16 . court of appeals of maryland

1689, they were probably paid out of the duty on
tobacco, but during the royal government, from
1692 to 1715, they were paid out of the poll tax.

There seem to have been trained lawyers at all
times during the existence of the province to pre-
pare and present matters to the courts for decision.
Sams and Riley 3¹ list a large number of the early
seventeenth century, but it seems questionable
whether all of those named were men of special
training in the law; some of them may have been
merely men of better education generally who
lent their assistance to less able men involved in
litigation, although all appear to have performed
some of the functions of regular attorneys. But
however that may be, there were regular lawyers
in the province from its beginning. John Lewger,
who came in 1637 as a special agent of Lord Balti-
more, was a lawyer; and he became Attorney Gen-
eral, a member of the Council, and also a justice of
the Provincial Court. In 1672, Governor Charles
Calvert, writing to the Lord Proprietor, described
John Morecroft as the best lawyer in the coun-
try.³² And Captain Thomas Gerrard who main-
tained the court leet and court baron at St. Clem-
ent's Manor, the records of which for the years
1659 to 1672 have been preserved, appears to have
been trained in the law; and he named a son Jus-
tinian. The number of lawyers increased as the
century wore on, so that by 1690 they formed an
influential body in the province. Several of them
had been educated at the Inns of Court; and we
have evidence of the possession by them of a con-
si. Sams & Riley, Bench and Bar of Md., Vol. 1.
32. Mereness, 215.