Thomas Jones (March 12, 1735 – September 12, 1812)Basil Sollers,
Judge Thomas Jones of Patapsco Neck
, in William Hand Browne and Louis Henry Dielman, eds. ''Maryland Historical Magazine, Volume 2'' (1907), p. 245-257.John Thomas Scharf, ''History of Western Maryland, Volume I'' (1968), p. 930. Carroll T. Bond, ''The Court of Appeals of Maryland: A History'' (1928). was a justice of the

Maryland Court of Appeals The Supreme Court of Maryland is the state supreme court, highest court of the U.S. state of Maryland. Its name was changed on December 14, 2022, from the Maryland Court of Appeals, after a voter-approved change to the state constitution. The cou ...

from 1778 to 1806.

Early life and career

Born in

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, Jones was the only surviving son of Philip Jones Jr., a commissioner of the peace and surveyor in that county. Jones

read law Reading law was the method used in common law countries, particularly the United States, for people to prepare for and enter the legal profession before the advent of law schools. It consisted of an extended internship or apprenticeship under the ...

to gain

admission to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

on motion before the Baltimore County Court in March of 1757, and was recorded as counsel of record in cases in that county. He did not regularly attended the courts at

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, but farmed a large tidewater plantation "on Patapsco Neck, in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

". Jones was "the last Deputy Commissary of Baltimore County, for probate of wills and administration of estates, and when the Orphans Court system replaced the Prerogative Court and the commissaries, in 1777, he had become thefirst Register of Wills of Baltimore County".

Judicial service

Jones was one of the first group of five judges appointed to the Maryland Court of Appeals by the

Maryland General Assembly The Maryland General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland that convenes within the State House in Annapolis. It is a bicameral body: the upper chamber, the Maryland Senate, has 47 representatives and the lower chamb ...

in October 1778, and commissioned by Governor Thomas Johnson Jr., on December 22, 1778.Eugene L. Didier, "The Court of Appeals of Maryland", Part I
''The Green Bag'', Volume 6 (1894), p. 225
Due to the circumstances of the ongoing

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, the court did not actually meet for several years after its institution. "The qualification of Judge Jones is not recorded in the minutes, but his attendance was noted for the first time on November 20, 1781". Even after the war, the work of the court was frequently interrupted or delayed, with Jones noting in an 1885 letter to his wife that there was little chance of the court being able to work that week. In 1806, the state courts were restructured so that district court judges would also constitute the court of appeals,Thomas Waters Griffith, ''Sketches of the Early History of Maryland'' (1821), p. 180. and Jones received an appointment to serve as a trial court judge in the Sixth District of Maryland. In 1810, an effort was made in the legislature to remove Jones from the bench due to alleged non-attendance to his duties, but the effort failed, and Jones "held a seat on the trial bench until his death in 1812". after which he was succeeded on the court by Theodorick Bland.

Personal life and death

Jones married Elizabeth McClure of

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, with whom he had three sons and three daughters. Jones fell ill and died while visiting one of his daughters at

Fort McHenry Fort McHenry is a historical American coastal pentagonal bastion fort on Locust Point, now a neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. It is best known for its role in the War of 1812, when it successfully defended Baltimore Harbor from an attack b ...

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, at the age of 77.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Thomas 1735 births 1812 deaths People from Maryland U.S. state supreme court judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law Judges of the Maryland Court of Appeals