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liable. That they wanted an independent judiciary was
not debatable; that the arbiter of their lives and fortunes
was to be independent and above all personal considera-
tions was, it seemed to him, not debatable. The consti-
tution of 1776 provided that the judge should be inde-
pendent, and to secure this independence provided that he
should hold his office during good behavior. The consti-
tutions of 1851 and 1864 enunciated the same principle,
but took different measures to secure it. Why should this
provision be changed? The judge should be removed as
far as possible from all outside influence. The salary of
the judge was put at a limit which would barely enable
him to support his family, and he would come out of office
deprived of his practice, and compelled to begin anew the
work of his profession.
The judge who was to be elected for the short term
would necessarily be an electioneering judge, and, as his
term approached to an end, would seek to avail himself of
influence to secure a re-election. This, to his view, would
necessarily be the result. He hoped the Convention would
return to the good old practice which had prevailed an-
terior to 1851. He believed the people of Maryland would
receive such action of the Convention with gratitude. The
gentleman from Harford also proposed to superannuate
the judges, but he (Mr. D. ) maintained that the ripe ex-
perience of a judge at the age of seventy would often-
times be such that the State should not be debarred the
privilege of retaining him in office. The committee had
discussed this subject at great length, and had thought
that the services of the judge should be retained so long
as they were valuable to the State.
Mr. Brewer, of Baltimore city, moved that the Conven-
tion go into committee of the whole, and the motion being
sustained, the Convention resolved itself into committee
of the whole, (Mr. Dent, of St. Mary's, in the chair. )
The committee then took up the third section of the
judiciary article and the amendments pending thereto
were read, when
Mr. Carter moved that the committee rise and report
progress, and ask to be discharged from the further con-
sideration of the subject. He made this motion to test
the sense of the Convention.
306
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