Who knows but you may fill up some short recess
of Congress with a visit to Monticello, where a numerous family will
hail you with a hearty country welcome. T.J.
LETTER CIV.--TO JUDGE TYLER, June 17,1812
TO JUDGE TYLER.
Monticello, June 17,1812.
Dear Sir,
*****
On the other subject of your letter, the application of the common law
to our present situation, I deride with you the ordinary doctrine,
that we brought with us from England the common law rights. This narrow
notion was a favorite in the first moment of rallying to our rights
against Great Britain. But it was that of men who felt their rights
before they had thought of their explanation. The truth is, that we
brought with us the rights of men; of expatriated men. On our arrival
here, the question would at once arise, by what law will we govern
ourselves? The resolution seems to have been, by that system with which
we are familiar, to be altered by ourselves occasionally, and adapted to
our new situation. The proofs of this resolution are to be found in
the form of the oaths of the judges, 1 Hening's Stat. 169, 187; of the
Governor, ib. 504; in the act for a provisional government, ib. 372; in
the preamble to the laws of 1661-2; the uniform current of opinions and
decisions; and in the general recognition of all our statutes framed
on that basis. But the state of the English law at the date of
our emigration, constituted the system adopted here.
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