Our Legal Heritage Part 96

The Merchant Adventurers were incorporated again in 1643 to have a monopoly. It was required to admit into members.h.i.+p for 100 pounds anyone free of London and bred as a merchant, and for 50 pounds any non-inhabitant of London. The penalty for trading for one who was not free of the corporation was forfeiture of his goods.

In 1648, the House of Commons abolished the monarchy and in 1649 the House of Lords. Also in 1649 it declared that England "should thenceforth be governed as a commonwealth and free state by the supreme authority of this nation, the representatives of the people in Parliament." It made a new const.i.tution.

John Milton defended the Commonwealth as superior to the monarchy because it could not deteriorate into tyranny in his books: "First Defense of the People of England" in 1651, and "Second Defense" in 1654.

He lauded Cromwell as great in war and great in peace, and exemplifying the principle that "nature appoints that wise men should govern fools".

Thomas Hobbes, the son of a clergyman, and tutor to students, wrote "Leviathan" in 1651 on his theory of sovereignty. Hobbes thought that states are formed as the only alternative to anarchy, barbarism, and war, so that supremacy and unity of a sovereign power is essential to a civilized life and the protection of the citizenry. A sovereign may be a man or body of men as long as his or its authority is generally recognized. There must be a social contract among the citizenry to obey a certain sovereign. To avoid religious conflict, there must be a complete subordination of the church to the state and the religion of a state must be dependent upon its secular sovereign. Hobbes thought that knowledge of the world came through experience and not reason alone.

Only matter exists, and everything that happens can be predicted in accordance with exact, scientific laws. He regarded human societies as purely mechanical systems set in motion by human desires. He saw self interest as the mainspring of moral law. Conflicting self interests transformed into a lawful system of agreements. Hobbes opined that all power really originated in the people and that the end of all power was for the people's good.

On the other hand, James Harrington, who wrote "The Commonwealth of Oceana" in 1656, opined that a stable society depended on a direct relations.h.i.+p between the distribution of property and political power; no one with property worth more than 2,000 pounds should be allowed to acquire more and property should be divided among children. A senate of mature property owners were to make and debate the laws while an a.s.sembly elected by universal suffrage was to vote on them because "a popular a.s.sembly without a senate cannot be wise and a senate without a popular a.s.sembly will not be honest". A third of the Senate would turn over every year. John Milton defended the execution of the King in "The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates" in which he maintained that the people may "as often as they shall judge it for the best either to choose him or reject him or depose him, though no tyrant, merely by the liberty and right of freeborn men to be governed as seems to the best". He also wrote in favor of liberty of the press. Ordinary speech found its way into prose writing.

Lands of more than 700 Royalists, including church lands, were confiscated and sold or leased by county committees. Many Royalists put their lands into trusts or turned them over to relatives or sold them outright to prevent confiscation. It was an upheaval comparable to the dissolution of the monasteries. Also, specified Papists who had taken up arms against the realm lost their lands, goods, money, rents, and two-thirds of their personal estates. But allowance was made for the maintenance of their wives and children.

The Book of Common Prayer was abolished because of its burdensome ceremonies. It was replaced by a Directory for Public Wors.h.i.+p. According to this, the Sunday service was to include reading of the Scriptures, prayer, and a sermon, ordinarily on some text of scripture which would be explained with reasons therefore and applied to peoples' lives so they could see if they had sinned or not. The ending of episcopal patronage gave some parishes the right to elect their own ministers.

All festivals and holy days were abolished, e.g. Christmas, Easter, Whitsuntide. Instead, scholars, apprentices, and servants were to have recreation and stores were to be closed every second Tuesday of the month. The usual merry-making, music, dancing, and sports after the Sunday service were discontinued.

A day for fasting: the last Wednesday of every month, was declared by statute. This day was to be "kept with the more solemn humiliation, because it may call to remembrance our sins, and the sins of our forefathers, who have turned this Feast, pretending the memory of Christ into an extreme forgetfulness of him, by giving liberty to carnal and sensual delights, being contrary to the life which Christ himself led here upon earth, ...". This statute lasted for only five years from 1644 because observance of it was not consistent throughout the country.

Educational opportunities such as in grammar schools were more widespread and stronger than ever before or since until the 1800s. About 78% of men in London were literate, and 30% of men nationwide. About half the women in London were literate by 1700.

In 1645, the marshalls of the admiralty and five major ports were ordered to search all s.h.i.+ps for stolen children since it had been a problem in London.

The elders.h.i.+ps of the church were given power in 1645 to suspend from the sacrament of the Lord's Supper all ignorant and scandalous persons.

Ignorance was lack of knowledge that there is a G.o.d and this is the one true G.o.d we wors.h.i.+p, that this G.o.d is one, yet three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, that G.o.d created man in his own image, that all have sinned and therefore shall die, that there is one mediator between G.o.d and man: Jesus Christ, who died on the cross to save men from their sins, that he rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, sits at the right hand of G.o.d, and intercedes for us, that Christ and his benefits are applied only by faith, that the souls of the faithful live with Christ in blessedness, that non-believers and non-repenters shall perish eternally, that the sacraments are baptism and communion, and that there is a judgment day on which the righteous will be given life eternal and the wicked shall receive everlasting punishment. Scandalous persons are those who blasphemously speak or write anything of G.o.d, his holy work or the sacraments; an incestuous person; an adulterer; a fornicator; a drunkard; a profane swearer or cursor; a murderer; a wors.h.i.+pper of images, crosses, crucifixes, relics, saints, or angels; makers of images of the trinity; one who professes not to be in charity with his neighbor; any challenging another to fight or accepting such challenge; on the Lord's day, dancing, dicing, cards, masking, wake, shooting, bowling, football, wrestling, plays, interludes, fencing, bullbaiting, bearbaiting, hawking, hunting, coursing [hunting with hounds], fis.h.i.+ng, fowling, selling wares, travel without reasonable cause; a brothel-house keeper; one who solicits the chast.i.ty of another; one who marries a Papist or consents to the marriage of his child to a Papist; own who goes for advice to a witch, wizard, or fortune-teller; one who a.s.saults his parents, or any magistrate, minister, or elder in the execution of his office; and one attainted of barratry [purchase or sale of office or preferment], forgery, extortion, or bribery. If such a person persists, he shall be excommunicated.

Cromwell did not disapprove of activities prohibited because of the recreation they provided, but thought that they had become too central to people's lives. He did not close the taverns or ale houses.

In 1653 it was required that public preachers be approved by a commission nominated by the Lord Protector and Parliament because there had been too many "weak, scandalous, popish, and ill- affected" ones. In 1654 named persons were ejected as scandalous, ignorant and insufficient ministers and schoolmasters.

Because the poorer parishes of London were having problems supporting their poor, a Corporation for the poor of London was established in 1647 with authority to erect workhouses and houses of correction.

Imprisoned debtors who had less than five pounds and less that five pounds worth of trade tools and clothing and bedding for his family were ordered released in 1649.

Wards.h.i.+p was abolished. Military tenures were abolished. Feudal tenures were converted into freehold in 1646.

In 1653 those living in Crown forest land were given free socage in that land. The game laws were not enforced, so people could eat deer.

Enclosures were increasing and Parliament was disinclined to protect copyholders against enclosures, favoring those with rights of owners.h.i.+p.

Enclosure was no longer deterred especially after abolition of the Star Chamber. The legal device of "strict settlement" evolved to prevent heirs from breaking up estates enabled families to concentrate land and capital into large units. The oldest son inherited the land and the younger sons now received money. Clover seed was sold in London by 1650.

It revolutionized the cultivation of barren land. England began to export instead of import grain. But vagrancy increased from people dispossessed of land. And the village artisan, when deprived of his field and of his rights of common, could not continue to work at home, but had to accept the wages offered to him in an employer's workshop.

Employers and entrepreneurs were now free from control by the Crown.

There were no more attempts to supervise quality of manufactures or to fix prices or regulate wages. There was greater freedom established in relations between employers and workers. The government no longer tried to compel employers to keep employees in times of economic slump. The requirement of seven year apprentices.h.i.+ps and being the son of a freeholder to be an apprentice were not enforced.

The economy was still volatile due ostensibly to variable harvests, amount of gold and money in circulation, and balances of trade, and to periods of plague. Wages rose steadily. The rise in prices ended about 1650, and prices remained stable until about 1775. There was more mobility of people. Taxation became regular and it was controlled by representatives of the taxpayers. Population growth gradually stabilized.

Capitalism was coming into being. For instance, the clothier was now a manufacturer. He had become a contractor, taking wool to the specialist spinner, the yarn to the specialist weaver, the rough cloth to be washed and stretched, and finally to the dyer. This cloth was sold at retail by the drapers. Tin on the surface was exhausted, so capital was used to drive deep shafts in tin mines. No longer did a single man with a single s.h.i.+p sail around until he found a market, but companies trading overseas had their s.h.i.+ps, wharves, and depots furnished by men's savings put into a common stock. The first major capitalist industries were coal mining, iron mining, and foreign trade because they all needed large investments, and thus joint-stock company organization.

Cromwell reconst.i.tuted the East India Company on a wider and more permanent basis. He gave it a new charter in 1657 which included authority to make stock permanent, thus ensuring a continuity of capital. This solved the problem of the compet.i.tion of overlapping voyages which still occurred despite their terms of several years. The company became one of the first permanent joint-stock companies. Now the stock was never wound up. The Company had permanent capital which could grow. The absence of compet.i.tion among voyages made the Company stronger in the face of a common enemy, such as a rival trading country or Indian groups. The charter also authorized the company to fortify and colonize any of its establishments and to transport to them settlers, stores, and ammunition.

Later in 1657, the Company threw open the freedom of the Company to the public for a nominal sum of five pounds. Now the Merchant Adventurers and private traders could partic.i.p.ate. It provided that dividends were to be paid only in cash and not in kind (goods). It also provided for appraisals of the Company's property to be made every three years, so any shareholders could redeem their shares proportionately. His shares would then be resold. People began to buy and sell their shares among each other. The Company made the minimum subscription 100 pounds. Each person holding 500 pounds worth of shares had one vote. Holding 1,000 pounds worth of shares qualified one for election to the committee of twenty-four. The seats of the members of this committee and of the Governor and Deputy Governor could no longer be permanent, but had limited and staggered terms. The continuity of capital took the place of the permanence of the governing body in providing stability. There was a regular scale of salaries for employees, and rules of conduct such as the one disallowing any clerk of the India House from going to play houses, dancing schools, or taverns. The Company established almshouses for its widows and orphans.