Appeals from the colonial courts came to the
Privy Council.
Judges in the colonies were appointed by royal governors and paid
by colonial legislatures. They served at the pleasure of the king.
Colonial courts included superior courts of judicature, courts of
assize, general gaol delivery, general sessions of the peace,
inferior court of common pleas, and commissions of Oyer and
Terminer. There were also Justices of the Peace, marshals,
provosts, and attorney generals. There were few cases of vagrancy,
theft, or homicide. This may have been because the people were few
and dependent on each other, and economic opportunities were
great.
In 1735 John Peter Zenger, printer of the New York Weekly Journal,
was tried for seditious libel for its criticisms and satire of the
New York governor, who exceeded his powers, such as by demanding
that bills from the assembly be presented to him before the
council, and by arbitrarily displacing judges. Seditious libel was
defined as "false, scandalous, and seditious" writings.
Traditionally, this word "false" could mean "disloyal". The
prosecution argued that truth of such criticism was an aggravation
of the crime because it was more provoking of sedition, as found
by Star Chamber cases. The defense argued for a right publically
to remonstrate abuses of power by public officials to guard
against violence and destruction of liberties by men in authority.
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