Ken MacMillan. Sovereignty and Possession in the English New World: The Legal Foundations of Empire, 1576–1640. New York: Cambridge University Press. 2006. Pp. xiv, 235. $90.00

How did the English justify their right to govern and settle the New World? What arguments did they use to establish colonies on land that was invariably claimed by others, and what were the implications of those arguments for the subsequent history of English and, eventually, British America? As Ken MacMillan notes in the opening pages of this important new book, such questions have long interested British and American historians, yet few have written about them with the clarity and insight that MacMillan achieves here. Drawing on a broad array of sources, including maps, travel narratives, colonial charters, promotional tracts, and diplomatic papers, MacMillan is chiefly interested in two problems: first, the legal arguments with which the English sought to gain the recognition of Europe's other maritime powers (especially Spain and France) for their right to settle in the...