In a projected four-volume series, The Common Law in Colonial America, William E. Nelson will show how the legal systems of Britain's thirteen North American colonies, which were initially established in response to divergent political, economic, and religious initiatives, slowly converged until it became possible by the 1770s to imagine that all thirteen participated in a common American legal order, which diverged in its details but differed far more substantially from English common law. Volume three, The Chesapeake and New England, 1660-1750, reveals how Virginia, which was founded to earn profit, and Massachusetts, which was founded for Puritan religious ends, had both adopted the common law by the mid-eighteenth century and begun to converge toward a common American legal model. The law in the other New England colonies, Nelson argues, although it was distinctive in some respects, gravitated toward the Massachusetts model, while Maryland's law gravitated toward that of Virginia.

IntroductionI. Maryland and the Shift to ProtestantismA. Maryland's Unique Judicial System1. The Neutrality of Judges2. The Law-Finding Power of JuriesB. The Substance of Maryland's Law1. Commercial Litigation2. Debt Collection3. Land Law4. The Law of Slavery and Servitude5. Administrative Law6. Criminal LawC. SummaryII. The Weakness of the Law in Post-Restoration VirginiaIII. Strengthening Virginia's Legal OrderA. The Switch from White to Black LaborB. Patronage and Noblesse ObligeC. Law and ReligionD. Reception of the Common LawE. Judge and JuryIV. Center and Periphery: The Localization of Power in Colonial VirginiaA. The Jurisdiction of Country CourtsB. The Structure of Political PowerC. The Structure of Legal KnowledgeD. The Independence of County CourtsV. The Substance of Virginia LawA. Capital and DebtB. Land LawC. The Law of SlaveryVI. The Persistence of Puritan Law in Massachusetts, 1660-1685A. Reception of the Common LawB. Law and ReligionC. Law and MoralityD. Morality and the Regulation of the EconomyE. Morality as a Restraint on Power1. Servants and Laborers2. Strangers3. Married WomenF. SummaryVII. The Establishment of Royal Government and Continued Reception of the Common LawA. Preserving the Puritan Structure of InstitutionsB. Continued Reception of the Common LawC. The Emergence of Substantive LawVIII. The Continued Preservation of Puritan LawA. Puritan Inheritance LawB. Law and ReligionC. Law and MoralityD. Morality and Regulation of the EconomyE. Morality as a Restraint on Power1. Servants and Laborers2. Strangers and the Poor3. Married WomenF. SummaryIX. The New England Satellites: Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, 1660-1750A. The Early Replication of Puritan Legality1. Criminal Law2. Administrative Jurisdiction3. Civil Procedure4. Substantive LawB. The Professionalization and Formalization of the Law1. Juries as Lawfinders2. Pleading and Procedure3. Substantive LawC. SummaryX. Conclusion: The Success of British Imperial Policy