They
were also permitted to govern the country within their grant by reasonable
regulations calculated to preserve the peace, and of much the same
character as the municipal ordinances of towns, subject, of course, to
judicial supervision. The corporation itself was created subject to the
municipal laws of England, and could have no existence without the realm;
and though perhaps even then the American wilderness might have been held
to belong to the British empire, it formed no part of the kingdom,
[Footnote: Blackstone's _Commentaries_, i. 109.] and was altogether
beyond the limits of that jurisdiction from whose customs and statutes the
life of this imaginary being sprang. Therefore, the governing body could
legally exercise its functions only when domiciled in some English town.
[Footnote: On this subject see the able paper of Mr. Deane, in
_Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings_, December, 1869, p.
166.]
Sir Richard Sheldon, the solicitor-general, advised the king that he was
signing a charter containing "such ... clauses for ye electing of
Governors and Officers here in England, ... and powers to make lawes and
ordinances for setling ye governement and magistracye for ye plantacon
there, ... as ... are usuallie allowed to Corporacons in England."
[Footnote: _Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc._ 1869-70, p.
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