Note 1081 — Chapter XV · DIVORCE IN THE AMERICAN COLONIES

By the same act it is provided that "the general court may inquire into, hear and determine, either on indictment or petition of either of the parties, the validity of any marriage, and may declare any marriage, contrary to the table in this act [table of forbidden degrees] or any second marriage, the first subsisting, null and void," with appeal to the "court of appeals."—Laws of Md. (Annapolis, 1799), I, Feb., 1777, c. xii, par. xiv, xv.