Prerogative and Office in Pre-Revolutionary New York: Feudal Legalism, Land Patenting, and Sir William Johnson, Indian Superintendent (1756â1774)

P.G. McHugh

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Chapter 15 Prerogative and Office in Pre-Revolutionary New York: Feudal Legalism, Land Patenting, and Sir William Johnson, Indian Superintendent (1756â1774)

In: Empire and Legal Thought

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P.G. McHugh

P.G. McHugh
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 425â461

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004431249_016

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Abstract

This chapter shows that the British Empire was one of office and prerogative. It was an Empire of the Crownâs facilitation of lawfulness and of the lawfulness so established (the foundational charters for colonies and companies most of all) becoming the frame for intense contestation. This was the defining characteristic of the imperial constitution until at least the last quarter of the nineteenth century. In its many and varied ways throughout the Empire such contestation was of a sort and of an age where the Crown as executive branch had not been so split from Parliament as legislative branch as to render their relationship problematic. It was a constitution in which the judicial branch was not playing policeman so much as occasional pointsman and certainly not the watchdog of it all. Focusing upon North America during the middle decades of the eighteenth century, this chapter identifies Sir William Johnson as an adept and assiduous practitioner of office. In his capacity as northern superintendent, Johnson developed a dim view of the limitations of the royal proclamation as an instrument for facilitating any colonial policy. He also expressed unhappiness with the impediments he saw as preventing inequitably dispossessed individuals from bringing their claims into colonial courts. Against this background, this chapter provides an analysis of two of the more controversial land patents in the province of New Yorkâs Mohawk country in the middle decades of the eighteenth century: the Kayaderosseras and Canojaharie Patents.

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Empire and Legal Thought

Ideas and Institutions from Antiquity to Modernity

Series:Â Legal History Library, Volume: 41/16Â andÂ Studies in the History of International Law, Volume: 41/16

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004431249

Publisher:: Brill | Nijhoff

Print Publication Date:: 12 May 2020

Subjects
- History
  - Legal History
- International Law
  - Legal History

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Chapter 15 Prerogative and Office in Pre-Revolutionary New York: Feudal Legalism, Land Patenting, and Sir William Johnson, Indian Superintendent (1756â1774)

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Empire and Legal Thought

Ideas and Institutions from Antiquity to Modernity

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Chapter 15 Prerogative and Office in Pre-Revolutionary New York: Feudal Legalism, Land Patenting, and Sir William Johnson, Indian Superintendent (1756â1774)