after revolution to 1805 59

with its occasional appellate Court of Delegates.¹
If there has ever been a revolution which made a
clean sweep of institutions, this was not one of the
kind.

The constitutional convention of 1776, called
by the provincial convention of July 3, 1776, met
on the following August 14, at Annapolis. A
committee appointed to draft a declaration of
rights took up the correction of defects which
were felt to exist in the judicial system, and had
been discussed in years past, and, on October 31,
1776, reported the two clauses, among others: ar-
ticle 6, that the legislative, executive and judicial
powers of government ought not to be vested in
the same man or body of men, and article 30, that
the judges, the Chancellor and other officers,
should hold their offices during good behavior and
hold only one office each. The first of these prin-
ciples, that concerning the separation of govern-
mental powers, was not so obvious at that time as
custom has made it appear since; it was adopted
in the convention by a margin of only one vote,
thirty to twenty-nine, and it found no place in
most of the other state constitutions adopted at
about the same time.

The original draft of the constitution itself con-
tained the provisions for organization of the courts
which were finally adopted. By article 56, it was
provided,

That there be a Court of Appeals, composed of persons of in-
tegrity and sound judgment in the law, whose judgment shall
be final and conclusive, in all cases of appeal, from the General
Court, Court of Chancery, and Court of Admiralty: That one

1. 1 Harris & McHenry, 418 and 512.