Introduction.              xxv

     On December 13, 1669, the Provincial Court issued the following order
    regulating appeals from the county courts: “Ordered That all appeales from
    the County Courts to this Court shall Stand for Habeas Corpus's and that the
    plaintiff declare anew here and the defendant to putt his answer and the
    same cause be heard the same Court”. (p. 486).

                      CRIMINAL CASES

     The Provincial Court had exclusive jurisdiction in all criminal actions in
    which the penalty by law involved loss of life or member. The county courts
    ordinarily tried criminal cases of a less serious nature and could even order
    culprits flogged, but this record shows that the Provincial Court occasionally
    assumed jurisdiction over these less serious cases, especially when these had
    occurred in St Mary's or Calvert counties. Thus we find on several occasions,
    as recorded here, it tried cases of bastardy, trivial assault, fighting and quarrel-
    ing, malicious damage of property, and women charged with loose living, ordi-
    narily heard in the county courts.
     While the court procedure in criminal trials was in most respects the same
    as that followed now, there are certain differences of interest. As in Mary-
    land to-day the accused was given the chance of “putting himself upon the
    country”, which meant a trial by jury, or he might ask to be tried by the court.
    In most of the criminal cases tried during this period the accused asked for a
    jury trial. In the two trials for barratry and in some of the contempt proceed-
    ings, however, no defense was made, and the accused threw themselves upon
    the mercy of the court. At this period those charged with criminal offenses
    were not represented by counsel, and we find that they were frequently, per-
    haps always, called upon to testify in their own behalf. Prosecution was con-
    ducted by the Attorney General.
     In this five year period the Provincial Court had before it those charged
    with murder, rape, hog-stealing and other forms of theft, barratry, misde-
    meanors, contemptuous speaking, and also occasionally such trivial offences as
    those referred to in the previous paragraph. It also heard charges of neglect
    of duty by such public officers as sheriffs, coroners, overseers of highways, and
    j urymen.
     The court minutes under some of the clerks were kept in such a way that
    the detailed steps of the procedure in these criminal cases are clearly presented,
    while other clerks were more sketchy and gave a mere summary. Thus we
    usually find in the trial of felonies, as for instance in a murder case, the find-
    ings of the coroner's jury held in the county where the murder occurred, the
    record of the calling together in the Provincial Court by the sheriff of the
    grand jury, with the names of the foreman and other jurymen, the present-
    ment of the accused by the Attorney-General to the grand jury, the formal
    indictment”, the plea of guilty or not guilty by the accused in court, the choice
    by the accused of trial “by his country” (petit jury), or by the court, the
    selection of the petit jury with the foreman and other jurymen named, the
    names of the witnesses but with few details as to the character of their testi