James Duane, eminent New York lawyer, wrote in 1770 to William Samuel Johnson, conducting the legendary Mohegan Indians v. Connecticut appeal in London, that the picture you draw of the court of appeals, indeed from sad experience, is enough to deter an American from pursuing his right, however keen his resentment of supposed injustice in the decision of his countrymen. It is a grievance which ought to be remedied; but alas very small would be the attention of power to such complaint however well grounded. Dependance and subordination demand that we should pursue for justice a thousand leagues; grasp at the phantom till impatience and poverty convince us of our folly; and then return home disappointed and ruined. Fixt courts and stated terms, as you well observe, would in a great degree alleviate the evil; and surely it is of so grievous a nature that so much might at least be expected to make it tolerable. 429 Probably much of this attitude derived from Duane's participation in the controversy centering around Cunningham v. Forsey. 430 In August, 1774, William Drayton, South Carolina judge, as part of an American claim of rights, attributed the present discontents in part to "there not being any constitutional Courts of Ordinary and of Chancery in America, and by appeals being under the jurisdiction of the King and Privy Council, as the dernier resort." 431 It was urged as a corrective that there ought to be constitutional Courts of Ordinary and of Chancery in each colony, that for the ease of the subject distant from England there ought to be appeals from such Chancery Courts to the respective upper legislative bodies and from thence to the House of Lords, the only constitutional resort for justice in the empire. - It was contended that the same reasons which had induced Parliament to deprive the King in Council of judicial power in England were operative in the case of the colonial governor and council. 433 This exercise of judicial power was contrary to the common law. According to Coke, the King, having delegated his whole judicial power to the several courts, could not personally distribute justice. The respective governors, representative of the crown, were in no better position personally to exercise judicial power. 434 Propriety of 429 Duane to Johnson, Dec. 9, 1770; Wm. Samuel fohnson MSS, Letters to Johnson, iy6o-Ss, #45. See also Duane to Johnson, Jan. 14, 1772 (ibid., #49), mentioning that though a cause might be so managed as to carry an appeal home, "the remedy would prove as bad as the disease." 430 See Alexander, A Revolutionary Conservative, fames Duane of New York. (1938), 27. 431 A Letter from "Freeman" of South Caro- Una to the Deputies of North America, Assembled in the High Court of Congress at Philadelphia, i Documentary History of the American Revolution (ed. R. W. Gibbes-1855), 15. 432 /&