A civil society: Court and community in Beverwijck, New Netherland, 1652-1664.

摘要

The relationship between Dutch jurisprudence and trade in the community of Beverwijck (present-day Albany, New York) is important to the understanding of Dutch colonial society. Beverwijck's heterogeneous society of freemen lived in a densely configured, isolated settlement situated 150 miles from the seat of the colonial government in New Amsterdam. Given the social tensions and political problems inherent to this competitive, ethnically diverse, compact, isolated community, Beverwijck had the components for a lawless, frontier society. Indeed, historians have assumed that it was a rude place, lacking culture and order.;By examining local and colonial court, notarial, and church records, colonial and Dutch laws, and private correspondence, this study reveals that instead, Beverwijck was a stable, viable community. As were all the communities in the colony, it was governed by a court which acted in administrative, executive, and judicial capacities. Its duties and laws strictly adhered to the customary and statutory laws of Holland which affected nearly every aspect of daily life.;The centrality of the court to the community gave the society its focus and structure. It provided a forum, through litigation and petitions, for the community's economic, political, and interpersonal concerns. Furthermore, because of the liberality of Dutch law, women enjoyed broader rights than did their English counterparts in colonial America, not the least of which was the ability to actively participate in the commercial culture.;The demands of a New World society did not change Dutch jurisprudence. Colonial ordinances were shaped to conform to the intent of Dutch law. Designed to support a commercial culture in the Netherlands, the legal system was equally apt for the trading society of Beverwijck and New Netherland.