plaint against a short-lived Equity Court established in the colony was improper denial of appeals to the King in Council. 181 In Massachusetts the basis of continued recalcitrance is found in the charter provision which only mentioned appeals to the King in Council in personal actions. 182 The Superior Court of Judicature therefore consistently refused to allow appeals in real actions. 183 Appeals in such actions did come before the King in Council, but virtually all after leave to appeal was granted upon conciliar application. 184 This was not liked in the Bay Colony, for the King in Council was petitioned by the Massachusetts General Court in November,' 1743, that judgments given in the province courts in any real or mixed actions might be final and that no appeals be allowed to the King in Council there- the colony no appeal can be allowed on a plea in barr, the same being final" (ibid., 697); Ogden v. Gidley and Fox, an appeal denied because "by the law of the colony no appeal is allowed upon a plea in abatement" (ibid., 1741-46, 193); Boss v. Greene, plea in abatement, appeal refused (ibid., 1754-72, 264). But the evidence is not consistent, for appeals were granted in some cases of pleas in abatement or pleas in bar. See Nichols v. Read (ibid., 1754-72, 144); Hazzard v. Nichols (ibid., 161); Cook v. Bennet (ibid., 271); Southwick v. Laycock (ibid., 340). In Blevin v. Vincent, a plea in bar being upheld, the General Assembly was petitioned for a new trial. Vincent claimed the matter was not properly within the jurisdiction of the General Assembly, since by the standing law of the colony all pleas in bar were to be heard and determined in the King's courts of common law, and their determination was to be final. But the petition was granted (MS Petitions to R.I. General Assembly, 1751-54, #65). Cj. the reasons of appeal in Hedges v. Dyer, where it was alleged that the Assembly could have no cognizance of a plea in abatement (MS R.I. Law Cases, 1736, #25). For the putative statutory basis see the provision that appeals were to lie from the Inferior Courts of Common Pleas to the Superior Court in pleas in bar and in abatement and demurrers for final judgment (Acts and haws R.I. [1730], 194). 181 MS Petitions to R.I. General Assembly, 1739-48, #45. Six appeals were denied during the existence of the Equity Court, viz., Cobb v. Whiteham (MS R.I. Court of Equity Judgment Boo\, 1741-43, Sept., 1741, #5); Prentis v. Scott (ibid., May, 1743, #22); Grant v. Dyre (ibid., October, 1743, #6); Thurston v. Grant {ibid., October, 1743, #32); Taylor v. Cowley (ibid., December, 1743; $ 2 ); Peale v. Barney {ibid., December, 1743, #22). 182 1 Acts and Res. Prop. Mass. Bay, 15. 183 Allen v. Spencer (MS Mass. Sup. Ct. Jud, Judgment Boo\, 1700-1714, 136); Taylor v. Taylor (ibid., 1715-21, 44); Taylor v. Taylor (ibid., 1721-25, 84-85); Allen v. Ireland (ibid., 112); Gold v. Bennett (ibid., 1725-30, 152-53); Waldoe v. Waldoe (ibid., 1730-33, 306); Sprague v. Green (ibid., 1733-36, 291-92); Pelham v. Bannister (ibid., 294-95); Boston Inhabitants v. Francis (3 actions; ibid., 1736-38, 170-73); Boston Inhabitants v. Wakum (ibid., 172-73); Jeffries v. Donnell (ibid., 1766-67, 57); Apthorpe v. Deblois (ibid., 197). But in Stoddard v. Jones, an action of trespass and ejectment, an appeal was allowed for some undiscernible reason (ibid., 1733-36, 304)- 184 Allen v. Spencer (PC 2/81/238; appeal admitted, but not prosecuted); Bennett v. Gray (PC 2/91/367, 375, 387; appeal admitted, but not prosecuted); Waldoe v. Waldoe (PC 2/92/290, 304; judgment varied, PC 2/ 93/107, 143); Pelham v. Stone (PC 2/94/271, 274, 284; judgment affirmed, PC 2/95/24, 38); Pelham v. Bannister (PC 2/94/371, 378, 392; judgment affirmed, PC 2/95/100, 143); Francis v. Jeffries (PC 2/97/165, 325, 346; judgment affirmed, PC 2/99/41); Jeffries v. Donnell (PC 2/112/520; PC 2/113/76, 88, 98; ex parte reversal, PC 2/115/264, 274). Stoddard v. Jones (see supra, n. 183) was the only appeal in a real action in which there was no preliminary petition for leave to appeal (PC 2/94/215, 295, 365).