A34659:39
An abstract of laws and government wherein as in a mirror may be seen…An abstract of laws and government wherein as in a mirrour may be seen…
An abstract of laws and government wherein as in a mirror may be seen the wisdom & perfection of the government of Christs kingdom accommodable to any state or form of government in the world that is not antichristian or tyrannical / collected and digested ... by John Cotton ... ; and now published after his death by William Aspinall.An abstract of laws and government wherein as in a mirrour may be seen the wisdome & perfection of the government of Christs kingdome accomodable to any state or form of government in the world that is not antichristian or tyrannicall / collected and digested ... by John Cotton ... ; and now published after his death by William Aspinall.
London: printed by M.S. for Livewel Chapman, 1655
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Sect. 2. These free Burgesses shall give power to choose in their own Towns fit and able men, out of themselves, to be ordinary Judges of inferior causes in their own Town. And against the approaches of the General Court, to choose two or three for Deputies or Committees, to join with the Governor and Assistants of the whole Country, to make up and constitute a general Court.
Sect. 2. These free Burgesses shall give power to choose in their own Towns fit and able men, out of themselves, to be ordinary Judges of inferiour causes in their own Towne. And against the approaches of the Generall Court, to choose two or three for Deputies or Committees, to joyne with the Governour and Assistants of the whole Country, to make up and constitute a general Court.
Sect. 3. The general Court shall have power, by the warrant of the Governor, or of the deputy Governor, or of any three of the Counsellors or Assistants, or by the warrant of any twelve of the deputies of the Country, to assemble once every quarter, or half year, or oftener, as the affairs of the Country require, and to sit together till their affairs be dispatched. And secondly, to call the Governor and all the rest of the public Magistrates and Officers unto place, and to call them to account for the breach of any Laws established ⟨p. 7⟩or other misdemeanour, and to censure therein as the quality of the fact may require. And thirdly, to make and repeal Laws. And fourthly, to dispose all the Lands in the Country, and to assign them to several towns or persons, as shall be thought fit. And fifthly, to impose a levy of monies for the public service of the Common-wealth, as shall be thought requisite for the protection and provision of the whole. And sixthly, to hear and determine all causes whether civill or criminal, wherein appeal shall be made unto them, or which they shall see cause to assume into their own cognisance and judicature. And seventhly, to assist the Governor and Counsellors in the maintenance of the purity and unity of Religion, and accordingly to set forward and uphold all such good courses, as shall be thought fit for that end, by the advice of the Elders with consent of the Churches, and to repress the contrary.