ARCHIVIST OF THE HALL OF RECORDS 49

June 12, 1959
Dr. Morris L. Radoff
Archivisi

Hall of Records Commission
Annapolis, Md.

Dear Dr. Radoff:

In reply to your letter of June 11, 1959, with reference to
the rights of the Oxford University Press to publish the Mary--
land Guide, I wish to advise you that it is my opinion that
you have given sufficient notice to the Oxford University
Press, and that, since they have not complied with your re-
quest within a reasonable time, the agreement entered into
with them on the 10th of July, 1939, is no longer in force
or effect. I am of the opinion that the Hall of Records
Commission is now free to publish its own revised edition of
the Maryland Guide without any obligation to the Oxford
University Press.

Very truly yours,

STEDMAN PRESCOTT, JR.,
Deputy Attorney General
SP:MH

A second problem which was referred to the Attorney General
concerns the limits of our right to certify records. As you are aware,
Acts of the Maryland General Assembly are transferred by the Secretary
of State to the Clerk of the Court of Appeals after they have been signed
by the Governor and the great seal affixed. They remain in the custody
of the Court for one year, after which they come to the Hall of Records.
Once they are in our custody the Archivist is authorized to certify
copies.

We have always in the past certified to photostatic or typewritten
copies made here by our staff and we have refused to certify copies
made by others. We have refused for two reasons: (1) it is more time
consuming to collate copies brought in to us with the original than to
make a photographic reproduction; and (2) such copies could never
duplicate exactly the original in our custody because they necessarily
lacked all signatures as well as the imprint of the great seal. Of the
copies brought in to us for certification the most numerous were legis-
lative third-readers. After some complaint had been voiced because
of our refusal to certify third-readers, we submitted the problem to the
Attorney General who held in the opinion given here below that
we had been too conservative in interpreting our certification authority.