at annapolis before revolution 51

the proceedings, and these books, year books of a
later time and another place, furnished the local
precedents. We probably have an instance of
reliance upon such notes in a published note to
the case of Spalding's Lessee v. Reeder, 1 Harris
& McHenry, 188. Harris and McHenry drew
largely upon note books of Thomas Jenings for
reports of some of the pre-Revolutionary cases.³⁷
Samuel Chase's notes were used,³⁸ Dulany, the
younger, speaks of referring to the notes of his
father,³⁹ and we seem to have extracts from notes
of the younger Dulany in 1 Harris & McHenry,
201. The report of the case of Hawkins' Lessee v.
Middleton, 2 Harris & McHenry, 119 (1785), was
taken from the notes of Jeremiah Townley Chase.
Harris and McHenry also had a note book kept
by Chief Judge Benjamin Rumsey while on the
bench.⁴⁰ The present Court of Appeals has in its
custody notes of trials in the General Court and a
few arguments before the Court of Appeals, be-
ginning in 1781, apparently the earlier ones hav-
ing been collected by Harris and McHenry but not
used by them. The reporters' notes from the end
of that century down to 1851, in the General Court
until 1805 and the Court of Appeals thereafter
until 1851, are continuous. They show a high de-
gree of skill in note taking.

There was no official title for members of the
Court of Appeals other than that of councillors,
but they were commonly called judges while men-
tioned in connection with their judicial work, and

37. 1 Harris & McHenry, 217, 243, 305, 518.

38. Ibid, 234, 242.

39. 2 Harris & McHenry, 365.

40. Ibid, 455.