92 court of appeals of maryland

more and more jurisdiction to the county courts,
not, however, materially reducing the jurisdiction
and prestige of the Provincial Court. Free as the
people were to work their entire will on the ju-
dicial system in 1776, the constitution of that year
made no change in the distribution of jurisdiction
between the trial courts, but provided only that the
chief court, now termed the General Court, should
hold sessions on both sides of the bay. In 1785,
the enlargement of the jurisdiction of the county
courts was taken up again and the enlargement
made was extensive.⁵⁰ In 1790 the plan of group-
ing the county courts in districts or circuits was
turned to again, this time, no doubt, recommended
by the adoption of such an arrangement in the fed-
eral judiciary act of September 24, 1789. Five
judicial districts were formed: the first of St.
Mary's, Calvert, Prince George's, and Charles
Counties; the second, of Cecil, Kent, Queen
Anne's and Talbot Counties; the third, of Anne
Arundel, Baltimore and Harford Counties; the
the fourth, of Caroline, Dorchester, Somerset and
Worcester Counties; and the fifth, of Washington,
Frederick, Montgomery and Allegany Counties.
There was to be a strengthening of the courts by
the appointment for each district of a chief justice
trained in the law and two associate justices not
necessarily so trained, thus for the first time pro-
viding lawyers to sit in the county courts. This
system did not give perfect satisfaction; the Chief
Justice, with his legal knowledge, appears to have
overborne his associates. John Leeds Bozman, a
contemporary lawyer of unusual powers but

50. Act 1785, chap. 87.

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