therein Mentioned, to be null and void, but does not say, where or by whom To 
be held null and void, and whether Such Nullity, is to be held as Rules for the 
Judges of the Courts of Law to go by, or as Rules for the Crown whereupon to 
Repeal Such Laws; Judges from the nature of their Office, are, and must be Expositors 
of Law, and so must Judges in the plantations; Some Rules for their Judgment, 
both as to Acts of Parliament, and provincial Acts of Assembly, ought to be 
set forth in their Commission, And their Oath of Office, adapted thereto, But Even 
then, as Judges may Differ in Opinion, and as a Judicial Judgment, given in Courts 
of Law, upon a Matter, In Consequence of an Act of Assembly, will not have the 
same Effect, as a Repeal of the Act, for such Act will still be pleadable in any other 
Case, till the Act itself Comes to be Repealed; The powers therefore of Making, and 
of Repealing Laws, and the powers of Reversing Judgments and Decrees given on 
Such Acts of Assembly in the plantations, Ought therefore to be Examined into, 
and Suited to the Interest of the Mother Country, as well as To the private Utillity 
of Individuals, who may be affected by such plantation Laws. 
On the question then of whether the powers of making laws possessed by 
the several colonies were "duly exercised" Abercromby proposed a reform 
in section 23 of his suggested act. The "whereas" clause of this section after 
paraphrasing section 9 of 7 and 8 William 111, c. 22, recited as follows: 
and for as Much as that, it has frequently happened, and may hereafter so happen, 
That Laws or Acts of Assembly have been heretofore made and may hereafter be 
made in the plantations, That are not Agreable to the Laws of this Kingdom in 
the like Cases, and yet According to the Strict Letter of the Aforesaid Act of Parliament, 
Such plantation Laws, Cannot be said, To be Repugnant to the Laws of 
England, when the Plantations are not Expressly mentioned therein, and the Said 
Act of Parliament, and more particularly the 9th Clause thereof, being the only 
Act of this Kingdom, Declaratory of or relating To the Authority of Provincial 
Legislatures in the plantations, Many and different doubts have therefore thereupon 
Arisen, And do Still Exist in the plantations, According to their Respective 
Constitutions of Government, and the Constitution and Institution of provincial 
Courts of Judicature, and whereby, the Judges of Such Courts, are laid under great 
difficulties, in point of Judgment upon Such Acts of Assembly So made as aforesaid, 
from the words of the said Acts of Parliament, and whether the Repugnancy 
therein mentioned, does Extend to, and Comprehend any other Laws of this 
Kingdom, but Statute Laws, and Such Statutes only, as do relate to Trade and 
Navigation, And Such as are therein mentioned, or, whether to Such Statute Laws, 
or to any other Statutes in any other Sence or Meaning, than where Such Statutes, 
do particularly mention the plantations, or, whether Such Repugnancy, is not To be 
taken and held to Comprehend the Common Law of this Kingdom, where the 
Prerogative Royal, and the Liberty of the Subject, are concerned, and to Comprehend, 
all Acts of Parliament that are Made, in Declaration Or Amendment of the 
Common Law in Such Cases, Relative to the Kings Prerogative, or the Liberty