xl Introduction.

The bills involving changes in legal procedure which failed of passage were
the following: (1) For the issuing of writs of replevin out of the county
courts; a bill with this title had also failed of passage at the preceding Assembly,
doubtless due to the desire of the Proprietary to keep such matters in the pro-
vincial courts at Annapolis, over which he had more direct control than over the
county courts (pp. 157, 180, 183). (2) For the relief of creditors against
defendants who were non-residents (p. 181); a bill with this title failed of
passage in the Lower House, nor had such a bill come up at previous sessions.
(3) For the relief of insolvent debtors; a bill with this title had been introduced
in the Lower House and passed by it at the November-December, 1766, session,
but had been tabled by the Upper House (pp. 181, 187, 190, 118); it was prob-
ably similar to the act of 1774, which allowed debtors under certain conditions
to bring their cases before three justices of a county court, without waiting for
direct legislative action. This bill is not to be confused with the acts passed by
the three sessions covered by this volume "for the relief of certain languishing
prisoners in the several gaols" in which the beneficiaries are named. (4) For
the security of purchasers and others being Protestant claiming by or from
aliens; this bill which had been before previous assemblies, and was again passed
by the Lower House, was as usual amended in the Upper House to protect
Roman Catholic as well as Protestant purchasers of land from aliens, but
the Lower House again refused to extend this protection to Catholics, and
after amendment in the upper chamber, it was unanimously rejected below
(pp. lxxii, 181, 182, 184, 187, 114, 118, 190-191). (5) for the more speedy
foreclosure of mortgages; a bill with this title had come up at the November-
December, 1765, session, and action upon it referred to the next Assembly
(Arch. Md. LIX, xxxvii); when it came up again at the November-December,
1766, session, action upon it was again deferred in the Lower House (pp. 184,
196, 207), but it was not revived again in 1768. (6) A supplementary act to
the act "for the directions of sheriffs 'and their ill practices"; this was an
attempt by the Lower House to supplement the act with the above title passed
in 1715 (Arch. Md. XXX, 264-270); the nature of the 1766 bill is not dis-
closed, but it was probably identical with the act passed in 1769, having the
same title, which provided that a sheriff be penalized if he did not properly
endorse certain legal papers which he received (Hanson's Laws of Maryland,
1787; acts of 1769, chap. xv).

Governor Sharpe, having signed all acts passed by the 1768 Assembly, pro-
rogued it to meet again on the first Tuesday of May, 1767 (p. 221). But it
was destined never to come together again, for after numerous postponements,
a call for the election of a new Assembly was issued by the Governor in the
late autumn of 1767. The newly elected Assembly did not meet until May
24, 1768.

SESSION OF MAY-JUNE, 1768

When the Assembly elected in the autumn of 1764, which held its last
session in November-December, 1766, ended that meeting on December 6th,
it was prorogued by Governor Sharpe to the first Tuesday in May (5th), 1767,