In this respect it was the same ;is that under which, as has previously been shown, the Dutch West India Company held New Netherland under their charter, and the Patroons held their Patroonships under the different " Freedoms and Exemptions." But it was not to follow a good Dutch example, that this tenure was granted by the King and accepted by the Duke, but because the law of England had then been recently changed, and neither King nor Duke could do otherwise, even if they wished, of which there is no evidence. Four years before New York was given by the King to the Duke, and its surrender by the Dutch, the Parliament of England had passed that Great Act, second only to Magna Charta itself, -- if it was second, -- in its effect on English liberty, and

the rights of English subjects, the act abolishing feudal tenures, and all their oppressive incidents forever throughout the realm.

This was the famous " 12 Charles II, cap. 24,'" and its title is, "An Act taking away the Court of Wards and Liveries, and Tenures in Capite, and by Knight Service, and Purveyance, and for settling a Revenue upon his Majesty in lieu thereof." It swept away, at one blow, all the grievous feudal military tenures, their great exactions, and the means possessed by the monarch for enforcing them, as well as all charges payable to the King, or any lord paramount under him, arising therefrom; and prohibited their creation afterward, forever. Alter the clauses of abolition, the act continues, -- "And all tenures of any honours, manors, lands, tenements, or hereditaments, of any estate of inheritance at the common law, held either of the King, or of any other person, or persons, bodies politic or corporate, are hereby enacted to be turned into free and common socage, . . . any law, custom, or usage to the contrary hereof in any way notwithstanding." ' The fourth section provided.