INTRODUCTION

            In the short period covered by this volume LXVII, from June 19, 1677, to
          June 18, 1678 (post, p. 431), or possibly to August 30, 1678, no changes were
          made in the jurisdiction of the Provincial Court. Important cases had to origi
          nate there, whether they were civil or criminal. If the criminal case concerned
          life or limb, or if the civil case involved as much as three thousand pounds of
          tobacco, it must arise in the Provincial Court. Small cases were supposed to
          originate in the county court but the higher court often heard and decided
          very small cases, even when no important principle of law was concerned. Al
          though the Provincial Court had been separated from the Court of Chancery
          in 1669 (Archives of Maryland LI, pp. xxxviii, i), the same judges served
          in both, and the Provincial Court did not hesitate to hear and decide chancery
          cases (post, pp. 140, 286). To be sure, most of the chancery cases heard in
          Provincial Court concerned land claims (post, p. 103, 131, 232, 236, 245, 370,
          371, 451). Sometimes a case begun in the Court of Chancery appears later in
          the Provincial Court. Sprigg v. Trueman was decided in Chancery in 1677
          (Archives LI, 488-496). Yet the amount of damages to be paid was a matter
          of common law, which was heard by a jury and decided in the Provincial
          Court some months later (post, p. 416).
            In 1677-1678, as earlier and later, the justices of the Provincial Court were
          also members of the Upper House of Assembly, members of the Council, jus
          tices of the Chancery Court and of the Probate Court. Sometimes it is hard
          to tell which of his offices a justice was filling especially if the Court clerk,
          being no perfectionist, put into the proceedings here something that the justice
          was doing, say, as a member of the Council (post, pp. 152, 248). All of the
          justices were holders of thousands of acres of land, and many of them had
          well-paid offices not connected with the Court. Thomas Notley, who became
          governor and chief justice in 1676 (Archives XV, pp. 105-118) continued to
          serve until his death in April 1679. He was succeeded by Charles, third Lord
          Baltimore, who was in the Province. Philip Calvert, uncle of the Proprietary,
          continued in his offices of chancellor and commissary general Hntil he too died,
          in 1682. William Calvert, cousin of the Proprietary, continued to be principal
          secretary until his death from drowning in May 1682. Baker Brooke, surveyor
          general of the Province, died in office in March 1678/9. Benjamin Rozer, who
          had been appointed to the Court only on April 18, 1677 (Archives LXVI,
          p. 424), was no longer sheriff of Charles County or agent and receiver-general
          of the Proprietary, but he was faithful in his attendance upon the Court, and
          also busy as an attorney practicing before it. Colonel Thomas Taillor, of
          Dorchester County, who had been a justice of the Court at the same time that
          he was sheriff of his county, and who, perhaps because he was sheriff of an
          Eastern Shore county, had been lax in his attendance upon the Court, now
          began to come a little more often, though he continued to be sheriff until March