The Case of the Alexander of Inverness

John Test Serving as Prosecutor

November 1683

William Penn presided over this session of the Pennsylvania Council. Thomas Holmes was one of the members of the Council. He is notable as the first Surveyor General of Pennsylvania laying out the original plan for the city of Philadelphia.

The fate of Merchant ship Mary of Southampton under the command of Anto Pryers was at stake in this case. John Test, serving as the prosecutor, charged that the ship was unfree, meaning it was not free to bring passengers or goods into the British colony of Pennsylvania. The ship had not obtained the proper papers indicating it met the requirements giving it the right to operate as a British merchant ship transporting either goods or passengers to Pennsylvania.

Notice the phrase, “ It is the judgment of this board”. The Council is acting as a Board of Admiralty serving as judge and jury in a case involving maritime law.


Source: Minutes of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania: From the Organization to the Termination of the Proprietary Government Vol. 1 Containing the Proceedings of the Council from March 10th 1683, to November 27th, 1700 (Harrisburg: Printed by Theophilus Fenn, 1838).

Quo Warranto

The Case of the Alexander of Inverness is an instance of the scrupulous care Penn and his sheriff, viz., John Test, took to observe the enforcement of English Navigation Law.

There was a simple practical reason for careful attention to British law. If William Penn failed to observe every detail of that law he could have lost all his rights to Pennsylvania. The name quo warranto (meaning by what warrant) comes from the first two words of a writ of inquiry initiating a legal investigation used by the king's bureaucrats to recover the crown's lost privileges.

The subject of a quo warranto would be required to prove by what right he has to hold and exercise governing authority over his land. The quo warranto was used against several proprietary colonies to revoke their charters. Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire, Maryland and Virginia all lost their charters through quo warranto. They became crown colonies with governors appointed by the king.

The burden of proof fell on the proprietor. Unless he could prove that every act in every detail conformed in strict accordance to British law and to the provisions of his Charter which served as the basis of his authority to hold and govern his colony he could be deprived of his charter. Strict adherence to the Navigation Acts in this case was not an option for William Penn and his prosecutor John Test.

Sources:

Gresham University London: Lecture on Elizabethan Merchant Ships and Shipbuilding