being out of employment, such a judge would
soon become disqualified for his duty. I care not
what his qualifications may have been when he
was appointed: I care not how good a lawyer he
may be, or how well acquainted with every branch
of his profession, if he have not sufficient em-
ployment in the discharge of his judicial func-
tions, he soon ceases to have those qualifications.
His mind rusts out, and he becomes incapable.
The best judge is the judge that is best worked.
The constant exercise of his faculties is essential
to keep them in working order. Let us look at
the facts in the case, and see whether each county
in the State can give employment to a judge ;
and at the same time let us see whether the sys-
tem I propose, will assign too much labor to one
man. My plan is to occupy the whole time of
the judge; to make it the business of his life to
the exclusion of other employments. We find
now in some of the judicial districts, that the
Associate Justices are devoting themselves to
other business than that which their appointments
impose upon them. They are farmers, or em-
ployed in various other avocations; and the dis-
charge of their judicial functions is merely an
agreeable relief to what may be considered as the
business of their lives. My proposition is to pay
the judge for his whole time, and then to claim
the whole of it. I would not overwork the judge,
but I would work him to the full measure of his
capacity. I now proceed to read some statistics
which I have compiled from the returns made by
the clerks of the several counties, to this body
and the Legislature, of the number of days which
the Courts have sat in each county, per annum,
and the average amount of business in each per
annum, for a period of five years past.
A STATEMENT showing the number of days the
Courts of the several districts were in session in
the years 1845, 1846, 1847, 1848 and 1849, com-
piled from actual returns:
[See page image for table] |
[See page image for table]
NOTE-Where blanks appear in the foregoing
statement, no returns have been made.
A STATEMENT showing the amount of business in
the Courts of each County in this State, as far as
can be ascertained with precision from the reports
received ; it being the average per annum, for the
years 1846, 1847, 1848, 1849 and 1850.
[See page image for table]
*These include cases of all sorts commenced
and tried. The report does not distinguish civil
from criminal cases; or jury trials from other
modes of trial.
This embraces insolvent cases from the
county as well as the city.
NOTE.—When blanks appear in the foregoing
statements, the reports do not supply the infor-
mation. From Calvert, Washington, Allegany,
Harford, Kent and Somerset Counties, no re- |
