Problem scenario
You read the Declaration of Independence. One part refers to the free system of English laws. What are those laws?
Answer
Those laws were English common law. The Quebec Act of 1774 reversed the prevailing common law (also known as the "free system of English laws") and set forth governance by French civil law for non-criminal activity (according to Brittanica.com).
Many American colonists viewed the act as a measure of coercion.
https://www.britannica.com/event/Quebec-Act