Právněhistorické studie / Legal History Studies (Charles University journal; below referred to as PHS or Journal) is a scientific journal listed in the international prestigious database SCOPUS. The journal is published by Charles University in Prague under the guarantee of the Department of Legal History of the Faculty of Law of Charles University. It is published by the Karolinum Press. The journal focuses on the field of legal history and related topics.
Issue 1 of the Journal was published by the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences Publishing in June 1955. The Journal was initially published by the Cabinet of Legal History of the Czechoslovak Academy of Science (CSAV), later by the Institute of State and Law (CSAV) and then by the Institute of Legal History of the Faculty of Law of Charles University.
PHS is issued three times a year in April, August, and December and it presents original scientific works/papers as well as reviews, annotations and news from the scientific field of legal history. It also introduces annotated texts of a legal history nature. PHS accepts manuscripts from domestic as well as foreign authors. Manuscripts submitted by foreign authors are published in original language, namely in English, Slovak, German, French, Italian or Polish.
PHS (ISSN 0079-4929) is registered in the Czech national ISSN centre (supervised by the State Technical Library). The Journal is registered by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic according to Act No. 46/2000 Sb., on Rights and Liabilities for the Publishing of Periodicals and Change of Some Acts (Press Act), and it is allocated with registration number of periodical press MK E 18813.
PHS is an open journal and ensures open access to scientific data (Open Access). The entire content is released as open to the public on the web pages of the journal.
The journal is archived in Portico.
PRÁVNĚHISTORICKÉ STUDIE, Vol 20 No 1 (1977), 145–159
ArticleStátní ústrojí Massachusetts v letech 1629–1644 (Z dějin ústavního práva USA v koloniálním období)
[Government in Massachusetts in the Period 1629–1944 (A chapter from the constitutional history of the United States in the colonial period)]
Stanislav Balík
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14712/2464689X.2026.436
published online: 26. 05. 2020
abstract
The colonial government in Massachusetts, which began to form under a Royal Charter issued in 1629, passed through a period of complex development between 1629 and 1644. At its onset was a colonial body known as the Governor and Council of London’s Plantation in the Massachusetts Bay in New England, but at its end there already were a Governor, an Executive Council and, in particular, an elected bicameral legislature. Very important factors in the development of the governmental structure in Massachusetts were the transfer of the Massachusetts Company and its charter to America, the formation of a unicameral legislative assembly in 1634, the enactment of the Body of Liberties in 1641, which governed the jurisdiction and interrelationship of the central bodies of the colony, and the transformation of the existing unicameral legislature into a bicameral body. While the transfer of the Massachusetts Company and its charter to America was brought about by a group of prominent stockholders, the subsequent development was due to political struggle waged by the colonists against the ruling group. This is especially true of the constitutional changes effected between 1634 and 1644. Although this development had its ups and downs and was marked by compromises, its results undoubtedly affected the subsequent history of the governmental structure of one of the oldest American colonies.
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ISSN: 0079-4929
E-ISSN: 2464-689X
