Letter of Transmittal.       xxi

    justify this, or where, as in the case of writs, the stereotyped phraseology makes
    the missing words certain.
      One abbreviation, constantly recurring in the record from 1675 to 1679,
    when Bloomfield and Painter were the registers, for a while gave rise to some
    uncertainty. In the brief notation made by the Register in recording the is-
    suance of certain writs out of Chancery, such as scire facias, replevin, and ne
    exeat provinciam, issued for service to the various county sheriffs, recurs fre-
    quently the abbreviated Latin phrase “ad vic Corn St. Maries “, or “ad vie
    Corn Bait; “, etc., as the county may be, and in one instance “ad vice Corn
    Kent” (page 164). This is without question an abbreviation for “ad vice-
    comitem Comitis St. Maries “, to be translated thus: “To the sheriff (vice-
    cornitem) of the County (Comitis) of St Maries “. This interpretation is
    confirmed by the entry of a writ on page 196 reading, “ad Coron:r Corn. Ch:
    obviously to be translated, “to the Coroner of Charles County “. The question
    is only raised because in one instance the clerk instead of “vic” has written
    “vicend” (page 289), suggesting the possibility that the abbreviation “vie”
    or “vice “ might be that for some other Latin word than vicecomes.
      For the index to this volume of the Archives the editor is indebted to Miss
    Elizabeth Mann and Mr. Herbert T. Tiffany. While Miss Mann i3 responsible
    for the index in general, those portions of it dealing with the more technical
    legal aspects of the subject matter have been compiled by Mr. Tiffany, the
    author of well known legal textbooks, and also the Reporter of the decisions of
    the Maryland Court of Appeals and editor of its Maryland Reports. The index
    is preceded by a table of cases which are to be found in this volume of the
    Proceedings of the Court of Chancery.
      The next volume of the Archiz'es, which is now in press, will be the Pro-
    ceedings and Acts of the General Assembly of Maryland for the years 1755 and
    1756, to be followed later by two volumes of mid-seventeenth century county
    court proceedings.
                             Respectfully submitted,
                                SAMUEL K. DENNIS,

                                J.     HALL PLEASANTS (editor),
                                JOHN M. VINCENT,

                                   Committee on Publication.