Browsing: Legal Papers of John Adams, Volume 2

18. The Province law was the Act of 26 June 1699, c. 3, § 1, 1 A&R 370, set out in note 46 98 below. For the 1754 refusal to act, see note 9 61 below. The Superior Court could be said to have had a jurisdiction equivalent to that of the Exchequer over breaches of the Acts of Trade in England, because the acts applicable to the colonies gave concurrent jurisdiction of breaches there to the Courts of Vice Admiralty and the common-law courts. The Superior Court also had jurisdiction of breaches of provincial revenue acts. See 15 Car. 2, c. 7, §§6, 8 (1663); Act of 31 Jan. 1761, c. 20, §§14, 15, 20, 4 A&R 407. No evidence of a significant exercise of the jurisdiction under the English statutes has been found in the records or files of the Superior Court, however, and there seem to have been few actions under the Province acts. See p. 99, note 9, above; note 30 82 below. For Parliament's later efforts to meet the problem of a general colonial lack of Exchequer jurisdiction, see note 29 below.