34 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

unsatisfactory. The lands were to extend sixteen
miles along the shore on one side of a navigable
river, or eight miles on both sides of a river, and so
far into the country as the situation of the colonies
and their settlers permitted. The patroons were
entitled to dispose of their grants by will, and they
were free to traffic along the coast of New Nether-
land for all goods except furs, which were to be the
special perquisite of the West India Company.
They were forbidden to allow the weaving of linen,
woolen, or cotton cloth on their estates, the looms
in Holland being hungry for raw material.

The Company agreed that it would not take
any one from the service of the patroon during the
years for which the servant was bound, and any
colonist who should without written permission
enter the service of another patroon or "betake
himself to freedom3' was to be proceeded against
with all the available force of the law. The es-
caped servant would fare ill if his case came before
the courts, since it was one of the prerogatives of a
patroon to administer high, middle, and low jus-
tice— that is, to appoint magistrates and erect
courts which should deal with all grades of crimes
committed within the limits of the manor and
also with breaches of the civil law. In civil cases.