Back in England, there was considerable debate over the status of the American settlements, which largely centred on the question of whether the English Parliament had jurisdiction over their territories or the Crown could administer them directly. The issue had some significance in the tensions between king and Parliament, which culminated with the execution of Charles I in 1649. Some judges backed the king and his claims to rule without any constraints, and it seemed for a while as if this might undermine the authority of the common law and its ability to control monarchical absolutism, for
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