xviii PRINCE GEORGES COUNTY

of each court to examine if the records of the preceding court were duly entered up
and if necessary to take appropriate action thereon. 3

The above act contemplates the keeping of an engrossed minute book as well
as a "Record" or judgment book. Liber A is essentially a "Record" or judgment
book although it also contains dockets and entries of judicial minutes, of adminis-
trative action, and of various documents submitted for recordation purposes. No
copies of rough or engrossed minutes have been found for the period covered by
the Liber and the nature of the entries in the volume makes it doubtful whether
any separate engrossed minute book was kept. 4 Most of the surviving county court
file papers preserved at the Hall of Records are for the eighteenth century; none
found relate to Prince Georges County in the period 1696-99. 5

IV. THE MARYLAND JUDICIAL ESTABLISHMENT

At the apex of the Maryland judicial hierarchy during the 1696-99 period was
the Governor and Council, usually entitled in its records "a Court before his Ex-
cellency the Governor and his Majesties honorable Councill for hearing Appeals
and Writts of Error", sitting in Annapolis.1 This court was held by virtue of the
provisions of the gubernatorial commission. 2 By an act of Assembly (1695) the
appellate jurisdiction of this court in civil common law causes, by appeal or writ
of error, was in effect limited to review of judgments of the Provincial Court
wherein the original debt or damages amounted to or exceeded the sum of £50
sterling or 10,000 pounds of tobacco. 3 On the equity side, jurisdiction to review
decrees of the Court of Chancery seemingly was limited to those suits in which relief
was sought against judgments at law where the original debt or damages amounted
to or exceeded £50 sterling or 10,000 pounds of tobacco. 3 While the acts of As-
sembly and the gubernatorial commissions are silent as to any appellate jurisdic-
tion of the Governor and Council in criminal matters, the records of this court for
May, 1695 to 1699 (the court first sat in May, 1695) reveal that it entertained writs
of error in several informations brought either under a Navigation Act in the
Provincial Court or under other regulatory acts of Parliament and an act of As-
sembly in a special court of oyer and terminer (first taken to the Provincial Court
on writ of error), as well as in several criminal prosecutions involving breach of
acts of Assembly brought in the Provincial Court. 4

3. 38 id. 102. This act not being continued in force was apparently repealed in July 1699.
22 id. 558-62. See also 19 id. 525, 536, 570.

4. For some indication of the records accumulated by a County Court see CCCR, Liber X,
No. 1 (1698-99) 271 (Hall of Records, Annapolis).

5. For a description, not current, of the surviving court records of Prince Georges County see
Scisco, Colonial Records of Prince George's County, 24 MHM 17 (1929).

1. See the entries in PMCA 1-101.

2. A September 1694 opinion of eminent counsel stated that "you and Your Councill are
Sufficiently Authorized and Empowered by Your Commission from their Majesties to hear and
determine all matters in Law comeing before You either by Appeale or Writt of Error from the
Provinciall Court with out any further or other Commission or Authority for the same." 20
MA 135-36. For Nicholson's commission see 20 id. 86-87. See also 19 id. 40-41.

3. 38 MA 60-61. The act was inconsistent with the provisions of Nicholson's commission
which required him "to permitt Appeales to be made in Cases of Error from our Courts in
Maryland Unto our Governor and Councill in Civill Causes Provided the Value Appealed for
doe Exceed the Summe of One hundred pounds sterling." 20 id. 86. But cf. Nicholson's instruc-
tions which contemplated local legislation limiting appeals in the manner most convenient
to the inhabitants. 23 id. 548. See also 19 id. 223, 228, 245-46; 22 id. 336-37, 338; Smith, Appeals
to the Privy Council from the American Plantations 86-87 (1950). On the construction as to
Chancery causes see Pleasants, The First Century of the Court of Chancery of Maryland, 51 MA
xxxii,, xlix-1.

4. PMCA xlvii-xlviii.