28 court of appeals of maryland

and Chancery should not sit till the end of the Pro-
vincial Court, and not during the court, for the
lawyers cannot easily attend both, one court being
enough for the lawyers to attend at one time". It
was accordingly ordered at a meeting of the
Council on October 17, 1694,¹⁰ "that there be three
Provincial Courts held every year, viz: one on the
last Tuesday in February, whereat no jury causes
shall be determined, another on the third Tuesday
in April, and last Tuesday in September for trying
matters of fact; that the Court of Chancery sit the
Monday following from the beginning of each
court and that the Governor and Council sit the
Wednesday after .the Court of Chancery to hear
appeals and writs of error, except February
court." And, further, it was "Upon representa-
tion ordered that the Court of Chancery begin not
to sit to hear any matter until April court next, nor
the Governor and Council to hear appeals &c.
until the said court."

Henry Denton, then the clerk of the Council,
was made clerk of the court for hearing cases on
appeals and writs of error ;11 and as such he opened
a book for the docket of the court, and another for
recording the proceedings. There is in the posses-
sion of the present court a docket of all appeals
and writs of error from 1695 to 1790, containing
all entries, but it appears to be a transcript in the
hand of Thomas Harris, deputy clerk of the Gen-
eral Court from 1789 to 1806, and clerk of the
Court of Appeals from 1806 to 1829. It is neces-
sarily much like a modern docket, with its entries

10. Archives, Proc. Council, 1693 to 1696/7, 139.

11. Ibid.