xiv Letter of Transmittal.

in England to have the law as passed by the Assembly annulled by the Pro-
prietary, and when he refused, by the Crown.

An act relating to the marriage of Charles Carroll of Carrollton arouses
one's interest. A bill was introduced and passed at the 1768 Assembly
under which Mary Darnall, then a girl of nineteen years, in consideration of a
settlement upon her of £300 a year by her prospective husband, waived all her
dower rights. Nowhere in the bill is the name of her husband-to-be disclosed.
It would appear that the wedding was actually held up for a few days until
the act was finally passed. The reason why Daniel Dulany voted against the bill
on legal grounds are of interest and are explained in the Introduction.

Baltimore Town is brought to our attention by the passage of two acts affect-
ing it. Petitions were circulated throughout Baltimore County, which then
included what is now Harford and parts of Carroll counties, seeking to have
the county seat removed from the dying town of Joppa to the rapidly growing
Baltimore Town. These petitions, asking for the removal of the county seat
from Joppa to Baltimore, bore the names of 2271 signers. Many of these
were Germans living in Baltimore Town and the sections to the west of the
town. Petitions were circulated in both English and German. Petitions oppos-
ing removal were also presented bearing the names of 901 signers. Most of
these, as one would expect, were residents of what is now Harford County.
Hearings were held before the Assembly and an act passed, authorizing the
removal of the county seat, and the erection of the court house and prison in
Baltimore Town. Better accommodations for suitors, witnesses, and jurymen
in Baltimore with its many inns and the increasing population of this part of
the county, and the inadequate and delapidated court house at Joppa, were
among the reasons urged for removal. Also showing the increasing importance
of Baltimore as a commercial center and port, was the passage in 1768 of an act
providing for the inspection and grading of flour and various other commodi-
ties dealt in there. It was to the rapidly developing export trade in flour that
Baltimore largely owed its prosperity at this date.

Disputed elections of delegates from Baltimore County resulted in the four
members returned as elected from this county, being on two separate occasions
unseated. In the first instance the Lower House declared their seats vacated
because liquor had been so freely used among the voters on election day as to
be construed a form of election bribery. In the second instance, in 1769, it
appears that the sheriff had not properly conducted the election. The details of
these irregular elections as revealed at hearings before the house are amusing.

The output of legislation for this three year period was sixty-four acts
passed; these were general laws, local laws and private laws. In addition one
act was passed by both houses which received the veto of Governor Sharpe,