would say, that that was the most pleasant part
of their labors. If he was on the bench, he
would much prefer locomotion to being obliged
to sit day after day upon the same bench. The
going from circuit to circuit lie would regard as
the most pleasant portion of the time a judge
had in the administration of his office. But, in
point of fact, the judges of the Court of Appeals
wore very seldom on the circuit, except in the
summer and fall for a few weeks.
Mr. CHAMBERS said, the Convention might fair-
ly expect to hear what was his experience. He
had hold a seat on the bench for seventeen years,
and was very familiar with the severe labor, and
the anxieties and perplexities of the situation.
The present system was organized in 1806, when,
as all knew, the population and wealth, and com-
merce of the State, were much less than at pre-
sent. The Court of Appeals, then, found it ne-
cessary to hold their sessions for a few weeks,
twice in the year these sessions now extended
to five months. The salary was fixed in 1806,
and no change whatever has been made since
that time, except in relation to the salary of the
Chief Judge of the Court, to whom an additional
sum of three hundred dollars, per annum, has
been within a few years, allowed. In the mean
time, a variety of additional duties have been im-
posed upon the Court. He supposed it might be
anticipated that the Court would be in session,
hereafter, for something like six months in the
year. We all know the expense of being from
home, and boarding in a hotel. He had himself
paid upwards of three hundred dollars of his year's
salary at the hotel, although his bill contained as
few items, except simply for diet, fuel and light.
as that of any other gentleman. Of course there
are always incidental expenses unavoidably in-
curred, and the loss at borne, necessarily conse-
quent on the neglect of private concerns, and
their mismanagement by agents. To all this, is
to be added, an estimate of expenditures for simi-
lar items, during circuit duty, in most instances,
in four counties, in which must be calculated,
two sessions of two weeks each, making four
weeks for each county, and thirty-two weeks in
the whole. With these data gentlemen could
easily determine whether a Judge of the Court of
Appeals could, with any economy, support a fami-
ly with the portion of his salary which remained
after defraying his necessary personal expenses.
Most of us have some experience in this matter of
family expenses, and to all such it would be ob-
vious, that the salary, after meeting expenses
necessary, as personal, would not afford scarcely
a beginning of means to support a family.
But if the pay was inconsiderable, he could
say of a truth, not so with the labor, that is in-
tense, greatly beyond the estimate usually formed
of it. He doubted whether another instance
could be found in the State of an officer whose
actual labors so far exceeded the estimate gene-
rally made of them. The mere duty of a daily
session of six hours, during which a man is
confined to his chair, often without a moment's
relief, and with his mind earnestly devoted to
intricate and conflicting arguments and authori-
ties, and denied the privilege or the prospect of
68 |
recreation or exercise to reinvigorate his powers
of mind or body for the next day's service, their
irksome task maybe estimated, and is generally
regarded as the aggregate of duty performed by
the judge. This he said was a lamentable
error, as the judge must find. To these tedious
hours of daily session, must succeed afternoons
and nights of devoted exertion of mind and con-
tinued confinement of body to investigate and
compare authorities, confer upon arguments and
form satisfactory conclusions. He had, for a
month together, been so laboriously engaged,
as to prevent him from permitting his head to
rest upon the pillow, till after midnight, and.
this after the fatigue of a full day's labor. This
picture is not very attractive, but the feature,
which above all, gives it character, is yet to be
added. To endure the effort of mind and body
required in patiently listening to long arguments,
investigating conflicting authorities, conferring
upon doubtful or difficult points, all under a
high sense of the responsibility which attaches
to one who is to decide finally a.nd conclusively
on the rights of his neighbors, this is a task ar-
duous enough; but then to write out the results
of these labors, to con over the words of pass-
age after passage, to mark the nice distinctions
and argue out each to the case at bar, to ex-
amine and re-examine every step of the line by
which the conclusion is arrived at, with a
knowledge that it is to be scanned and criticised
and compared by the most acute intellects in all
time to come. This, he said, was a task which
no man can or will estimate rightly until he is a
victim to the necessity which requires it. It
had been most truly said by one of the gentle-
men, that the writing of opinions ill the actual
condition of the judge of the court of appeals
was of all conceivable occupations, the one
most destructive, both to health and comfort,
certainly he knew nothing more calculated to
break down, and to wear out the constitution,
and exhaust the powers of mind and body, than
a few years' faithful service as a judge of the
court of appeals.
Mr. BISER said, if he had not made a motion
to strike out the words "five hundred," he
would have felt satisfied with giving a silent vote,
having no practical knowledge of the business of
the Court of Appeals, except from observation.
He said if his motion carried, it would fix the
compensation of Judges of the Court of Appeals
at $2,000 per annum. He felt sure that the
best judicial talent of Maryland had been ob-
tained for $2,200 per annum, and the duty of
the judges had been, as far as he knew, faith-
fully performed. He had heard no complaint
from gentlemen occupying those high and re-
sponsible stations. Such an event as the resig-
nation of a judge of the Court of Appeals he
had never heard of. Their duties were rather
decreasing than increasing, it was not neces-
sary to state that they had formerly to appear in
the county courts, and attend to the Court of
Appeals in addition; and therefore their labors
being now diminished, he came to the conclu-
sion that their compensation should not be in-
creased. And he had an additional reason, and |
