ABSTRACT
Similar to other early modern European colonization efforts, successful colonization in New England came from years of trial and error. The English colony at Plymouth in 1620 was followed with other permanent settlements in Massachusetts, Maine, and Rhode Island by the early 1630s. Legal systems reflecting each colony’s own distinct needs, interests, and relationship with English law emerged soon after the initial settlement period.1 First and foremost, law was used to support the challenges of creating English societies in unfamiliar landscapes, though this desire was not always shared by all colonists. On a wider scale, colonial leaders wanted law to convey their visions for their own particular colonies. Some North American colonies were founded solely for financial gain, while others came into existence for religious and political reasons as well as economic ones. These intentions profoundly shaped individual colonies’ relationships with England and with English law, and this chapter examines the shifting nature of those relationships.
