after revolution to 1805 77

back upon the successful party by means of a tax
on the amounts of final judgments; but nothing
came of it. An increase in the salaries of all
judges was also recommended in the same report,
with the remark that,

The existing provision for the Court of Appeals, the most
important branch of the judiciary, and where all business of
importance is accumulating most rapidly, can scarcely be ade-
quate to their expense.

No increase was made at that time, however. In
1797,²¹ the sum of $300 was added to the yearly
salary of judges of the Court of Appeals, and in
1799²² the total was increased to $1000.

Notwithstanding the increased number of ap-
psals, the pace of the court in disposing of busi-
ness continued slow during the last years of the
century. The case of Luther Martin v. The State,
1 Harris & Johnson's Reports, 721, concluded in
the General Court in 1788, was not disposed of on
appeal until 1805.²³ It was continued each term
before that date.

In 1789, by an act, chapter 40, the terms of
court were changed to June and November, and
they remained so until 1805.

It was in 1783, or shortly after, that the design
of the seal now in use by the court was adopted.²⁴
Until that time, the seal of the Governor and

21. Act 1797, ch. 79.

22. Act 1799, ch. 52.

23. Pinkney's reported characterization of Martin's argument in that
case as "long though learned" would be puzzling if taken to refer
to the dozen lines of citations in the published report. Harris'
original notes of the argument cover twenty-four and a half
pages.

24. See copy of original design on title page of this book.