The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1892-06-04

age of seventeen they are dropped
from the choir.
Popular Talks on Law.
To obtain an adequate idea of the
law of any country, one must travel
to its sources and follow its growth
from it's very beginning. Let US
pursue this method in few studies
on the growth of our law. In the
first place the seeds of American
jurisprudence were transplanted
from the old world. The navigators,
explorers, missionaries, reformers,
gold seekers of the very earliest
days, brought to our shores along
with their intense desire for con-
quest, for individual gain, for the
glory of their sovereigns, and for
religious freedom, the customs and
laws of the homes they left and
adopted them in the new world so
far as they were fitted to their cir
cumstances and their environment.
The English brought with them the
priceless heritage of the common
law of England, and the French
aud Spanish brought the principals
and codes built upon the founda-
tions of the civil law-the law of
Rome.
Of the early explorers succeeding
Columbus, there was Juan Ponce de
Leon, who landed in 1913, near st.
Augustine, in Florida. in search of
the Fountain of Youth; in 1920,
Spanish ships touched the coast of
Carolina; in 1921 the territory now
known as Texas, New Mexico and
California became a part Of a great
province attached to Spain by the
conquest of her great explorer, Cor
tez. De Soto, another Spaniard, led
a party from Florida across the
country to the Mississippi in 1912.
In 15S4-5, Sir Walter Raleigh sent
two expeditions to North Calolina.
A Spanish settlement was made at
st. Augustine in 1866. Jamestown,
Virginia, became the first English
settlement in 1907. New York New
Netherlands), in 1913, was settled
by the Dutch, and Plymouth, Mas
sachusetts, by the English in 1920.
La Sale explored the great lakes
and the Mississippi in 1852, the
French establishing settlements at
Kaskaska and Arkansas Post in
1885, and Mobile and Vincennes in
1902. Thus England, Spain and
France divided among themselves
the great continent of North Amer
lea. Spain got the Southern, Eng
land the Central, and France the
Northern portion.
The discoveries thus made vested
the new lands in the sovereign. His
title was that by discovery grounded
upon the three following ideas: The
christian nation that discovers a
heather land owns it to the exclu
sion of all other christian nations.
This nation to complete its title
must within a reasonable time, oc
cupy and use this land. The ma
tive inhabitants are only the occu-
pants of the land and not its owners.
For over one hundred years from
the discovery by Columbus no set
Element deserving of more than a
passing mention was made in the
new world by the English. Many
and feeble attempts were made,
fearful hardships endured, heroic
efforts put forth, but in vain.
Raleigh's and brakes efforts were
unsuccessful. The Spanish settle
ments were more successful, and
for clear reason. Spain looked
upon her explorations as means
toward extending her domain. She
looked forward to another great
Roman Empire. Her explorations
were, in a sense, official, and once
a post was planted, high officers Of
State with large salaries were an
nexed to it, thus drawing patronage,
wealth and population. It was 9TH
erwise with the English. In nearly
every case colonization and explo-
ration was private enterprise; if
unsuccessful drawing in its wake
individual suffering and loss, but if
successful, resulting in little indeed
to the individual but everything to
the crown. Left thus to their own
resources, English colonies in Amer
lea had a precarious existence for
the first one hundred and fifty to
two hundred years, leading one
writer to say of the British colo
nists as late as the end Of the sew
enteeth century, "they were robbers
and pirates on large scale"
VIM. C. SPRAGUE, ESQ.
Nails In Horseshoe.