In 1664, a man named Richard Nicolls frocibly seized the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam and renamed the province and the main city for the duke of York. Nicolls and his followers took New Amsterdam from the Dutch with little or no difficulty. Under the authority of a commission from the duke of York, Richard became the first governor of the English colony of New York. Nicolls was vigorous but tactful, and the transition to new order was made without any problems with regard to the interests of the conquered people. Under the English system of law, people were guaranteed in the possession of their property rights, their laws of inheritance and the enjoyment of religious freedoms. He was a very efficient governor, he issued the colony’s first legal codes known as the Duke’s Laws. These set of codes allowed trail by jury, proportional taxations on properties, and issuance of new patents for land. He also balanced the interests of the English and Dutch settlers and bought English interests into New York. Richard Nicolls only served for three years, and has changed a lot for what was to be become of New York today.