Introduction. xxxvii

Of the sixteen new local acts six dealt with the construction or repair of
churches or chapels. Of these six laws two were supplementary to acts passed
at a previous session of the Assembly. One of these was supplementary to an
act for building a parish church in Queen Ann Parish, in Prince George's
County (pp. 240-241). The original statute had been passed during the Sep-
tember 25-November 2 session of the Assembly in 1770 (Arch. Md. XLII,
330-331). The other law was supplementary to the act for building a parish
church in Christ Church Parish, in Calvert County (pp. 243-244). It was at
the November-December meeting of the General Assembly in 1769 that the
original act was passed (Arch. Md. XLII, 164-165). The Assembly which
met in June and July of 1773 disapproved of the supplementary law enacted in

1771 (PP- 354-355)-

Of the other four laws one of them had been considered at the winter session
of 1769. This act authorized the construction of a church in Prince George's
Parish, which was located partly in Prince George's and partly in Frederick
Counties (pp. 239-240; Arch. Md. XLII, xl). The other three acts provided
for churches, or chapels, in Stepney Parish, "lying in Somerset & Worcester
Counties" (pp. 244-245), in All Hallows Parish, in Worcester County (pp.
245-246), and in St. Johns "commonly called King Georges Parish," which
was located partly in Prince George's and partly in Charles County (pp. 280-
281). Governor Eden refused to sign a bill to divide Prince George's Parish,
in Frederick and Prince George's Counties, and to erect a new parish by the
name of Christ Church Parish (pp. 74, 234, 236). During the October-
November session of the Assembly in 1771 the inhabitants of St. Paul's Parish,
Baltimore County, in a petition stated that as the church in Baltimore was too
small to accommodate the parishioners "in Time of Divine Service and is very
ancient and decayed which renders it not worth repairing," they asked that the
sum of three hundred and twenty thousand pounds of tobacco be appropriated
for building a new church in Baltimore. On November 19, 1771, this petition
was referred to the next session of the General Assembly (pp. 18, 21, 135, 142-
143, 182). When the Assembly met during June and July of 1773, the same
action was again taken in regard to this petition (p. 373).

Two of the remaining ten local acts passed at the October-November session
of the General Assembly in 1771 related to the building of court houses. One
law, supplementary to a statute, enacted during the September-November
meeting of the Assembly in 1770, concerned the court house in Dorchester
County (pp. 255-257; Arch. Md. XLII, 326-328). The other law was in regard
to finishing and completing the court house and prison in Baltimore County.
It appears that the prison had recently burnt down (pp. 282-283; Arch. Md.
LXI, 442-445). One act sought to remedy "divers Defects" in the records of
Charles County" (pp. 277-279), while another provided for the adjournment
and continuance of the Frederick County court (pp. 279-280).

Two acts related to the poor in Frederick and Ann Arundel Counties (pp. 259,
303-304). Both these laws were based upon a statute passed in 1768 entitled
"An Act for the Relief of the Poor within the several Counties therein men-