vi PREFACE.

while each section has its separate marginal index, as well as a mar-
ginal reference to the act of Assembly, of which it is composed; and,
at the foot, there are notes to the judicial decisions on the acts and
to other cognate matters, of interest to the profession and others. At
the end of the volume will be found a copious General Index of its con-
tents. This mode of indexing and annotation is preferred by the pro-
fession of this country and of England, over all other plans; and is
the one now universally considered most conducive to labor-saving re-
search and easy reference. It is hoped, it will merit the approval of
the bar of this State.

With the view of farther facilitating the researches of the practi-
tioner and others, in ascertaining the Statute Law now in force, as well
as past legislation, there are added, besides the notes to the decisions
of the Court of Appeals, and to the modifications made in the Sta-
tute Law by the present Constitution, references to acts of Assembly
codified in this compilation, and to acts repealed, whenever such refer-
ences were considered explanatory or illustrative.

LEWIS MAYER.

BALTIMORE, January, 1868.