limited law and equity jurisdiction together with many administrative functions.

The court laws were constantly changed under the royal government, and were the cause of much popular discontent and of frequent controversies between the Governor and the Legislature. These controversies culminated in 1773, in the practical abolition of the court system.

The most important change affecting the legislative department, was that members of the lower house should serve until the dissolution of the Assembly.

The first State Constitution was framed by the Congress which met at Halifax, November 12, 1776, and completed its labors on the 18th of the ensuing December. Under it the legislative power was vested in a General Assembly, composed of a Senate and a House of Commons. Members of both houses were chosen annually, each county electing a Senator and two Representatives, and six of the larger towns, each, one member of the lower house. Eligibility to the Senate was conditioned on one year's residence in the county, and on the ownership of three hundred acres of land in fee. The same term of residence was required of members of the House, but the property qualification was one hundred acres in fee, or for life, acquired as much as six months before the election. Electors of senators were freemen, owning a freehola of fifty acres, and of representatives, all free

men paying taxes, and twelve months residence was required of electors of both classes.

Each house elected its own officers, and judged the election and qualification of its members. Bills were required to be read three times in each house. All Judges and Attorneys General were elected by joint ballot of the two houses, and were commissioned by the Governor to hold office during good behavior.

The two houses also elected at their first meeting after each annual election, a Governor, who could not serve more than three years in six, and who was required to have resided in the State over five years, and to own therein, a freehold in lands and tenements exceeding a thousand pounds in value. Along with the Governor, was elected the Council of State already referred to, composed of seven persons and charged with the duty of aiding the Governor in the administration of his office. The Governor was authorized, with the consent of the Council, to grant pardons, to fill vacancies temporarily, and to lay embargoes.

In the case of vacancy in the office of Governor, the succession was first, to the Speaker of the Senate, and then to the Speaker of the House of Commons. The Assembly elected a Treasurer or Treasurers, annually. No receiver of public moneys could be elected to any office until he should have accounted fully, for all moneys collected by him. Clergymen were ineligible to the Assembly, and it was declared that, "no person who shall deny the being of God, or the truth of the

Protestant religion, or the divine authority of the Old or New Testament or who shall hold religious principles incompatible with the freedom and safety of the State," should hold any civil office. It was ordained that there should be no church establishment, and no church tax. Imprisonment for debt was allowed, but except in cases affording a strong presumption of fraud, the debtor was to be released on surrendering all his estate to his creditors. Foreigners might acquire lands, after taking an oath of allegiance, and after one year's residence, were to be deemed citizens. Schools were to be established and teachers to be paid from the public treasury, and useful learning was to be promoted in one or more universities. Entails were permitted, but were to be regulated so as to prevent perpetuities. A significant declaration in the Bill of Rights, was that nothing therein should be, "construed so as to prevent the establishment of one or more governments westward of this State, by consent of the Legislature.”

In 1777, the Legislature revised the laws regulating the courts, continuing the division of the State into districts, and retaining the Superior Court with original jurisdiction in civil cases above certain amounts, and appellate jurisdiction in cases begun in inferior courts.

This Court was held by one or more of the three Judges who were provided for, by the Act of 1778, but while the old system was thus generally followed

there was no provision for a Supreme Court of Appeals. This condition continued until 1799, and the name "Supreme Court" does not appear in the legislation of North Carolina until 1805.21

The Justices of the Peace held the courts of pleas and quarter sessions, which had a much larger jurisdiction than in later times, extending to nearly all matters triable in the circuit and criminal courts of Tennessee.

The counties were divided into districts, each to have at least one Justice of the Peace. In 1778, the State Legislature re-enacted the whole body of the common law, so far as it was consistent with the laws of the State. In 1782, equity jurisdiction, was conferred on the Superior Courts, and this act is the basis of the existing equity jurisprudence of Tennessee.22

There seems to have been no distinct court of chancery in North Carolina from 1776 to 1782, although the Constitution of 1776 provided for courts of equity. The Act of 1782 conferred upon the Superior Court the jurisdiction of the English Court of Chancery, and in addition made the Chancery Court a court of record.23

It will be seen that this Superior Court, with its common law and equity jurisdiction, was adopted and used for many years, by the State of Tennessee.

The institutions of the State of North Carolina, as

21 Transition of North Carolina from Colony to Commonwealth," by E. W. Sikes, pages 76-77 and notes.

22 Acts of North Carolina, 1782, chapter XI, section 1. 28 Acts of North Carolina, 1782, chapter XI, section 1.

here briefly outlined existed in 1789, when Tennessee was formally ceded to the United States, and from them have been developed the existing institutions of Tennessee, in orderly and conservative process, without a break, and without radical innovation at any point.

In the year 1715, the Legislature of North Carolina declared that the "laws of England are the law of this governrnent in so far as they are compatible with our way of living," and this statement is hardly less applicable to Tennessee, now, than it was to North Carolina, two hundred years ago.