viii              Letter of Transmittal.

           cipally in the years 1641, 1642, 1645, and 1646, when the Province was reflect
           ing the civil disturbances in the mother country between the king and parliament.
             The early history of the general court of the Province, which by 1640 had
           probably begun to be called the Provincial Court, and its evolution during the
           first three or four decades following the settlement in 1634, have not received
           the careful and detailed study which they deserve. This, the fourth volume
           of the Archives dealing with the proceedings of the court, brings us down to
           the year 1666, and to the close of the period when the history of the court is
           obscure. It therefore seems a good point at which to reexamine the steps in its
           development and its confusing relations to the various county courts.
             Although it is certain that as late as the year 1649, the General Assembly
           as a whole sat as a court of law, it did so only infrequently. There is no doubt,
           however, that from the settlement, justice was ordinarily administered by the
           Governor and Council, the latter body being identical in personnel with what was
           after 1649 known as the Upper House of the Assembly, and at all times more
           readily available as a body than the more cumbersome and larger General
           Assembly, composed of both the Upper and Lower houses. Furthermore under
           his charter the administration of justice was reserved to the Proprietary, and
           in his Governor and Council he possessed a body over which he had full con
           trol. So there can be little question that it was to confirm a custom already
           existent, as well as a warning of “hands off” to the freemen of the Province,
           that under date of April 15, 1637, Cecilius, Lord Baltimore, issued from Lon
           don his commission, or letter of instruction, to Governor Leonard Calvert and
           his Council, formally empowering them, among other things, to try and deter
           mine all civil and criminal cases, although the letter does not designate the
           name by which such a court was to be known (Arch. Md. III, 53). It is prob
           able that during the first three or four years following the settlement, when
           sitting in their judicial capacity, the Governor and Council were simply known
           as “The Court,” but for this early period no record of their sessions, as such,
           exists.
             It was at the close of the year 1637, however, that changes took place in the
           government of the Province which gave rise to certain changes in the administra
           tion of justice. Until this time the settlement on Kent Island had been governed
           entirely by the Provincial authorities sitting at the town of St. Mary's. On
           December 30, 1637, Captain John Evelyn was made Commander of the Isle of
           Kent and given authority to appoint six or more additional commissioners to hold
           court with him, with powers in civil cases not involving more than ten pounds
           sterling, and in criminal cases with powers similar to those exercised by justices
           of the peace in England sitting in their Court of Sessions (Arch. Md. III, 59).
           On January 24, 1638, we find for the first time St. Mary's referred to as a
           county, and John Lewger appointed Conservator of the Peace there, with
           powers apparently limited to those of a single justice of the peace in England
           (Arch. Md. III, 6o). It will be noted, that although Kent Island was not given
           a county status at this time and is referred to simply as a hundred of St. Mary's
           County, justice in Kent, in all save cases of major importance, was to be
           administered locally. In St. Mary's County, however, except as regards the