its life has been granted, transcends the limits of its existence, and
forfeits its privileges; and that under such circumstances its ordinances
are void, and none are bound to yield them their obedience.

Approached thus from the standpoint of legal history, no doubt can exist
concerning the scope of the franchise secured by the Puritans for the
Massachusetts colony. The instrument obtained from Charles I. embodied
certain of their number in an English corporation, whose only lawful
business was the American trade, as the business of the East India Company
was trade in Hindostan. To enable them to act effectively, a tract of land
in New England, between the Merrimack and the Charles, was conveyed to
them, as the soil upon which a town stood was conveyed to the mayor and
commonalty. Within this territory they were authorized to established
their plantations and forts, which they were empowered to defend against
attack, as the Hanse merchants defended the Steel Yard in London. They
were also permitted to govern the country within their grant by reasonable
regulations calculated to preserve the peace, and of much the same
character as the municipal ordinances of towns, subject, of course, to
judicial supervision. The corporation itself was created subject to the
municipal laws of England, and could have no existence without the realm;
and though perhaps even then the American wilderness might have been held
to belong to the British empire, it formed no part of the kingdom,
[Footnote: Blackstone's _Commentaries_, i. 109.] and was altogether
beyond the limits of that jurisdiction from whose customs and statutes the
life of this imaginary being sprang. Therefore, the governing body could
legally exercise its functions only when domiciled in some English town.
[Footnote: On this subject see the able paper of Mr. Deane, in
_Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings_, December, 1869, p.
166.]