefulness of the four volume Commentaries on American Law, which James Kent, Chancellor of New York, published between 1826 and 1830. Murdoch, like Kent, was much concerned with the pressing problem of “reception” of English law. His device for dealing with it was to found Nova Scotia’s law firmly on the Province’s statutes, construing them in the light of English law, both common and statutory, and according to English law recognition only of so much of it as clearly remained in force in Nova Scotia because of the want of Nova Scotia statutory enactment. Perforce, such an undertaking was an exercise in legal history-a very obscure and confused legal history at that. His success was remarkable: none since has attempted to supersede the Epitome or to replicate it for subsequent Nova Scotian legal developments. Beamish Murdoch can justly be called the first-and greatest-legal historian of Nova Scotia.”

“Acadie, or Nova Scotia, was conquered by General Nicholson in 1710, and was ceded in 1713, by Louis 14, to Queen Anne by the Treaty of Utrecht prior to which it was governed by the edicts and orders of the King of France.

From 1710 to 1749 (when a Government was established at Halifax) the administration of the government was vested in a Governor and Council at Annapolis Royal.

During this period, each of the French Settlements, viz., that of the Annapolis River, Mines, Piziquid and Chignecto, elected annually a number of deputies. It was the duty of the deputies to wait on the Governor and Council at Annapolis Royal, and they formed a medium of communication between the Government and the people, receiving and publishing orders, etc., and it was considered to be their especial duty to carry into effect the orders of the Government.

Prior to the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, the province was governed by the orders and edicts of the French Monarch; and in matters of law, I believe the coutume de Paris was followed in Acadie, as it was in Canada, both of which were included under the name of New France.

On the conquest and subsequent cession of this country to the English Crown, the Monarch of England became sole lord and proprietor of the dominion, with the full right of legislating for the land and its inhabitants. This power was exercised only as far as necessity demanded, and only by means of the commissions issued by the Crown to the several Governors and the royal instructions given in connection with them. Directions were usually given with them to appoint a Council of twelve members selected from the principal inhabitants and settlers. Governor Philipps, in 1720, was obliged to fill up this number chiefly from the military and civil officers of the garrison of Annapolis, as the noblemen and chief inhabitants had abandoned the country on the conquest and the remaining inhabitants were not only wanting in the education and property requisite to qualify them for the position, but being Roman Catholic were considered ineligible by law under the tenor of the royal instructions and the acts of parliament then in force. Some of the Governors were desiring to appoint inhabitants to the office of justices of the peace, but they were forbidden to carry this into effect by the replies they received from the Lords of Trade and Plantations, who at that time formed a board for the management of colonial affairs.

The royal instructions also authorized the establishment of Courts of Justice in the colony. Under this authority the Governor and Council formed themselves into a General Court, with civil and criminal jurisdiction, sitting in four terms annually, without juries of any kind. This Court was held at Annapolis. The Governor also acted as Judge of Probate; and at Canso, where the English colonists held possession and resorted in numbers every summer for the fishery, Justices of Peace were appointed, and a committee chosen by the people acted in some respects as an Assembly.

The Council continued to be chiefly composed of the military Officers until 1749, and even then several were appointed in the first Council at Halifax.

In the instructions to the Governor of Nova Scotia there were always directions to call an assembly of the people, but owing to the almost entire absence of British inhabitants this instruction remained long inoperative.

The first House of Assembly met accordingly in 1758, all the freeholders of the province uniting in the elections at Halifax, as if it were one county. From this time forth legislation proceeded regularly, and the popular branch of government has gradually obtained the control of all the revenue and Crown property of the province.

Our assemblies, like those of several of the older British provinces, have been modelled in some respects after the Parliament of England; the Governor forming one branch as representing the Sovereign-His Majesty’s Council sitting as a House of Lords-and the representatives as a House of Commons. Colonies thus governed were (before the American revolution) called Crown Colonies, to distinguish them from those who had, like Massachusetts, a constitution underwritten charter from the King, or like Pennsylvania, a lord proprietor with peculiar rights and privileges.

The idea is, that in founding a province, we receive and adopt the general English Common Law, together with such ancient statutes as are considered to virtually form a part of it, such as the statutes of Magna Carta, Westminster, etc., for example; and that from the time of the erection of our local legislature, we take the Acts passed in the province only as imperative, unless where the Parliament in England, acting in the capacity of a Sovereign legislature over the whole British dominions or empire and nation expressly directs the clauses of a law to be in force in the colony.

We are also bound by a rule of great importance, in the observation of such decisions of the Courts of Law in the mother country, as elucidate the doctrines of the Common Law, define the privileges and prerogatives of the Crown, or throw light on statute law in force among us, either British or Provincial Acts.

Although changes of sovereignty have happened in a large proportion of the older colonies of England, yet, we find much valuable information bearing directly on our legal learning in the large number of American treatises and reports of the Courts of Law in the United States. In like manner the decisions of the Supreme Court in the sister province of New Brunswick are well worthy of our attention

If there be not clear decisions or texts of authority in English writers to solve the problem, our attention should be next directed to the reports of decisions in New England and other States, originally English colonies, to find out whether a decision or practice may not be contained in them to throw light on the point, as most of the adjudged cases in the United States, especially in New England, have been heretofore grounded on the ancient principles and maxims of the English Common Law, and modified by the circumstances and emergencies of new countries. The Statutes of our own Province, where they have a bearing on the inquiry and the cases reported in this and the sister provinces, are of course to be consulted.

That the sovereign legislative power of the Crown was not abandoned or supposed to cease on the erection of a Provincial assembly in Nova Scotia may be gathered from the several Acts of Government which occurred at different periods since, and which have all been acquiesced in.

1. The changes from viewing the province as one county with a Provost Marshal General, into several counties with Sheriffs, and from the election of all the representatives in a body by the freeholders of the province to representatives chosen by counties, districts and to townships, by act of the Crown (by order of Council in 1759).

2. A change (1765) from two members for every township to one member, by Act of Government, which, though complained of, was submitted to and confirmed by Provincial Act of that year.

3. The severance of New Brunswick in 1784 into a distinct province, the same being part of the territory of this Province and having its representatives in our assembly. This was effected by order of the Crown, without even notice previously to the Government or to the Assembly of Nova Scotia.

4. The island of Cape Breton was annexed to Nova Scotia in 1763, servered from it in 1784, and again annexed to it in 1820, all those changes were made by orders of the King, without any legislative interference.

5. In 1838, the constitution of the Government and Legislature were changed by orders of the Sovereign. The old council of 12 was abrogated and two councils substituted, and executive council and a legislative council, the latter a greater number of members than the old council.

Here are several organic changes in form of Government and in territory which were all completed without Acts either of the English or of the Provincial Parliament by the sole and exclusive authority of the Crown, and they are all subsequent to the calling of our first assemblies, and have occurred at distant periods in the last and present centuries.”

Beamish Murdoch, “On the origin and sources of the Law of Nova Scotia” (An essay on the Origin and Sources of the Law of Nova Scotia read before the Law Students Society, Halifax, N.S., 29 August 1863), (1984) 8:3 DLJ 197. https://digitalcommons.schulichlaw.dal.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1399&context=dlj

The American Revolution and Nova Scotia Reconsidered

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“The New Englanders, moreover, were greatly dissatisfied with the Halifax government. Had not Francklin encouraged the Yorkshiremen to settle in the Isthmus? Furthermore, the New Englanders reacted violently to the fact that a small clique of Halifax merchants controlled the legislative and executive functions of government stubbornly refusing to grant to the New Englanders the right of ”township form of government” which Governor Lawrence had promised them in 1758 and 1759″

“What real impact did the Revolution have upon the inhabitants of Nova Scotia? Of course most of them resolved to adopt a policy of neutrality; many suffered because of the depredations of the American privateers; while a few, especially the Halifax merchants, grew rich from the usual profits of war. But was there nothing else? M. W. Armstrong has convincingly argued that probably the most important impact of the Revolution upon Nova Scotia was in precipitating the “Great Awakening of Nova Scotia.” In addition, Armstrong has emphasized that the “Great Awakening” encouraged the development of neutrality:

Indeed, the Great Awakening itself may be considered to have been a retreat from the grim realities of the world to the safety and pleasantly exciting warmth of the revival meeting, and to profits and rewards of another character … an escape from fear and divided loyalties … an assertion of democratic ideals and a determination to maintain them, the Great Awakening gave self respect and satisfaction to people whose economic and political position was both humiliating and distressing.

The prophet and evangelist of the spiritual awakening was Henry Alline who, when he was twelve, had moved from Rhode Island to Falmouth, Nova Scotia. An uneducated farmer, Alline had experienced an unusual “Conversion”, and in 1776 he began to preach an emotional Christian message that has been described as being a combination of “Calvinism, Antinomianism, and Enthusiasm.” The flames of religious revival swept up the Minas Basin in 1777, across the Bay of Fundy in 1779, and to the South Shore in 1781. All Protestant Churches in Nova Scotia were in one way or another affected by the “Great Awakening”, and largely as a direct result the evangelical wing of the various Protestant Churches was able to dominate Maritime religious life throughout the nineteenth century”

Rawlyk, George A. “The American Revolution and Nova Scotia Reconsidered”, Dalhousie Review, Volume 43, Number 3, 1963 https://dalspace.library.dal.ca/bitstream/handle/10222/62718/dalrev_vol43_iss3_pp379_394.pdf

Our First Common Law Court

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“That for the reasons aforesaid His Excellency the Governor and Members of his Majesty’s Council for this Province hold and keep a Court of Judicature for said Province annually at the respective times and place here mentioned, viz: at Annapolis royal upon the first Tuesday in May, August, November, and February yearly and in every year from time to time. Which Court to have the same Style and Cognizance of all matters and pleas brought before them and power to give Judgment and award. Execution thereupon, by the same manner and proceedings as the General Court so called of Governor and Council has in Virginia, and practices at this time. Voted that his Excellency be desired to put out a proclamation relating to the time, and place where the aforesaid Court be held and the manner of the Court, and that as soon as may be.”

Governor Phillips reported his action to the Secretary of State, and in the course of this communication he observed: “In order to establish civil government the Governor and Council have resolved themselves into a Court, to meet four times a year. The notion that martial law prevails here hinders settlers from coming into the country.”

The present writer has shown elsewhere the extent to which, from the time of Governor Phillips to the time when Governor Cornwallis received his commission and entered upon the discharge of his duties, “the Iawes of Virginia” were applied, and were made “the rule and pattern” for the Government of Nova Scotia. The court established by Governor Phillips and his Council was invested with the powers ordinarily exercised by an English common law court. It had jurisdiction in both civil and criminal matters, and a perusal of the original Minutes of His Majesty’s Council at Annapolis Royal will disclose the varied character of the causes which came before our first court for adjudication. It was a common law court; that is to say, it administered the common law that collection of principles which constitutes the basis of the administration of justice in England, as distinguished from the maxims of the Roman code generally known as the civil law. One of its greatest expositors says of it:

“It is emphatically the custom of the realm of England, and has no authority beyond her own territory and the colonies which she has planted in various parts of the world. It is no small proof of its excellence, however, that where it has once taken root it has never been superseded …… The common law is the lex non scripta, that is, the unwritten law which cannot now be traced back to any positive text, but is composed of customs and usages and maxims deriving their authority from immemorial practice, and the recognition of courts of justice.”

Chisholm, J.M. “Our First Common Law Court” Dalhousie Review, Volume 01, Number 1, 1921 https://dalspace.library.dal.ca/bitstream/handle/10222/58007/dalrev_vol1_iss1_pp17_24.pdf

Virginia and Nova Scotia: An Historical Note

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“…the first court of judicature, administering the English common law, within what is now the Dominion of Canada.. at Annapolis Royal, in Nova Scotia, on the 20th day of April, 1721, His Excellency, Governor Phillips, and his council, after full advisement, adopted a resolution constituting themselves a court which was to administer justice “by the same manner and proceedings as the general court” in Virginia. It is a far cry from Nova Scotia to Virginia — and more so in the early years of the eighteenth century than now, but nevertheless for several decades of that century “the lawes of Virginia” were the model and pattern for the new court in Nova Scotia…

Upon the founding of Halifax in 1749, by Governor Cornwallis, the seat of government was changed from Annapolis Royal to Halifax. Cornwallis was instructed to establish courts of justice, and in December of that year he appointed a committee to inquire into and report upon the matter. The following is an extract from their report:

The Committee are of opinion that the form of government in Virginia, being the nearest to that of Nova Scotia, the regulations there established for the General Court and their County Courts will be the most proper to be observed in the Province. The Committee have therefore collected from the laws of Virginia the following regulations with regard to the General Court and the County Courts and the forms to be observed therein

Then follows a detailed code of procedure, which concludes with the following paragraph:

That if any difficulty should arise in explaining any of the above rules and regulations that Recourse be had for explanation to the laws of Virginia, whence most of them are derived, particularly an Act entitled An act for establishing the General Court, pp. 251 to 260, and an Act entitled An Act establishing County Courts p. 332 to 338“

Chisholm, Justice. “Virginia and Nova Scotia: An Historical Note.” The Virginia Law Register, vol. 6, no. 10, 1921, pp. 744–751. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1107268

“As Near as May Be Agreeable to the Laws of this Kingdom”: Legal Birthright and Legal Baggage at Chebucto, 1749

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“The new governor’s commission gave him power to establish the accepted institutions of civil government: a council, a legislative assembly, courts, and a judiciary. It accorded him the power of the civil executive to defend the colony, exercize the king’s prerogative of mercy, administer public funds, make grants and assurances of lands, and establish fairs and markets. Most significantly, Cornwallis’ commission, tested 6 May 1749, gave authority to the governor “with the advice and consent of our said Council and Assembly or the Major part of them respectively . . .” in Nova Scotia

to make, constitute and ordain Laws, Statutes & Ordinances for the Publick peace, welfare & good government of our said province and of the people and inhabitants thereof and such others as shall resort thereto & for the benefit of us our heirs & Successors, which said Laws, Statutes and Ordinances are not to be repugnant but as near as may be agreeable to the Laws and Statutes of this our Kingdom of Great Britain.

The last clause, as to non-repugnancy and agreeableness to the laws of England, had a long history behind it. And it was a history that included the province of Acadia for three decades before Cornwallis and his colonists arrived at Chebucto. After seven years of essentially military rule following the capture of Port Royal in 1710-under those two rigorous warriors, Samuel Vetch and Francis Nicholson, who took the fort-British Acadia came under the governorship of Col. Richard Philipps in 1717. And there it remained for thirty-two years of increasing neglect and, after the first four years, the continuous absence of the governor.

The Board of Trade was hardly less soporific with respect to the province. In 1719 it finally got around to issuing instructions to Philipps that hinted at the creation of a regular civil government on what was the already accepted pattern for Britain’s colonies, with a legislative assembly to make laws, but directed him in the meantime to follow the 1715 instructions to the Earl of Orkney as governor of Virginia. Clause 62 of the Virginia instructions read:

You are to take Care that no Man’s Life Member freehold or Goods be taken away or harm’d in our said Colony otherwise than by establish’d and known Laws, not repugnant but as near as may be agreeable to the Laws of this Kingdom.

Virtually the same provision had been contained in the January 1682 instructions to Gov. Thomas Lord Culpepper of Virginia.

The non-repugnance and agreeableness clause in colonial enabling instruments originated in the 1632 charter to Lord Baltimore for Maryland, which directed that the laws made by colonial legislative authority were to be “inviolably observed” under penalties,

So, nevertheless, that the Laws aforesaid be consonant to Reason, and be not repugnant or contrary, but (so far as conveniently may be) agreeable to the Laws, Statutes, Customs, and Rights of this Our Kingdom of England.

In this point, so close are the instructions to Cornwallis to the provisions in the 1632 Maryland charter, it is reasonable to suppose that, if the latter was not the immediate parent of the former, it was the remote ancestor.”

Thomas Garden Barnes, “As Near as May Be Agreeable to the Laws of this Kingdom”: Legal Birthright and Legal Baggage at Chebucto, 1749” (1984) 8:3 DLJ 1. https://digitalcommons.schulichlaw.dal.ca/dlj/vol8/iss3/1/

Journals of the Board of Trade and Plantations; French neutrals that have been transported from Nova Scotia to Virginia

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The Secretary laid before the Board a memorial prepared by Mr. Parker in behalf of Mr. Kilby, agent for the affairs of Nova Scotia, to be presented to the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, praying that four thousand, seven hundred and forty six pounds and seven shillings may be issued to him upon account to discharge a warrant directed to him to pay William Baker, Esquire, for provisions supplied the troops there, and to pay bills drawn upon him by the Governor, and the said memorial having been approved, Mr. Parker was ordered to present it to the Lords Commissioners of his Majesty’s Treasury for their directions upon it.

Friday, June 4.

Present:—Earl of Halifax, Mr. Oswald, Mr. Talbot, Mr. Jenyns, Mr. Rigby, Mr. Hamilton.

Virginia.
Read a letter from Messrs. Lidderdale and Co., merchants of Bristol, dated June 14th, 1756, acquainting the Board with their expectation of the arrival in that port of three hundred of the French neutrals that have been transported from Nova Scotia to Virginia.
A letter to Mr. Fox, one of his Majesty’s principal Secretaries of State, inclosing a copy of the said letter, was signed.

Nova Scotia.
Read a letter from Charles Lawrence, Esquire, Governor of Nova Scotia, to the Board, dated Halifax, April 28th, 1756, relating to the present state of that province, and transmitting:—
List of Bills drawn on Christopher Kilby, Esquire, on account of the Government of Nova Scotia from February 1st, 1755, to April 29th, 1756.
List of accompts, etc., of stores and provisions.
Account of Colonel Hopson’s regiment, victualled between August 11th, 1755, and 21st March, 1756.
General account of provisions received and issued to settlers in the province of Nova Scotia between 21st February and the 30th of November following, 1755.
Thomas Saul, Esquire, his account of provisions with John Cunningham, on account of the settlers at Lunenburg in the province of Nova Scotia between September 8th and November 30th, 1755.
Contingent account for victualling settlers and military in Nova Scotia between February 24th and November 30th, 1755.
Accompt of provisions received from Messrs. Apthorp, etc., of Boston, towards victualling Governor Shirley’s provincial regiment at Chignecto to August 17th, 1755, inclusive.
General account of provisions received and issued on account of the augmentation of Colonel Hopson’s regiment between February 24th and November 30th, 1755.
Account of victualling 360 men at Annapolis Royal, etc., on Mr. Woodford’s contract between February 24th and November 30th, 1755.
General account of dry stores received and issued between February 24th and November 30th, 1755.
Governor’s order for Mr. Saul to receive the provisions found in the French forts at Chignecto, etc.
Account of provisions issued to the French inhabitants shipt out of the province of Nova Scotia, 1755.
Minutes of the Committee of Council appointed to audit Mr. Saul’s accompts, etc., between February 24th and November 30th, 1755.
List of settlers victualled at Halifax and Lunenburg between September 8th and November 30th, 1755.
List of settlers victualled at Halifax and Lunenburg in the province of Nova Scotia between June 30th and September 7th, 1755.
Naval office lists of ships and vessels entred and cleared at the port of Halifax between July 1st and December 31st, 1755.

Ordered, that the draught of a letter in answer to Mr. Lawrence’s letter be prepared.

The Secretary laid before the Board the following memorials prepared by Mr. Parker, in behalf of Mr. Kilby, agent for Nova Scotia, to be presented to the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, viz.:—
Memorial of Mr. Parker in behalf of Mr. Kilby, agent for Nova Scotia, praying that the sum of ten thousand pounds may be issued to him to discharge a bill drawn upon the agent by Mr. Lawrence, Governor of Nova Scotia, for his Majesty’s especial service; and that the sum of seventeen thousand, one hundred and fifty five pounds, eighteen shillings and four pence, already received and paid in discharge of former bills drawn for such special services, may be charged in such a manner as not to interfere with the particular appropriation and grant of Parliament for the current service of the year.
Memorial of Mr. Parker in behalf of Mr. Kilby, agent for Nova Scotia, praying that the sum of nine thousand pounds may be issued to him to discharge bills drawn upon the said agent for the ordinary and current service of the year 1756.
The said memorials having been approved of, Mr. Parker was directed to present them to the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury for their Lordships’ directions thereupon.
Plantations General.
The draught of a circular letter to the governors of Virginia, North and South Carolina and Georgia, acquainting them with Mr. Atkin’s appointment to be agent for Indian affairs to the southward, and recommending to them to give him all proper aid and support, having been prepared pursuant to the preceding minutes, was agreed to and ordered to be transcribed.
Nova Scotia.
The draught of a letter to Charles Lawrence, Esquire, Governor of Nova Scotia, in answer to one from him, having been prepared pursuant to the preceding minutes, was agreed to and ordered to be transcribed.

“Journal, June 1756: Volume 63.” Journals of the Board of Trade and Plantations: Volume 10, January 1754 – December 1758. Ed. K H Ledward. London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1933. 238-246. British History Online. Web. 2 April 2020. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/jrnl-trade-plantations/vol10/pp238-246.

Journals of the Board of Trade and Plantations; instruction to the Governor of Nova Scotia, directing him not to grant lands to, or permit any subjects of Ireland to settle in that province

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Mr. Ellis, Governor of Nova Scotia, attended the Board, and acquainted their lordships, that since he had received their commands to go to his government, his state of ill health had been such as to compell him to apply to his Majesty’s Secretary of State, for his Majesty’s leave to be absent from that government for some further time, and that his Majesty had been graciously pleased to grant his request.

fo. 152.
Read an Order of the Lords of the Committee of Council for Plantation Affairs, dated the 29th ultimo, directing this Board to prepare the draught of an instruction to the Governor of Nova Scotia, forbidding him to grant lands in that province to any of his Majesty’s subjects of Ireland, who shall not have resided five years in that, or some other of his Majesty’s colonies.
Ordered, that the draught of an instruction, conformable to the directions of the said order, be prepared.

Wednesday, May 19.

Present:—Lord Sandys, Mr. Jenyns, Mr. Eliot, Mr. Bacon, Mr. Yorke, Sir Edmund Thomas, Mr. Rice.

fo. 153.
The draught of an instruction to the Governor of Nova Scotia, directing him not to grants lands to, or permit any subjects of Ireland to settle in that province, who have not been resident there, or in some other of the colonies for five years, having been prepared pursuant to order, was agreed to and ordered to be transcribed, and a report to the Lords of the Committee of Council was signed.

fo. 158.
Read a letter from Jonathan Belcher, Esquire, Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, dated the 31st of March, 1762, giving an account of the measures he has taken for encourageing settlements upon the forfeited lotts in the new townships; of the state of the Publick accounts, and of the trial, condemnation and reprieve of a soldier convicted of murder; also desiring the Board’s application to Government, for obtaining his Majesty’s pleasure upon the case of Mary Webb, convicted of murdering her bastard child, in the administration of Governor Lawrence, and inclosing,
Business under consideration of the present session of the General Assembly of the Province of Nova Scotia begun to be held on the 17th of March, 1762.
Proclamation for compleating the settlement of some of the new townships.
Record of the conviction of William Reach.
Memorial in behalf of William Reach.
Abstract of the state of the civil establishment for Nova Scotia, 1761.

fo. 159.
Abstract of the late Governor Lawrence’s arrears, paid by the Honorable Jonathan Belcher, Esquire, Lieutenant Governor.
Original vouchers for the payment of publick money from the 1st of July to the 31st of December, 1761.
Ordered, that the foregoing abstracts of accounts and original vouchers be delivered to the agent for the settlement of Nova Scotia, and that he be directed to prepare, as soon as conveniently may be, in order to be laid before Parliament, an account of money paid and charges incurred in maintaining the settlement of Nova Scotia for the year 1761.

fo. 160.
Ordered, that an extract be made of so much of Mr. Belcher’s letter, as relates to the case of Mary Webb, to be laid before his Majesty, and that the draught of a letter to the Earl of Egremont, one of his Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State, inclosing the same, be prepared.
Read a memorial of Benjamin Green, Esquire, Treasurer of the Province of Nova Scotia, praying that he may be permitted to place some monies, his own private property, now lying in Nova Scotia, in the Treasury there, and receive the like sum from the agent for the Colony here, out of the grant for the current year, when it shall be in his hands.

fo. 161.
Their lordships, upon consideration of the said memorial, were of opinion, that the subject matter thereof was proper for the consideration of the Lords Commissioners of his Majesty’s Treasury, and that it did not lye within the department of this Board to give any directions upon it.
Wednesday, May 26. Present:—Lord Sandys, Mr. Eliot, Mr. Bacon, Sir Edmund Thomas, Mr. Rice.

The draught of a letter to the Earl of Egremont, one of his Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State, inclosing an extract of a letter from Mr. Belcher, Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, relating to the case of Mary Webb, having been prepared pursuant to order, was agreed to and ordered to be transcribed.

fo. 163.
Thursday, May 27.

Present:—Lord Sandys, Mr. Eliot, Mr. Bacon, Mr. Yorke, Sir Edmund Thomas, Mr. Rice, Mr. Roberts.
The draught of a report to the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, upon Mr. Glen’s memorial, having been transcribed pursuant to order, was signed; as was also a letter to the Earl of Egremont, inclosing an extract of a letter from Mr. Belcher, concerning the case of Mary Webb. condemned in the administration of Governor Lawrence for the murder of her bastard child, and reprieved by him till his Majesty’s pleasure was known.

fo. 164.
Their lordships then took into consideration, that part of the minutes of the 17th of March last, which contains their resolution with respect to two Acts passed in the first session of the Assembly of the Province of Nova Scotia, the one entitled, an Act to establish the rate of Spanish dollars, the other, to revive and continue two Acts or resolutions of the Governor and Council, that foreign debts should not be pleadable in that province; and it appearing that by the minutes of the Assembly on the 17th of March last, that the latter of these Acts would have expired by its own limitation, so much of their lordships’ order, as relates thereto, was discharged; and the draught of a representation to his Majesty, proposing the repeal of the first mentioned Act, having been prepared, was agreed to and ordered to be transcribed.

 

fo. 167.
Friday, May 28.

Present:—Lord Sandys, Mr. Eliot, Mr. Bacon, Mr. Yorke, Sir Edmund Thomas, Mr. Rice, Mr. Roberts.

The draught of a representation to his Majesty, proposing the repeal of an Act passed in the Province of Nova Scotia in 1758, for establishing the rate of Spanish dollars, having been transcribed pursuant to order, was signed.

 

“Journal, May 1762: Volume 69.” Journals of the Board of Trade and Plantations: Volume 11, January 1759 – December 1763. Ed. K H Ledward. London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1935. 276-282. British History Online. Web. 2 April 2020. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/jrnl-trade-plantations/vol11/pp276-282.

“Col. Dunbar’s proposal for settling Nova Scotia”

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948. Order of Committee of Privy Council. Referring back to the Council of Trade and Plantations reports of 21st March and 14th May upon Col. Dunbar’s proposal for settling Nova Scotia etc. Their Lordships observing that the first report was made upon a supposition that Irish and Palatine families were all immediately to settle at or near Annapolis and Canco, and the latter that they would settle only between the rivers Kennebeck and St. Croix, and their Lordships being of opinion that it would prove of great service to H.M. and the strengthen- ing his Government in Nova Scotia if settlements were made at both etc., the Lords Commissioners for Trade are to discourse with Mr. Coram and Mr. Hintz about the methods of setling the said familys and to adjust with them the conditions upon which the Palatines are to be encouraged to settle at or near Annapolis and Canco, and the Irish familys to transplant themselves from New England to the lands between the rivers Kennebeck and St. Croix, and to consider of making a due provision for a pastor in each place, and prepare Instructions for the Governor of Nova Scotia for this purpose, it being their Lordships’ opinion that all the new settlements to be made in Nova Scotia should be under H.M. Governor of that Province. And they are to insert an article requiring him to supply the Surveyor General of the Woods with 40 men from the garrison of Annapolis for his protection in the woods etc. They are to prepare instructions for the Surveyor General requiring him to set out 200,000 acres of wood within the Province of Nova Scotia for H.M. use. Draughts of these instructions to be presented to this Committee. Set out, A.P.C. III. pp. 187, 188. q.v. Signed, Ja. Vernon. Endorsed, Recd., Read 28th Oct., 1729. 2¼ pp. [C.O. 217, 5. ff. 121–122v.]

“America and West Indies: October 1729, 21-31.” Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies: Volume 36, 1728-1729. Eds. Cecil Headlam, and Arthur Percival Newton. London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1937. 511-515. British History Online. Web. 2 April 2020. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/colonial/america-west-indies/vol36/pp511-515.

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