Introduction. xxxiii

for the speedy and effectual Publication of the Laws of this Province and for
the Encouragement of Anne Catharine Green of the City of Annapolis Printer."
By the terms of this statute each county in Maryland was to contribute a stated
number of pounds of tobacco to Mrs. Green for publishing the laws of the
province when the Assembly was in session and a lesser amount when the
Assembly was not meeting. This law was to be in effect until December 25,
1772 (pp. 299-302). Although it was not reenacted during the June-July
session of the Assembly in 1773, it was during the one which met later that
year. Prior to 1771 Mrs. Green had had the benefit of a law similar to the one
then enacted, but it had expired on December 25, 1770 (Arch. Md. XLII,
xxxvii-xxxviii).

The other statute, which may also be called a general law, was entitled "An
Act empowering the County Courts to settle with Persons who were formerly
Inspectors of Tobacco." The preamble of this law stated that by the expiration
of "An Act for amending the Staple of Tobacco for preventing Frauds in his
Majesty's Customs & for the Limitation of Officers Fees" the power of the
county courts to settle the accounts of the inspectors ceased, and as a result the
public in many instances were deprived of the balance due from the inspectors
and in other cases the inspectors themselves were unpaid. In order to remedy
this situation, the Justices of the county courts were authorized by this law to
summon the inspectors before them and then to settle and adjust their accounts

(p. 305).

It was at this session also that "An Additional Supplementary Act to the Act
entitled an Act for the Establishment of religious Worship in this Province
according to the Church of England and for the Maintenance of Ministers"
was passed. This law provided, among other things, for the oaths that must be
taken by an inducted minister and on what grounds he might be suspended or
deprived of his benefice (pp. 290-293). This significance of this law has been
discussed at length in a previous volume of the Archives (LXI, Ixix-lxxii).

When the Assembly met again in June, 1773, this act in regard to the clergy
was the subject of criticism. The Lower House was of the opinion that it was
not enacted by "legal and Constitutional Authority" and was therefore void.
The Delegates were also of the opinion that provision for the support of the
clergy of the Church of England in Maryland should be "upon the Principle
of Equality, in Imitation of that which has long prevailed in his Majesty's
Colony of Virginia" (p. 347).

Why the law regarding ministers was not legal was explained at a subsequent
Assembly meeting. It appears that Frederick Calvert, the Lord Proprietary, had
died in September, 1771, prior to the opening of the last session of the Assembly
on October 2. Had this fact been known the General Assembly should have been
dissolved and arrangements made for the election of a new Lower House.
Since this was not the case all the laws passed at the session of Assembly held in
October-November, 1771, were considered invalid. It was for this reason that
the Lower House on June 22, 1773, ordered that a bill be brought in to make
valid the several acts of Assembly passed at the session held during the fall of
1771. However, one of the two acts which the Delegates did not want made
3