what the hell is it talking aobut?

forestsky

I would suggest that to analyze the sentence in the way following:

the religious and experiential elements in the legal development of Polymouth merge more closely (in relation to) NOWHERE than in relation to the colonist idea [as to the form in which law was to be expressed], (in either seemingly unprecedented enthusiasm for the lex script, (or) for codification.)

翻译：在polymouth法系的发展中，就法律的表达形式而言，宗教和经验的因素和殖民思想的关系最紧密。（这个紧密的关系表现在对法律条文和法典的前所未有的热情上）