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ceedings entered in the Testamentary Proceedings.²⁹ Only in Anne
Arundel County did this procedure vary. The Prerogative Court
was located in Annapolis, the county seat, and therefore it was point-
less for the Deputy Commissary to keep a duplicate set of records;
particularly, since the Register of the Court was almost invariably
appointed Deputy Commissary for Anne Arundel County also.⁸⁰
Therefore, the proceedings for this county were entered directly into
the records of the Prerogative Court. Except, f or Anne Arundel
County and the proceedings of the Court itself, the records of the
Prerogative Court were duplicated by the records of the Deputy
Commissaries. Naturally there were some discrepancies. Due to
accident, carelessness or other causes, instruments may sometimes
be found in one set which do not appear in the other.

HISTORY OF THE RECORDS OF THE PREROGATIVE COURT

The Constitution of 1776 provided for the appointment of a
Register of Wills in each county and thus by implication abolished
the Prerogative Court. Chapter 8 of the Laws of April 1777 carried
out the intent of the Constitution by abolishing the Court and pro-
viding for the appointment of an Orphans' Court and a Register of
Wills in each county to replace it.⁸¹ The records of the Deputy Com-
missaries were passed on to the Registers of Wills. The records of
the Prerogative Court were placed in the care and custody of the
Register of Wills for Prince George's County. Annapolis being the
provincial capital and one of the most important cities in the
colonies, it was deemed safer to deposit the records elsewhere while
the War lasted. But a few months later, Elie Vallette, Register of
Wills for Anne Arundel County and previously Register of the Pre-

²⁹ In 1705, Humphrey Hubbard, Deputy Commissary of Dorchester County
was carrying certain wills, inventories, accounts and other papers across
the bay to the Commissary General's Office when his boat caught fire and
sank, causing the papers to be lost. Fortunately, they had.been copied
into the Deputy Commissary's records before he left. A law was passed
providing that copies of the lost papers taken from Hubbard's books be
recorded in the Commissary General's Office. The law further provided
that the copies be accepted as originals for all practical purposes. The
copies were recorded in full in Testamentary Proceedings 19c, pages
150-176.

³⁰ There were only two exceptions to this custom. John Beale and Michael
Macnemara served as Deputy Commissaries for Anne' Arundel County
during the period, 1719-1744, when the position of Register was occupied
by other men.

³¹ Hall of Records, Catalogue of Archival Material, p. 123.