CHAPTER Iir. 



A. SKETCH 



OF THE 



INSTITUTIONS, GOVERNMENT AND LAWS 

 OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 



PREPARED FOR THE STATE DEPARTiMENT OF AGRICULTURE, 



BY G. H. SASS, Esq OF THE CHARLESTON BAR. 



The first permanent European settlement in South Carolina was made 

 by a colony of Englishmen, who landed at Port Royal in 1670. There 

 had been several previous attempts at colonization by, French and 

 Spanish expeditions, but they had all failed, and had left no trace behind 

 them except in the name bestowed upon the Province, which was called 

 Carolina, in honor of King Charles IX. of France.* The advantages of 



* The question of the derivation of the name of Carolina i.s a somewhat obscure 

 one. Some historians derive it from Charles II. of England. Rivers seems to give 

 the ])referen(e to Charles I. of England, because, in the grant by that king to Sir 

 Rol)ert Heath, in 1(>30, the country i.s called Carolina, or Carolana. This fact is cer- 

 tainly fiatal to the claim of Charles II., but it does not dispose of the prior claim of 

 Charles IX. Some of the early annalists (such, for example, as Drs. MoUigan and 

 Hewett) say distinctly, that the name was given in honor of Charles IX. ; and it is 

 reasonable to suppose that the name given by Ribault and Laudonniere to the country 

 surrounding Charles Fort {arx Carolina), in honor of the French King, survived the 



