xxxiv

death of Cooper and the illness of Cecil the records had not been perfected, but that
an order had been made that by June court "the Said Cecell doe fully Compleate
and perfect the Said Records." 33

Cecil continued as clerk until the August 1698 court when Edward Willett pre-
sented a commission from Sir Thomas Lawrence as clerk and keeper of the records
of Prince Georges County. Upon furnishing of the requisite bond in the amount of
£100 sterling and taking the usual oaths, Willett assumed the duties of clerk. Cecil
was ordered to make up all the records of the county already begun by him or in
his possession to be recorded and then to deliver to Willett all the records, precepts,
processes, papers, etc. belonging to the records of the county. Willett remained on
as clerk under Governor Blakiston, Sir Thomas Lawrence continuing as secretary,
and took the oaths appointed by act of Parliament at the August 1699 court. 34

The appointment of Willett apparently stemmed from the fact that Cecil, along
with the justices and Greenfield, the sheriff of Prince Georges County, had been
presented by the grand jury of the Provincial Court "for Levying and receiving
Several Sums of Tobacco of the Inhabitants of that County Contrary to Law."
When the presentment was read before the Council Sir Thomas Lawrence dis-
avowed any knowledge of Cecil's exaction, disclaimed his tenth in the illegally
received tobacco and declared that he would take care to displace Cecil and "Con-
stitute Some other fit and Capable Person in his Stead." 35 At the September 1699
court we also find an entry that the attorney general prosecute Cecil, late clerk of
the county, for the recovery of certain sums of tobacco due the county by reason of
a September 5, 1698 judgment of the Provincial Court. Cecil had earlier in the term
refused to pay over the sum demanded by the justices. Ultimately both Cecil and
Greenfield agreed to reimburse the county and the scire facias proceedings in the
Provincial Court were halted by injunction of the Court of Chancery. 36

In an attempt to give more formality and regularity to the administration of
justice the Governor and Council, in September 1696, proposed a law empowering
the justices of the county courts in case of death or disability of the sheriff, the clerk
of the county court or the clerk of the indictments to appoint a successor pro hac

33. Infra 92, 162, 164-65.

34. Infra 360-61, 522. After Henry Bonner was commissioned clerk of the court in November,
1699, Willett served as deputy clerk. PGCJ, Liber B, I, 25a, 49, 79a-80. From 1702 to 1708/9 he
served as deputy clerk under Thomas Dent. From 1708/9 to 1711 he again served as clerk.
Owings, His Lordship's Patronage: Offices of Profit in Colonial Maryland 155 (1953). Cf. the 1692
order (by way of information) of the Lower House that the justices of every county present a
person to the secretary to be their clerk, "the house thinking that the properest meanes and
way to gett persons fitting and quallifyed to serve the Countrey." 13 MA 371. In March 1697/8
the governor characterized as "inconvenient and Dangerous" the keeping of county records in
clerks' houses, but was "glad that the County Records are Kept In so many of the Court houses,"
hoping that this would be "an Inducement for the rest to be kept in like Manner." 22 MA 31.
In this connection it appeared that "A new Court house is building in Prince Georges County...
the Records att present are kept att the Clerk house till the finishing of the Court house and then
to be lodged there." 22 id. 103.

35. 23 id. 416. Upon presentment both Greenfield and Cecil submitted to the Provincial
Court and judgments were entered that the former reimburse the county in the amount of
10,820 pounds of tobacco and the latter, 3,302 pounds. PCJ, Liber IL, 92-93.

36. Infra 613, 615-16. For the objectionable accounts submitted by Cecil and Greenfield see
PGCJ, Liber B, 134-35. For reference to the debts to the county in the 1702 and 1703 levies
and an agreement by Cecil in relation thereto see id. 206, 214a, 273. The reimbursement was
apparently complete by November, 1704. Id. 340. For the scire facias proceedings and notation
that further proceedings at common law were stayed by virtue of a writ of injunction served
out of Chancery see PCJ, Liber WT, No. 3, 496-98, 646. For the allowances in the November 1700
Prince Georges County levy to William Dent and Sir Thomas Lawrence in connection with the
prosecution of Cecil and Greenfield see PGCJ, Liber B, 83.