78 court of appeals of maryland

Council of the proprietary government, which had
been used by the court before the Revolution, was
continued in use. The General Court also con-
tinued using the seal of the Provincial Court until
1783, and it then adopted a new seal closely simi-
lar to the new seal of the Court of Appeals; a
border contained the words: "Maryland. General
Court", and the center contained the scales sus-
pended from clasped hands, with the star in the
space between the chains of the scales, and an open
book below the whole. The seal of the General
Court of the Eastern Shore was dissimilar.
Which of the courts first adopted the design used
on the Western Shore has not been determined
exactly. No minute of adoption in either court
has been found, and the facts here stated have been
ascertained from actual use of those seals on writs.

The full original Court of Appeals of five
judges lasted only a short time. Judge Murray did
not sit after November, 1783, and he died in Sep-
tember, 1784, and Judge Wright died in 1792. And
the places left vacant by these deaths were not
filled until 1801, for what reason must be left to
speculation somewhat, but a plausible explanation
is that the difficulty in getting judges to accept the
position continued. After the vacancies had been
filled, in 1801, it was provided by an act of 1801,
chapter 74, sections 41 to 43, that when the number
of judges should thereafter, by deaths or resigna-
tions, be reduced to three, the vacancies should not
be filled, but the total number of judges should re-
main at three; and it will be recalled that such a
reduction had been suggested by the House of