State v. Champlin

The question to be determined upon this information is, whether the respondent is a member of the town council of New Shoreham by virtue of his office as first warden of that town. The self-constituted towns of Providence, Portsmouth, Newport, and Warwick came into union and organized the colony under the charter of 1643-44, and the same towns were recognized in the charter of 1663. The first addition to their number was the town of Westerly in 1669, under a general vote giving the same privileges which the other towns enjoyed. R. I. Col. Rec. Vol. ii. p. 250. The next town added was New…