Conquered Territory.

New Netherland became New York when England defeated the Netherlands in the Second Anglo-Dutch War of 1664. But English authorities confronted a delicate situation with the Dutch culture that had grown there since the colony's founding four decades earlier. They had to accommodate their new subjects and at the same time not alienate them.

Accommodation.

The Dutch courts that had developed before 1664 were called burgomaster (mayoral) courts. They used a legal system derived from Roman law, unlike English courts, which used English common law. The burgomaster courts were awkward for the English, but the new governor, Francis Nichols, recognized that some accommodation would have to be worked out if he was to rule the colony. The agreements that resulted were known as the Duke's Laws because they operated under the authority of the proprietor, the king's brother, James, the Duke of York...