34 court of appeals of maryland

ereign Lady Queen Anne of Great Britian, France
& Ireland, defender of the faith, etc., held for
hearing Appeals and regulating Writs of Error,"
"At a meeting of the Council of State * * to hear
Appeals and Writs of Error." But in 1720, when
William Cumming was clerk, a settled, permanent
official form, used with slight departures up to
1776, was adopted: "At a Court of Appeals (or
Appeals & Errors), held before his Excellency the
Governor and his Lordship's Honorable Council
for hearing Appeals and Writs of Error in the
Council Chamber in the Port of Annapolis, etc."
The insertion of the reference to the council cham-
ber suggests conformity to the old writ of error in
Parliament which regularly contained it, in
camera consilii, vocata le council chamber.¹⁶
Separate, special sessions were held and both the
judges and the clerk took special oaths for this
judicial work.

In addition to the full record of proceedings up
to 1728 contained in the book H. D. No. 1, the
papers in all but a few of the earliest cases sent to
the Governor and Council from 1695 to 1776, are
extant, in the possession of the present court, in-
cluding in the several cases the transcripts of rec-
ords from the trial courts, the writs of error, assign-
ments of error and reasons for appeal, and the va-
rious writs issued by the appellate court; and also
returns from further appeals to the King in Coun-
cil. In the bundles with them are found also the
records and proceedings of courts of delegates.
The bundles contain in addition a few miscellan-
eous original papers, such as deeds, wills, patents,

16. Placita Latine Rediviva, (1661), 314.