xlii        Early Maryland County Courts.


           that in these county court records the designation, jury of inquest, seems to
           have been used by the clerks more or less indiscriminately for a grand jury or
           grand inquest, as well as for a jury of inquest summoned by a coroner, or by
           a sheriff or constable acting as a coroner.
             The Act of March 1638/9 "for the appointment of Certaine Officers” which
           like the other acts passed at this session failed to become a law, provided for
           the appointment in each hundred of a high constable with the same power and
           authority that officer had in England (Arch. Md. i, 54-55). This was of course
           before any counties had been erected. The constable, although the prefix “ high”
           is ordinarily omitted, is constantly mentioned in these county court records.
           in the commission appointing the members of the Isle of Kent Court, dated
           March i, 1654, the court was empowered to deliver for service warrants to
           the sheriff or constable (Arch. Md. liv, 24). Somewhat later the appointment
           of constables by the county courts seems to have become established and is
           constantly referred to. There is an entry in the Kent records for June 3, 166i,
           that “William Elliott was Chosen by the inhabitants of the lower hundred to
           Offitiett the office of Constable “, which indicates that the wishes of a neigh
           borhood were considered in making such appointments (Arch. Md. liv, 220).
           William Elliott, a Quaker, appointed a constable in Kent in 1661, refused the
           oath” for Contiens sake “, and was put under bonds for his future appearance
           in court (Arch. Md. liv, 220).
             The number of constables in a county varied with its size and the number
           of hundreds into which it was divided. Thus in September, 1666, four constables
           were appointed in Somerset County, and in March 1666 six in Talbot County
           (Arch. Md. liv, 463, 643). The oath taken by the Kent constable in 166i in a
           general way indicates the duties of his office (Arch. Md. liv, 203). He was
           “ withine his Limmits “to see to it that the peace was truly kept, he was to appre
           hend delinquents, and to execute all precepts and warrants for the Provincial
           and county authorities, and to “execute all other things belonging to a con
           stable “. The records of the county court, however, show in detail the con
           stables' duties, which in certain instances seem to overlap those of the sheriff
           and coroner. Thus we find him, before the grand jury came into general use,
           “presenting” to the county court persons accused by him of “loose living “.
           fornication, adultery, drunkenness, swearing, and disturbing the peace. Wt
           also find him apprehending runaway servants and occasionally serving war
           rants, a function usually exercised by the sheriff. As already pointed out, there
           are several instances in which the constable held juries of inquest over dead
           bodies, thus exercising the duties of coroner (p. xli). There is an instance
           where a Charles County constable was sent by a court to view a tobacco crop
           and report on its condition. Both constables and sheriffs were expected to attend
           court meetings; the Somerset Court in November 1666 peremptorily ordered
           two constables who had been absent to appear at the next meeting of the grand
           jury (Arch. Md. liv, 649).
             The great majority of those who appeared as attorneys in the county courts
           were really attorneys in fact, acting as agents for litigants under a power of
           attorney in each case, and not as attorneys at law, although in the early county