152 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.

CHAPTER V

CIVIL HISTORY OF BREUCKELEN.
1664-1674.

AMONG the first subjects that demanded the attention of the new authorities of the Province of New York was the formation of a uniform code of laws for the several plantations upon Long Island, now for the first time united under one and the same administration. In those communities formerly known as the “English towns” the English common law very generally prevailed, while the civil code of the Dutch towns had been modelled on that of the Fatherland. Fully alive to the difficulties which were incident to such a diversity of jurisprudence, the Governor convened an assemblage of delegates from the several towns, to deliberate upon and provide for the emergency. The Convention accordingly met at Hempstead on the 28th of February, 1665 (Breuckelen being represented by Frederick Lubbertsen and Jan Evertsen Bout), and then and there promulgated a body of laws and ordinances for the future government of the province. Of this code, called by way of distinction the “Duke’s Laws,” copies were furnished to the deputies of each town, and duly filed in the clerks' offices of the several counties, where, or in some of them, they remain to the present day. These laws, with occasional additions and alterations, continued in force until the first Provincial Assembly, convened by Governor Dongan in 1683. Designed to operate in a newly settled country, and among a population composed of different nationalities, holding various and conflicting opinions concerning law and government, it was hardly to be expected that they would be satisfactory to all; yet they were, on the whole, as just and reasonable as those enjoyed by any of the neighboring colonies.

The delegates composing this Provincial Assembly were so favorably impressed with the Governor, and with his representation of the liberal intentions of the Duke of York towards his new subjects,