154

That William Kilty be and he is hereby appointed
to revise the acts of assembly of this state,
and to prepare an edition thereof, including all
public acts now in force, in the order in which
they were passed, from the year sixteen hundred
and ninety-two till the end of the present ses-
sion, inclusive.¹⁰

The resolution was passed by the Senate on January 17,
1799,¹¹ the printing of the first volume was completed
before December 7, 1799,¹² and the second apparently
before the next meeting of the General Assembly in
November of 1800.¹³

Kilty, a native of London, had come to Annapolis
as-a young man, with his parents, had studied medicine
and served as surgeon with the 4th Maryland Regiment
in the Revolutionary War. He was taken prisoner at
the Battle of Camden, afterwards paroled and compelled
to remain in Annapolis until the end of the war. Per-
haps it was during his parole that he took up the study
of law. His abilities were recognized by the General
Assembly when he was commissioned to compile the Laws
of Maryland., and by the President of the United States
in 1801 when he was appointed chief justice of the
Circuit Court of the District of Columbia. He resigned

10 Maryland. General assembly. House of delegates.
Votes and proceedings. 1798. p. 73.

11 Maryland. General assembly. Senate. Votes and
proceedings. 1798. p. 60...

12 Maryland. General assembly. House of delegates,
op, ccit. 1799, p. 49.

13 Maryland. General assembly. House of delegates,
op. cit. 180O. p. 43.