Article IV
office for a term of ten years or his removal. The
judge's name shall be on the appropriate ballot,
without opposition, and the voters shall vote yes
or no for his retention in office. If the voters re-
ject the retention in office of a judge, or if the
vote is tied, the office becomes vacant ten days
after certification of the election returns.
(f) An appellate court judge shall retire when
he attains his seventieth birthday.
(g) A member of the General Assembly who is
otherwise qualified for appointment to judicial of-
fice is not disqualified by reason of his member-
ship in a General Assembly which proposed or
enacted any constitutional amendment or statute
affecting the method of selection. Continuance in
office, or retirement or removal of a judge, the
creation or abolition of a court, an increase or de-
crease in the number of judges of any court, or
an increase or decrease in the salary, pension or
other allowances of any judge.
SEC. 6.^ All Judges shall, by virtue of their
offices, be Conservators of the Peace throughout
the State; and no fees, or perquisites, commission,
or reward of any kind shall be allowed to any
Judge in this State, besides his annual salary, for
the discharge of any Judicial duty.
SEC. 7. No Judge shall sit in any case wherein
he may be interested, or where either of the
parties may be connected with him, by affinity or
consanguinity, within such degrees as now are, or
may hereafter be prescribed by Law, or where he
shall have been of counsel in the case.
SEC. 8.'°" The parties to any cause may sub-
mit the same to the Court for determination with-
out the aid of a jury, and in all suits or actions at
law, issues from the Orphans' Court, or from any
court sitting in equity, and in all cases of
presentments or indictments for offences, which
are or may be punishable by death, pending in
any of the courts of law in this State having juris-
diction thereof upon suggestion in writing under
oath of either of the parties to said proceedings
that such party cannot have a fair and impartial
trial in the court in which the same may be pend-
ing, the said court shall order and direct the re-
cord of proceedings in such suit or action, issue,
presentment, or indictment, to be transmitted to
" Thus amended by Chapter 681, Acts of 1977, ratified No-
vember 7,1978.
'°° Thus amended by Chapter 364, Acts of 1874, ratified No-
vember 2,1875.

Constitution of Maryland/817
some other court having jurisdiction in such case
for trial, but in all other cases of presentment or
indictment, pending in any of the Courts of law
in this State having jurisdiction thereof, in addi-
tion to the suggestion in writing of either of the
parties to such presentment or indictment that
such party cannot have a fair and impartial trial
in the court in which the same may be pending, it
shall be necessary for the party making such sug-
gestion to make it satisfactorily appear to the
Court that such suggestion is true, or that there
is reasonable ground for the same, and thereupon
the said court shall order and direct the record of
proceedings in such presentment or indictment to
be transmitted to some other Court having juris-
diction in such cases for trial and such right of
removal shall exist upon suggestion in cases
where all the Judges of said Court may be
disqualified under the provisions of this Constitu-
tion to sit in any such case and said Court to
which the record of proceedings in such suit, or
action, issue, presentment or indictment may be
so transmitted shall hear and determine the same
in like manner as if such suit or action, issue, pre-
sentment or indictment had been originally insti-
tuted therein, and the General Assembly shall
make such modification of existing law as may be
necessary to regulate and give force to this provi-
sion.
SEC. 9. The Judge, or Judges of any Court,
may appoint such officers for their respective
Courts as may be found necessary; and such
officers of the Courts in the City of Baltimore
shall be appointed by the Judges of the Supreme
Bench of Baltimore City. It shall be the duty of
the General Assembly to prescribe by Law, a
fixed compensation for all such officers; and said
Judge or Judges shall, from time to time, investi-
gate the expenses, costs and charges of their re-
spective courts, with a view to a change or reduc-
tion thereof, and report the result of such
investigation to the General Assembly for its ac-
tion.
SEC. 10. The Clerks of the several Courts, cre-
ated, or continued by this Constitution, shall
have charge and custody of the records and other
papers, shall perform all the duties, and be
allowed the fees, which appertain to their several
offices, as the same now are, or may hereafter be
regulated by Law. And the office and business of
said Clerks, in all their departments, shall be sub-
ject to the visitorial power of the Judges of their
respective Courts, who shall exercise the same,
from time to time, so as to insure the faithful per-
formance of the duties of said officers; and it
shall be the duty of the Judges of said Courts re-
spectively, to make, from time to time, such rules