DEVELOPMENT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 1 99 



we find the Assembly speaking of the Levy Courts as definitely 

 established bodies, and providing that such courts may impose 

 assessments for repairs of their court-houses and the county 

 prisons, and for the erection and repair of bridges ; and, further, 

 that the justices of the peace in the respective counties, or any 

 five of them, shall meet annually between the first of March and 

 the first of October "to adjust the ordinary and necessary ex- 

 penses of their several counties," and to levy the necessary and 

 proper assessments in the premises ; and finally, so far as we 

 have to do with Maryland in the matter, in 1798 (Act of 1798, 

 ch. 34), it was enacted that seven justices of the peace of those 

 annually commissioned should be commissioned by the Governor 

 and Council as justices of the Levy Court in each county, and 

 designated in their commissions as 'Justices of the Levy Court.' 



Accordingly, when on February 27, 1801, Congress assumed 

 jurisdiction over the District of Columbia, its government was in 

 the hands of such a Levy Court, or, speaking accurately, of two 

 of such Courts, one each for the counties of Prince George 

 and Montgomery, except as to that portion of the District, or 

 Montgomery County as it then was, which was occupied by the 

 town of Georgetown, for which, as we shall presently see, a 

 separate municipal government had already been provided. 



Again following the course of things under the English sys- 

 tem, when Congress assumed jurisdiction over the present Dis- 

 trict of Columbia, which was created a county by the name of 

 Washington (as the Virginia portion of the original District was 

 created a county by the name of Alexandria), provision was 

 made for the appointment by the President of oflScers familiar to 

 the people of the territory, including the constituents of a Levy 

 Court, namely, justices of the peace, and by act of March 3, 

 iSoi (2 Stats. 115), it was specifically enacted: 



That the magistrates, to be appointed for the said district, 

 shall be and they are hereby constituted a board of commission- 

 ers within their respective counties, and shall possess and exer- 

 cise the same powers, perform the same duties, receive the same 

 fees and emoluments, as the levy courts or commissioners of 

 county for the state of Maryland, possess, perform and receive ; 

 and the clerks and collectors, to be by them appointed, shall be 

 subject to the same laws, perform the same duties, possess the 



