The present study deals with certain influences the 1580 Political Ordinance of the States of Holland and West Friesland had in the English-speaking world, specifically in relation to the Plymouth Colony in the present-day Commonwealth of Massachusetts and South Africa. Regarding the former, there is a survey of the introduction of the institution of civil marriage by the Pilgrims at the Plymouth Colony and the Dutch background to this particular development. In relation to South Africa, there is an analysis of the lack of intestacy inheritance between spouses in that country in the past due to the system of inheritance rooted in the 1580 Political Ordinance, and the changes that took place in connection to this with the passing of time.