Colony

A union of citizens or subjects who have left their country to people another, and remain subject to ihe mothercountry. 3 Wash. C. C. (U. S.) 287. The country occupied by the colonists. A colony differs from a possession or a dependency.

A union of citizens or subjects who have left their country to people another, and remain subject to the mother-country. U. S. v. The Nancy, 3 Wash. C. C. 287, Fed. Cas. No. 15,854. A tract of territory subordinate to the inhabitants of a different tract of country, and ruled by authorities wholly or in part responsible to the main administration, instead of to the people of their own region, quoted by J. B. Thayer (Legal Essays 166) from Prof. Hart. In conquered or ceded countries, their laws remain in force until changed, but where a colony is planted in an uninhabited country, the colonists carry with them all the English laws that are applicable to their condition; 1 Steph. Com. 6-7. The country occupied by the colonists. A colony differs from a possession or a dependency. See Dependency. A province of Canada is not a British colony or dependency; [1911] 2 Ch. 58. See Burge, Colonial Laws, by Renton & Phillimore.

A dependent political community, consisting of a number of citizens of the same country who have emigrated therefrom to pcople another, and remain subject to the mother-country. U. S. v. The Nancy, 8 Wash. C. C. 287, Fed. Cas. No. 15,854. A settlement in a foreign country possessed and cultivated, either wholly or partially, by immigrants and their descendants, who have a political connection with and subordination to the mother-country, whence they emigrated. In other words, it is a place peopled from some more ancient city or country. Wharton.

— Colonial laws. In America, this term designates the body of law in force in the thirteen original colonies before the Declaration of Independence. In England, the term signifies the laws enacted by Canada and the other present British colonies.

— Colonial office. In the English government, this is the department of state through which the sovereign appoints colonial governors, etc., and communicates with them. Until the year 1854, the secretary for the colonies was also secretary for war.

A dependent political community, consisting of a number of citizens of the same country who have emigrated therefrom to people another, and remain subject to the mother-country. 3 Wash. C. C. 287. A settlement in a foreign country possessed and cultivated, either wholly or partially, by immigrants and their descendants, who have a political connection with and subordination to the mother-country, whence they emigrated. In other words, it is a place peopled from some more ancient city or country. Wharton.