lvi         The First Century of the Court of Chancery.

       of Charles, the third Lord, was again commissioned, May 30, as Governor and
       Chancellor by the guardians of Charles, the fifth Lord. The Court of Chancery
       met under Hart as Royal Governor, March 11, 17 14/5, with the Governor as
       Chancellor and with Lloyd, Greenfield, and Young as “assistant judges”
       (Chanc. Proc., P. L., 112). The Council resolved, July 13, 1715, that “it is
       very necessary tht when any reference is made in Chancery to any of the Masters
       or Assistants in that Court tht a reasonable Fee shou'd be payd them for their
       Report “. The fee was then fixed at a hundred and fifty pounds of tobacco, or
       twelve shillings six pence. It was further declared that “whereas several
       Gentlemen of this Board have according to Custom assisted the Keeper of the
       Great Seale in holding the Chancery for wch they were formerly wont be allowed
       in the Publique. But for that no such Allowance has been made for near two
       Years last Past * * * the reasonableness thereof be represent to the next
       Session of Assembly” (Arch. Md., xxv, 305). No record that this was done,
       however, has been found.
         In a list of judicial officers and their fees, exhibited at a Council meeting held
       September 3, 1715, the average income of the Keeper of the Great Seal, from
       fees for sealing processes and decrees of the Chancery Court as settled by the
       Assembly, is declared to be uncertain, but the report adds that they “in some
       years amounted to fifty Thousand pounds of Tobacco p Ann. seldom more
       but very often less “ (Arch. Md., xxv, 319). Soon after this, legislation was
       enacted which limited the suits that could be brought in the Court of Chancery
       and which permitted appeals under certain circumstances from its decrees. At
       its April 1715 session the Assembly passed an act” for the better administration
       of justice in the high Court of Chancery “, and in other courts, which limited
       the causes to be heard in Chancery to those involving more than twelve hundred
       pounds of tobacco or £5 sterling (Arch. Md., xxx, 241). The Assembly at its
       April 1718 session passed “an act to limit the continuance of actions in several
       courts * * * and for granting appeals from the Chancery Court to the gov-
       ernor and council” (Arch. Md., xxxvi, 525). At the October 1720 session a
       supplementary act to that of 1718 was passed (Arch. Md., xxxviii, 278-279).
       The act of 1718 contains the provision that “after twelve Months from the End
       of this Session of Assembly, it shall and may be lawful for any Person or
       Persons that shall conceive themselves aggrieved by any Decree of the Chancery
       Court, to have an Appeal to the Governor and Council [Court of Appeals] of
       this Province * * * wherein each member shall have a full Voice” (Arch.
       Md.. xxxvi, 525). Bland in his Maryland High Court of Chancery (i, 15-20)
       discusses, somewhat inconclusively, whether at this period only final decrees
       were appealable under the acts of 1718-1721 1 to the Court of Appeals; it was
       not until 1785 that an act permitting appeals from interlocutory orders was
       passed.
         Hart returned to England early in 1720. It would appear that his recall was
       in part attributable to certain decrees in Chancery which he had rendered that
       were unfavorable to the contentions of Maurice Birchfield, the King's Collector
       of Customs in Maryland. Hart was instructed by the Proprietary to designate
       during his absence “the first named of the Councill” to serve as Governor, and