Baltimore city, Kilgour, Brewer, Waters, Hol-
liday, Slicer, Fitzpatrick, and Brown—35.
Negative—Messrs. Chapman, Pres't, Morgan,
Blakistone, Dent, Hopewell, Ricaud, Chambers,
of Kent, Mitchell, Donaldson, Dorsey, Wells,
Randall, Kent, Brent, of Charles, Howard,
Dickinson, John Dennis, Williams, Goldsbo-
rough, Bowling, Grason, Gaither, Biser, Annan,
Gwinn, Brent, of Baltimore city, Schley, Fiery,
Neill, John Newcomer, Harbine, Michael New-
comer, Davis, Anderson, Smith, Parke, Shower
and Cockey—38.
So the Convention rejected said amendment.
The question again recurred and was put on
the adoption of the amendment as the 13th arti-
cle, and it was determined in the negative.
The eleventh and twelfth sections were then
read, as follows:
Sec. 11. There shall be established for the
city of Baltimore one court with common law
Jurisdiction, to be styled "the Court of Common
Pleas," which shall have civil jurisdiction in all
suits where the debt or damages claimed shall
not exceed five hundred dollars.
Sec. 12. There shall also be in said city an-
other common law court, having jurisdiction in
all suits where the debt or damages claimed
shall exceed the sum of five hundred dollars;
and each of said courts shall be vested with all
powers now held and exercised by Baltimore
county court as a court of law, and this last
court shall be styled "the Superior Court."
Mr. MORGAN. In the absence of the chair-
man of the Judiciary Committee, (Mr. Bowie,)
who has requested me to take charge of this
bill, it being impossible for him to attend here,
I move to pass over the 11th and 12th sections,
so that I can move to strike out section 13. In
relation to the organization of the courts in Bal-
timore city, the Convention will observe that it
is proposed to establish two courts there—one
in section II, which is to have jurisdiction of
all claims to the amount of five hundred dol-
lars; and one in section 12, to be styled "the
Superior Court," with jurisdiction of all claims
above five hundred dollars. In section 13 there
is also provided a Chancellor for that city. My
object in moving to pass over sections 12 and
13, is for the purpose of taking the sense of the
Convention upon the proposition whether or not
they will give a separate Chancellor to the city
of Baltimore, and for the purpose of hereafter
moving to amend the 12th section, by inserting
a clause giving chancery jurisdiction to the
court having cognizance of all claims above
five hundred dollars.
in carrying out the judicial system adopted
by this Convention, it is my opinion that the
court which has jurisdiction over all claims
above $500, should discharge the equity juris-
diction of Baltimore city, so that by this plan
we could save the expense of one Chancellor,
giving Baltimore the benefit of two courts—a
civil jurisdiction for the transaction of business
under and above $500 It would he perceived,
under the arrangement of this bill, that there is
established for Baltimore city six judges and
six courts, one of which judges is an equity |
Judge, for the purpose of somewhat reducing
the expense, and to carry out a system which
we have not adopted for other portions of the
State. I have made the motion which I have
indicated,
The question was then taken on the motion
of Mr. Morgan, to pass over the 11th and 13th
sections, and it was agreed to.
The 13th section of the report was then read,
as follows:
Sec. 13. There shall also be established a
court having equity jurisdiction, for the city of
Baltimore, whose style shall be "the chancery
court of the city of Baltimore," and which shall
have and exercise the equity jurisdiction now
exercised by Baltimore county court, sitting as
a court of equity. Each of the said three courts
shall consist of one judge, who shall hold his
office for the term of ten years, subject to the
provisions of this Constitution, with regard to
the election and qualification of judges and their
removal from office; and the salary of each of
the said judges shall be twenty-five hundred dol-
lars per year.
Mr. MORGAN moved to amend the section by
striking out the following:
"There shall also be established a court hav-
ing equity jurisdiction for the city of Baltimore,
whose style shall be "the chancery court of the
city of Baltimore," and which shall have and
exercise the equity jurisdiction now exercised by
Baltimore county court, sitting as a court of
equity."
Mr. GWINN. I move to amend the section by
striking out the word "style." The question
presented by the motion of the gentleman from
St. Mary's is one of very great importance to
the community which I, in part, have the honor
to represent, and as I do not think the facts in-
volved in this question are generally understood
by members of this Convention, I hope that be-
fore they pass a final judgment they will hear,
with patience, some few statistics which I have
been enacted to gather, partly by my own labor
and partly by the labor of the gentleman from
Somerset, (Mr. Crissfield.)
The gentleman from St. Mary's proposes to
transfer the chancery cases of the city of Balti-
more to one of the two courts specified in the
bill. Now the average of civil suits commenced
in the city of Baltimore alone, for the years 1846,
1847, 1848, 1849 and 1850, was 1,336 cases for
every year. To attend to this immense amount
of business, it is proposed to give two tribunals,
consisting of one judge each. Supposing that
the sum of five hundred dollars properly divides
the jurisdiction, so as to make the business
equal, each court will have to entertain, in the
course of a year, some six hundred and fifty
civil cases. Now it is true that in a large com-
mercial community there are a number of cases
which go to judgment without trial; but the
Convention must know that this number cannot
be so large but that out of six hundred and fifty
cases in each court, there will be a large num-
ber for trial, which will average from one lo
three days each. If each court sat every day,
except Sundays, it would be called upon to dis- |
