Existing comment:
South Carolina Incorporates Magna Carta
The trend of constitutional change in British America was a gradual move away from proprietary colonies under private owners who held a charter to royal colonies under a royal governor. South Carolina made this change in several steps, beginning in 1712, the year of its separation from North Carolina. In 1729, it was recognized as a royal colony. This 1736 imprint documents one step of that transition -- South Carolina's 1712 incorporation of the common law and statutes of England into its colonial law. This was the first statutory enactment of Magna Carta in American history. |