xvi            Letter of Transmittal.





             1657 to 1777, when the central jurisdiction over testamentary matters was
             abolished. It may be added that abstracts of the early Maryland wills, down
             to the year 1744, have been printed under private auspices as Baldwin's The
             Maryland Calendar of Wills.
               The justices who served as members of the Provincial Court at the opening
             of the period covered by this volume were Governor Charles Calvert, later
             third Lord Baltimore, Philip Calvert, the Chancellor and an uncle of the
             Governor, Henry Sewell, the Secretary of the Province, Robert Clarke a former
             Surveyor-General, John Bateman, Baker Brooke, who married a niece of the
             Lord Proprietary, Jerome White, Henry Coursey, and Edward Lloyd. Bateman
             died late in the year 1663 and Clarke in July 1664, and their places were filled by
             \Villiam Evans and Thomas Truman. Henry Sewell went to England in the
             summer of 1664 and died soon afterwards. As has already been shown the men
             who sat on the Provincial Court were the same group that made up the Council
             and the Upper House.
               During the three and a half year period which this volume covers the Pro
             vincial Court met twelve times as follows: March 25—April I, 1663; April 8,
             1663; May 3 1663 (as a Court of Admiralty); September 8-11, 1663; Feb
             ruary 9-I2, 1664; April 5-6, 1664; July 5-6, 1664; October 4-6, 1664; Decem
             ber 20-22, 1664; March 1-3, 1665; October 10-17, 1665; January 2-5, 1666.
             The March, 1663, session was held at St. Leonard's and the Admiralty ses
             sion at St. John's; all the other meetings were held at St. Mary's, doubtless
             in the house bought from Hannah Lee in 1662 for use as a State House,
             which figures so extensively in the records of the court found in this volume.
               Of the men who appear as attorneys before the Provincial Court at this
             period, few, if any, were lawyers; and the same may be said with equal, truth
             of the justices themselves. The names of some thirty men occur as attorneys
             representing various litigants before the court. Many of these were planters
             and officials of prominence. We name a few: Dr. Luke Barber, William Calvert,
             Thomas Dent, William Evans, Josias Fendall, George Gouldsmith, John Git
             tings, Daniel Jenifer, Dr. John Lumbrozo, John Morecroft, James Neale,
             Thomas Notley, Thomas Manning, Francis Riggs, Thomas Sprigg, Nicholas
             Spencer, and Robert Slye.
               The matters brought before the Provincial Court during the four years
             included in this volume are very numerous and cover a variety of subjects.
             Apart from the legal interest, which makes special mention here of several of
             the cases well worth while, many of the entries have sufficient historical, per
             sonal, or human interest to render them especially deserving of the reader's
             attention. Perhaps the majority of the cases are suits for debt brought before
             the court in order to secure a judgment against the debtor, and execution
             against his property and person, the latter resulting in imprisonment, if the debt
             were not paid. Considering the comparatively small population of the Province
             at this time and the fact that innumerable suits for small matters were also
             brought in the county and manorial courts, the large amount of litigation is
             surprising. To attempt to present anything like a complete analysis or com
             ment upon all the cases brought before the court which are recorded in these