Early Maryland County Courts.   xxix

       following sessions, held in January and March, Lucy sued Turner for its
       maintenance, he having since acknowledged that he was the father of the child
       and made her an offer of marriage which she refused. One of the grounds
       for her reftisal to marry him was that “ bee was a lustful, very lustful man
       to which he is said to have retorted in kind with sordid details to substantiate
       his assertion. The jury awarded her an annual allowance for the care of the
       child, which aggregated more than 3000 pounds of tobacco (pp. 30-3 3, 37-38).
       Turner thereupon appealed to the Provincial Court, which set aside the allow
       ance award on the grounds that Lucy had rejected his offer of marriage and
       support (Arch. Md. xli, 291-294).
        Two servants of Mr. Henry Coursey, charged with bastardy at the January
       1671/2 session of the Talbot County Court, were ordered twenty lashes each
       on their bare backs. They were then given permission by their master to marry
       if they agreed to give him satisfaction by additional service for every child
       they might have (Arch. Md. liv, 518). It is not clear, however, whether this
       arrangement saved them from the whipping post.
        There are a number of cases in all four counties where both men and women
       were brought before the court, usually upon the information of constables, vari
       ously charged with “ loose living “, “ incontinent living “, “ incontinence “, or
       fornication “. Women in such cases were almost invariably servants. The
       act of 1654 concerning adultery and fornication left the punishment, which
       was not to extend to life or member, to the discretion of the court (Arch. Md. i,
       344-345). Presentment in such cases was usually by a justice or a constable,
       and later by the grand jury. If the woman would not divulge the name of the
       father so that he could be held liable for damages to her master, were she a
       servant, besides the whipping which she ordinarily received, she was ordered
       to serve an additional term of servitude to reimburse her master for the loss
       of her time and the maintenance of her child, the court fixing the damages
       which it thought fit. The punishment inflicted by the court upon the mother
       and father varied greatly, depending upon the surrounding circumstances of
       the case. Unless a marriage resulted the court usually ordered that the mother
       be whipped as soon as she was strong enough after her confinement to receive
       her punishment. The number of lashes varied from ten to thirty. Whipping
       was ordered by the Kent County Court in the case of a girl guilty of bastardy,
       although as proof of her betrothal it was shown that a piece of money had been
       broken between her and the man, an old custom to signalize an engagement of
       marriage (Arch. Md. liv, 205, 211).
        The punishments inflicted in the county courts, which of course did not extend
       to loss of life or member, ranged from admonition in open court to flogging,
       although the law of 1642 provided that a gentleman might not be whipped,
       presumably the court to be the judge as to who was a gentleman (Arch. Md. i,
       184). Another act providing for the “punishment of certain lesse capital
       offences “, authorized not only corporal punishment, but also provided that
       offenders might be” put to shame as the Court shall think the crime to deserve”
       (Arch. Md. i, 158). Gentlemen seem to have been exempt from this punish
       ment also. Thirty lashes appear to have been the maximum number noted in