Laws & Writs of Appeal 1647-1663 ❖ Translated and Edited by CHARLES T. GEHRING SIU SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY PRESS Copyright © 1991 by The Holland Society of New York ALL RIGHTS RESERVED First Edition, 1991 99 98 97 96 95 94 93 92 91 65432 1 The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z 39.48-1984. @™ Produced with the support of The Holland Society of New York and the New Netherland Project of the New York State Library The preparation of this volume was made possible in part by a grant from the Division of Research Programs of the National Endowment for the Humanities, an independent federal agency. This book is published with the assistance of a grant from the John Ben Snow Foundation. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data New Netherland. Laws & writs of appeal, 1647-1663 / translated and edited by Charles T. Gehring. p. cm. — (New Netherland documents) “XVI, part one.” Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8156-2522-7 1. Law—New York (State) 2. Law reports, digests, etc.—New York (State) I. Gehring, Charles T., 1939- . II. Title. III. Title: Laws and writs of appeal, 1647-1663. IV. Series. KFN5030.5.G44 1991 348.747’028—dc20 [347.470828] 91-13990 CIP MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA This volume is dedicated to the Netherland -America Foundation in gratitude for its promotion of cultural relations between our two countries, and its support of historical programs devoted to the Dutch experience in the New World. Copyright © 1991 by The Holland Society of New Yoric ALL RIGHTS RESERVED First Edition, 1991 99 98 97 96 95 94 93 92 91 6 5 4 3 2 1 The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z 39.48-1984.@™ Produced with the support of The Holland Society of New York and the New Netherland Project of the New York State Library The preparation of this volume was made possible in part by a grant from the Division of Research Programs of the National Endowment for the Humanities, an independent federal agency. This book is published with the assistance of a grant from the John Ben Snow Foundation. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data New Netherland. Laws & writs of appeal, 1647-1663 / translated and edited by Charles T. Gehring. p. cm. — (New Netherland documents) “XVI, part one.” Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8156-2522-7 1. Law—New Yoric (State) 2. Law reports, digests, etc.—New Yoric (State) I. Gehring, Charles T., 1939- . II. Title. III. Title: Laws and writs of appeal, 1647-1663. IV. Series. KFN5030.5.G44 1991 348.747*028— dc20 [347.470828] 91-13990 CIP MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA This volume is dedicated to the Netherland -America Foundation in gratitude for its promotion of cultural relations between our two countries, and its support of historical programs devoted to the Dutch experience in the New World. Charles T. Gehring was bom in Fort Plain, an old Erie Canal town in New York State’s Mohawk Valley. After completing his undergraduate and graduate studies at Virginia Military Institute and West Virginia University he continued with post graduate work at Albert-Ludwigs- Universitat in Freiburg, Germany. There he began his study of the Dutch language and first realized that his future research lay much closer to home. He eventually received a Ph.D. in Germanic Linguistics from Indiana University with a concentration in Netherlandic Studies. His dissertation (1973) was a linguistic investigation of the survival of the Dutch language in colonial New York. He is presently director of the New Netherland Project (sponsored by the New York State Library), which is responsible for translating the official records of the Dutch colony and promoting awareness of the Dutch role in American history. He has been a fellow of the Holland Society of New York since 1979. Committee on Publication Ralph L. DeGroff, Jr., Chairman Trustee, The Holland Society of New York Florence A. Christoph Editor of New York Historical Manuscripts Peter R. Christoph Associate Librarian, New York State Library Editor of New York Historical Manuscripts Charles T. Gehring Director, New Netherland Project New York State Library The Reverend Howard G. Hageman Trustee, The Holland Society of New York The Reverend William J. F. Lydecker The Holland Society of New York Kenneth Scott Fellow, The American Society of Genealogists Fellow, National Genealogical Society Martha Dickinson Shattuck Assistant Editor, New Netherland Project Arthur R. Smock, Jr. President, The Holland Society of New York Stanley L. Van Rensselaer Trustee, The Holland Society of New York Jansje Venema Assistant Editor, New Netherland Project Nancy Anne McClure Zeller Assistant Editor, New Netherland Project Contents Grotius engraving frontispiece Acknowledgments xi Map of New Netherland xii Introduction xiii Glossary xxiii Key to Abbreviations xxvii Laws, 1647-1658 1 Writs of Appeal, 1658-1663 101 Appendix 137 Bibliography 151 Index 153 Acknowledgments wish to express my gratitude to the staff of the New Netherland Project: Martha Dickinson Shattuck, Jansje Venema, and Nancy IAnne McClure Zeller, who were involved in every stage of production from transcribing to editing; to Florence and Peter Christoph who stepped in at the last minute and produced the index. Finally, I wish to thank Jerome Yavarkovsky, director of the New York State Library, for his expert advice to the New Netherland Project; to the Holland Society of New York for its steadfast support of the translation and publication of records relating to our Dutch heritage; to the staff of the New York State Library for its highly professional assistance; to all the contributors to the New Netherland Project; to the Friends of the New Netherland Project; to the Division of Research Programs of the National Endowment for the Humanities whose finan­ cial support through a matching grant made the translation possible; and to the Netherland-America Foundation, whose financial assistance provided a considerable amount of the funds necessary to match the NEH grant. Map of New Netherland Courtesy of the Albany Institute of History & Art Introduction The Dutch West India Company y 1609 the Hapsburg Empire had tacitly recognized the existence of the United Provinces of the Netherlands. After more than forty Byears of unsuccessful attempts to stamp out this revolt in the low countries, Spain sought a period of time to lick its wounds and con­ solidate its hold on the ten lower provinces. The Twelve Years’ Truce was mostly the work of Johan van Oldenbamevelt, pensionary of Hol­ land, who represented the agenda of the remonstrants: religious tolera­ tion, decentralized government, and peace with Spain. This party was identified with the followers of Arminius, a theologian at the University of Leiden, who called for a less rigid interpretation of the Reformed Church’s doctrine of predestination. Arminius was strongly opposed by a fellow theologian at Leiden named Gomarus, an adherent of a strict interpretation of predestination. He led the counter-remonstrants in their drive for a national religion under the Reformed Church, a strong centralized government, and renewal of the war with Spain. What should have been twelve years of peace turned out to be more than a decade of turmoil and near civil war. When Maurits, the prince of Orange, son of Willem the Silent, saw the advantage of supporting the Gomarists and consolidating his power by becoming the leader of a strong centralized government once again at war with his archenemy, he convened the Synod of Dordrecht in order to resolve the theological debate. With Prince Maurits’s support the Gomarist position won the day. Van Oldenbamevelt was arrested, tried, and beheaded on trumped up charges of treason. Hugo Grotius, the great legal mind of the Nether­ lands and strong advocate of the Arminian position, was also arrested and sentenced to life in prison. After three years under confinement, Grotius’s wife managed to smuggle him out in a crate used to transport his research books in and out of prison. He spent the rest of his years in exile in France and Sweden. While in prison, however, he did make good use of the books that his wife brought him by writing the famous Inleiding tot de Hollandsche Rechtsgeleerdheid, or “Introduction to the Jurisprudence of Holland.” With the death of Van Oldenbamevelt and XIV INTRODUCTION the exile of Grotius the Netherlands had lost its greatest and most eloquent advocates of peace. In 1621 the truce was allowed to lapse and war with Spain was resumed. The East India Company had been in operation as a joint-stock trading venture since 1602. Chartered by the States General of the Netherlands, the East India Company had a trading monopoly from the Cape of Good Hope east to the Strait of Magellan. It had the power to raise its own armies and navies, make alliances with local sovereigns within its sphere of operations, and if necessary could make war and conclude peace in defense of its interests. Company shares were traded on the Amsterdam stock exchange and investors represented a broad spectrum of society: from wealthy merchants to tavern keepers and bar maids. At the con­ clusion of the Twelve Years’ Truce, the States General saw an oppor­ tunity to privatize the overseas war with Spain by chartering another joint-stock venture with a trading monopoly from the Cape of Good Hope westward to the outer reaches of New Guinea. The company was divided into five chambers at Amsterdam, Zeeland (Middelburgh), Maes (Rotterdam), Noorderquartier (Hoorn and Enkhuizen), and Groningen- Friesland.