Mr. STIRLING. Why do yon strike out
"tenure of office?"
Mr. RIDGELY. Because it is provided above
that the election shall take place every two
years.
The question being taken upon the amend-
ment, upon division, no quorum voted.
Mr. MILLER. I desire to ask the chairman of
the committee why they have changed in this
clause the word "uniform" in the old con-
stitution to the word "similar." The old
constitution reads:
" But such powers and duties, and the ten-
ure of office shall be uniform throughout the
State."
I know questions have arisen in our courts
upon the construction of that section as con-
tained in the old constitution, upon the con-
stitutionality of a great many laws authori-
zing the county commissioners of a particular
county to build a bridge, or construct a road,
or open a road, conferring upon certain county
commissioners special powers or duties which
were not imposed upon the county commis-
sioners of the counties throughout the State.
The word in the old constitution was "uni-
form." The word here is "similar." I do
not think that would alter the construction or
get rid of the difficulty at all. It is impossi-
ble to have any legislation with reference
to the county commissioners under the pro-
vision of the constitution, which defines their
powers and duties to be uniform throughout
the State. The necessities in one county are
so different from those in another, that when
the necessities of the people of one county re-
quire them to come to the legislature and ask
for certain legislation In regard to the county
commissioners of their county, the people of
another county in another portion of the State
require no such legislation at all. To author-
ize the county commissioners of the several
counties to perform duties peculiarly, local.
when their people require it, is one of the best
modes, it appears to me of legislation. And
notwithstanding the provision in the old con-
stitution that the powers and duties of the
county commissioners should be uniform
throughout the State, the statute book of the
State, since the adoption of that constitution
has been filled with legislation authorizing
the county commissioners of one county to do
what the county commissioners of no Other
county are authorized to do. I think it is a
wise amendment to strike out that provision,
and to let the legislature from time to time, as
the people may require, authorize the county
commissioners of the different counties to do
different things.
Mr. CLARKE. I will merely state that the lan-
guage of the old constitution was that the
powers, duties and tenure of office should be
uniform. Several cases have arisen in the
court of appeals; one in the court in Allegany
county, where the legislature conferred some
power upon the county commissioners of Al- |
legany county, which the county commission-
ers of no other counties did not have. A doubt
arose whether the county commissioners of
Allegany county could exercise such a power,
because it was not a power given in other
counties. The committee thought that the
word "uniform" required that the county
commissioners should exercise the same pow-
ers; and that we could not and the legislature
could not confer a power upon the commis-
sioners of One county, without conferring it
upon all.
The committee therefore provided that the
powers and duties should be similar through-
out the State; that they should have like
powers, which would give the legislature a
certain discretion with reference to modifying
these similar powers in order to meet the ex-
igencies of the different counties. This would
give the legislature fuller and more extensive
power than retaining the word " uniform,"
and would enable the legislature to confer sim-
ilar powers in different counties.
Mr. NEGLEY. I do not see why this section
should be changed. It should be recollected
that a few days ago we prohibited special leg-
islation on these local matters. We put a pro-
hibition into the constitution, and very wisely.
It is possible under this provision to pass a
general law in such general terms, of such
wide and comprehensive scope, that it will al-
low each board of county commissioners ill
the State of Maryland to carry out any county
purposes they may have to carry out. I think
it is perfectly competent to legislate under this
provision; and then we shall not have so much
local legislation.
We shall have one general law, so general and
so wide in its scope, as not to interfere with
freedom of action of the individual boards of
the several counties. I think therefore that
if we strike this out now, we depart in a great
measure from what we attempted to do the oth-
er day, in prohibition of so much special legisla-
tion. Let there be boards of commissioners
throughout the entire State for the counties ;
and let the authority of these boards be a gen-
eral, a very general authority, a wide author-
ity, so that they shall have power to act under
it and not be trammelled. I do not think we
ought to change this.
Mr. KING demanded the yeas and nays, but
they were not ordered,
The question being again taken upon the
amendment, the result was—ayes 14,nays 31—
no quorum voting.
Mr. STOCKBRIDGE. I am confident there is a
quorum in the house.
Mr. DANIEL. I call for the yea and nays.
That will test whether there is a quorum or
not,
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The question being taken upon Mr. RIDGELY'S
amendment, the result was—yeas 13,
nays 35—as follows :
Teas—Messrs. Audoun, Greene, Henkle, |
