The Court of Appeals of Maryland.
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THE COURT OF APPEALS OF MARYLAND. I. • By Eugene L. Didier. TO write the history of the Court of Appeals of Maryland, we must go back one hundred and fifteen years — we must pass from this present nation of fifty states and territories,
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whose magnificent domain stretches across this vast con tinent, from the At lantic to the Pacific, — from the great lakes in the North to the Gulf of Mexico in the South — we must turn from this mighty republic of more than sixty-five millions of people to the darkest hour of the glorious struggle in which thirteen weak colonies, con taining scarcely three millions of inhabit ants, dared in free dom's cause the wager of battle with the most powerful BENJAMIN nation on earth. The original Court of Appeals of Mary land was created by an Act of the General Assembly passed in February, 1778, under which the court was to consist of a Chief Judge and four associate judges. The first appointees were made by the next General Assembly when it met in extra session in October of the same year. On the 22d of December, 1778, the newly appointed judges were commissioned by Thomas Johnson, Jr., the first gove'rnor of the State of Maryland,
who, when a member of the Continental Congress, had the distinguished honor of nominating George Washington to be the Commander-in-chief of the American Army. The first judges of the Court of Appeals were Benjamin Rumsey, Chief Judge; Benjamin Mackall 4th, Thomas Jones, Solomon Wright, and James Murray, asso ciate judges. At the time of the crea tion of this court, as already mentioned, the affairs of the American colonies were at their gloom iest : Congress had been driven from Philadelphia, Wash ington had retreated through New Jersey, and with his little band of patriots, who were half clad, half MACKALL fed and wholly un paid, had taken up his winter quarters at Valley Forge, where they were encamped "in cold, comfortless huts. Barefooted, they left their tracks in blood on the frozen ground. Few had blankets; straw could not be obtained, and they were compelled to sleep, halfclothed as they were, on the bare earth. The sick had no change of clothing, no suit able food, and no medicines." The French alliance, from which so much had been ex pected, had resulted in nothing but disap
