26 TlMEHRl. 
Ten. The original law of the colony was amplified, 
altered, and alternately partly abolished and again re-in- 
troduced, by a number of ordinances, orders and resolu- 
tions, affecting the various branches of legislation. The 
common law, however, remained as before. History 
further tells us that, about the year 1761, it was 
found by the powers in the Mother Country, that the 
various orders and resolutions, ordinances and placards 
enacted in and for the colonies, were so voluminous, 
conflicting and uncertain, that it was deemed absolutely 
necessary to order that the orders, resolutions, and 
enactments which were intended to remain in force 
should be, de novo, printed, and sent to the colony ; and 
that all such orders which should not be re-printed 
should be considered repealed. 
Such was the state of the colonial legislation when, 
in 1815, a new fundamental law was introduced. It 
brought no improvement. To the contrary, it was 
enacted that the Courts of Justice should be bound 
to base their judgments on the u existing laws" (be- 
staande wetten), and this was the Roman-Dutch law 
system ; but an unsystematic amending, altering of, 
and amplifying the law by a nearly unbroken line of 
local ordinances and resolutions, had been ever since 
encroaching, and, the legislation of the colony, under 
an irresponsible Government, was uncertain, indefinite 
and varying with the circumstances of the moment. And 
this continued under the other Governments, after 1815. 
In the meantime, the Codes Napoleon were adopted 
in the Mother Country to remain in force until the 
national legislation, promised and guaranteed to the na- 
tion, should be completed. The influence of modern 
