mon law, it is necessary to prescribe his duties
in the Constitution, or by legislative act. The
Attorney Generalship, as known to the English
law, is a very different office from that provided
for in our system. In England, the King is the
source of all judicial and executive authority.
The judges and Attorney General who represent
a delegated portion of his sovereign executive
authority, are common law officers, because a
parliamentary creation of the office of judge or
Attorney General would have been a limitation
upon the common law authority of the crown,
But in Maryland the case is widely different.
We have no common law officer whatever, and the
Attorney General cannot exist unless the office
is recognised by the Constitution or by some pub-
lic law. He may have, if you please so to call
them, common law powers, but these are but the
general and necessary powers of every State, in-
cidentally deputed, and not by .the force of the
common law a part of the office itself.
The first mention made of the office, the gen-
tleman tells us, is in the time of Charles II.
Certainly, no more conclusive answer could be
afforded to an argument founded upon its exist-
ence as common law.
Much had been said about corruption which
would result if counsel designated were left to
make his claim upon the Legislature. He thought
it certainly much wiser that the Executive should
have the power, but it is wiser to trust to the
general care and diligence of the Legislature in
examining such occasional claims as may arise,
and to the character of the person employed by
the Executive, than for the fear of such abuse to
continue such an officer in our State Government.
Since, if their counsel is of their own selec-
tion, they will have no shelter from the effects
of an improper decision,
Can it be said, that when such emergencies
arise, proper counsel cannot be obtained, if the
whole bar of the State is open to their choice ?
But the objection is taken that such counsel
would not be subject to the responsibility of a
sworn officer. In the usual relations of attorney
and client, though involving large amounts of
property, and even life itself, such checks have
not been deemed needful; and it cannot be sup-
posed that a higher guarantee would be required
for the service of the State
Some stress has been laid upon the extra fees
which have been paid by the State during the
past twelve years; and the argument is that it
would be wiser to pay a certain salary than such
irregular fees. The sum, though Considerable,
does not amount to an average of more than two
thousand a year, which is about the compensa-
tion which gome seem to think sufficient for the
performance of the duties of an Attorney Gene-
ral. Yet, this system obtained while there was
an Attorney General, and, yet it is alluded to as
a consequence of the want of one. The argument
is certainly extraordinary.
Mr. McLANE said, that he had been drawn
into the discussion on yesterday. He would very
gladly escape from It; but some remarks made by
the gentleman from Prince George's, [Mr. Bowie,] |
required a reply. In saying that he desired' to
escape from the discussion, he would not be under-
stood as entertaining any doubts as to the opinions
he had expressed yesterday; because those opin-
ions had been the result of a deliberate examina-
tion.
He believed there was a great principle at the
foundation of this proceeding, and unless his ob-
jection was removed, he could never give it his
assent. The Convention was assembled for the
purpose of making a new Constitution for the
people; and the public had a right to expect that
the new Government would not be more expen-
sive than the present, in the creation of that
new Government, no officer would be continued
who was not indispensably necessary to its wise and
efficient administration. Unless it could be shown
that the office of Attorney General was of this
character, which had not been shown to his sat-
isfaction—he should feel bound to resist the con-
tinuance of that office. The gentleman from
Prince George's had referred to the amounts paid
during the last twelve years, as stated by himself,
(Mr. McL.,) on yesterday. His object had been
to show that the office of Attorney General was
entirely useless; for otherwise this large amount
of money would not have been paid for extra
compensation. There had been twelve or fifteen
cases to which, by the argument of the gentle-
man from Prince George's, it was the duty of the
Attorney General to attend. The cases of spe-
cial legislation were not included in that paper,
in a single instance, because it was not the duty
of the Attorney General by virtue of his office, to
give his attention to these cases without any com-
pensation whatever. Yet it would be found with
that office, existing with all its rigor, that this
large amount of money had been paid by those
officers.
Was it not a fair deduction, to say that the office
was useless, and that some other system ought to
be adopted which would be of more advantage to
the State? He had adverted to abuses, and did
not think it necessary to do so. He had simply
referred to the fact, that if while there had been
an Attorney General, it had been necessary to
employ officers at an expenditure of $23,000 in
twelve years, his services ought to be dispensed
with. Unless it could be shown, upon grounds not
hitherto brought before the Convention, that the
office was necessary, be must continue to be op-
posed to its continuance.
What were the duties of the Attorney General,
and upon what grounds was he to be retained ?
The reference of the gentleman from Prince
George, to the acts of Assembly, explaining the
duties of the Attorney General, had opened to
his mind an entirely new consideration; and had
satisfied him more than any thing else, that the
office was now entirely unnecessary. The office
was originally created under the Constitution;
and the gentleman supposed that the Attorney
General so created by the Constitution, was like
the Attorney General under the common law in
England. The case where the Attorney General
had resided upon the Eastern Shore, without at-
tending personally to criminal prosecutions at all, |
