CHAPTER XXIV

THE LONG STRUGGLE FOR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

New York province, conquered as a fief of the
English Crown, was a feudatory principality, while
the proprietor was a duke; but when the Duke of
York became sovereign. New York was the Crown's
land, — a province with provincial government.
Was, then, the claim of the new owner by right of
prior discovery, or by conquest ? If the former, then
the Dutch had been only trespassers on English soil,
and the English legal system, with all its inherit¬
ances from feudalism, would at once prevail. This
would make life intolerable to freeborn republi¬
cans. If, on the other hand, the basis of the claim
was conquest, then the Dutch system of jurispru¬
dence, which was founded on Roman law, together
with the especial ordinances of New Netherland,
would remain in force until repealed. The crown
lawyers of England were to have settled the ques¬
tion, but, as they never did, the people of New
York solved the problem for themselves.

A high authority has declared that the " civil
administration of the Dutch left its permanent im¬
press on the customs, laws, and civilization of New
York and New Jersey. . . . Dutch jurisprudence
founded on Roman law was superior to the con-