Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. THE LEGISLATURE. The legislature of the province, as constituted in 1691, had one body of precedents as a basis -- the representative assembly of the last two years of Charles II. In 1683 the Duke of York, as proprietor, had, contrary to his inclinations but counselled by considerations of expediency, instructed Governor Dongan to call an assembly composed of representatives from every part of his government, to consult with himself and the council as to what laws were fit and necessary to be made. The instructions were detailed in character and in accordance with them two assemblies were summoned; the first holding two sessions, one in October, 1683, at which fifteen acts were passed, and one in October, 1684, at which thirty-one acts were passed. The second assembly met in October, 1685, and passed six acts and considered four more. The output of these sessions was comprehensive in character, ranging from a Charter of Liberties to a Bill concerning Swine.1 It is probable that the fundamental character of the Charter of Liberties helped to confirm the duke in his previously expressed distrust of such assemblies and made all the more grateful to him the opportunity to remodel the constitution of the province afforded by his accession to the throne. At all events, the Charter of Liberties, though formally confirmed by him as proprietor, and this confirmed instrument all but dispatched to his governor, was disallowed by the same individual as king. By the new commission in 1686, Dongan was given "full power and authority with the advice and consent of the Council ... to make . . . laws for the . . . peace, welfare and good government of the Province and of the people and inhabitants thereof," and was instructed to "observe in the passing of Laws that the Stile ...