ties, shall compose the first district; Harford
and Baltimore counties, and the first seven
wards of Baltimore city, shall compose the
second district; Baltimore city, except the
first seven wards, shall compose the third
district; Allegany, Washington, Frederick,
Howard and Carroll counties, shall compose
the fourth district; Saint Mary's, Charles,
Anne Arundel, Calvert, Prince George's, and
Montgomery counties, shall compose the fifth
district; and one of the judges of the court of
appeals shall be appointed from each of said
districts.
Sec. 13. The court of appeals shall hold its
sessions in the city of Annapolis, on the first
Monday in April, and the first Monday in
October, in each and every year, or at such
other times as the general assembly may by
law direct, and it shall be competent for the
judges of said court, sufficient cause appear-
ing to them, temporarily to transfer their
sittings elsewhere.
Sec. 14. The jurisdiction of the court of
appeals shall be co-extensive with the limits
of the State, and such as now is or may here-
after be prescribed tor it by law, and its
sessions shall continue for not less flan ten
months in the year, if the business before it
shall so require.
Sec. 15. Any three of the judges of the
court of appeals may constitute a quorum,
but no cause shall be decided without the
concurrence of at least three judges in the de-
cision, and in every case decided, an opinion
in writing shall be filed within six months af-
ter the argument or submission of the cause,
and the judgment of the court shall be final
and conclusive.
Sec. 16. The salary of the justices of the
court of appeals shall be four thousand dol-
lars each per annum, payable quarterly,
Sec 17. Provision shall be made by law
for publishing reports of all causes argued and
determined in the court of appeals,
Sec. 18. The court of appeals shall appoint
its own clerk, who shall hold his office for six
years, and may be reappointed at the end
thereof; he shall be subject to removal by the
said court for incompetency, neglect of duty,
misdemeanor in office, or such other cause or
causes as may be prescribed by law.
PART IIII.
Circuit Court.
Sec. 19. The State shall be divided into
eight judicial circuits, in manner following :
The counties of St. Mary's, Charles and Prince
George's, shall constitute the first circuit.
The counties of Calvert, Anne Arundel, and
Montgomery, the second. The counties of
Allegany, Washington, and Frederick, the
third. The counties of Baltimore, Howard,
and Carroll, the fourth. The counties of
Harford, Cecil, and Kent, the fifth. The
counties of Queen Anne's, Talbot, and Caro-
line, the sixth. The counties of Dorchester, |
Somerset, and Worcester, the seventh. And
the city of Baltimore, the eighth,
Sec. 20. In each of the above named cir-
cuits, except the eighth, there shall be three
courts, one to be held in each county; they
shall be called circuit courts for the county
in which they may be held, and shall have
and exercise all the power, authority, and
jurisdiction, original and appellate, which
the present circuit courts of this State now
have and exercise, or which may hereafter be
prescribed by law.
Sec. 21, For each circuit (the eighth ex-
cepted) there shall be three judges, who shall
be styled circuit judges, one of said judges,
during his term of office, shall reside in each
county of the circuit; the said judges shall
bold a term of their courts in each of the
counties composing their respective circuits at
such times as now are or may hereafter be
fixed by law, such terms to be never less than
two in each year in each county; special terms
may be held by said judges, in their discre-
tion, whenever the business of their several
counties renders such terms necessary; a single
judge may hold sessions of the circuit court
for the disposal of all equity business, all bu-
siness merely formal and uncontested, appeals
from the decisions of justices of the peace,
(but no other appeals,) and such causes civil
or criminal as the parlies litigant shall con-
sent to try before a single judge,
Sec. 22. The salary of each judge of the
circuit court shall be three thousand dollars
per annum, payable quarterly, and shall not
be increased or diminished during his contin-
ance in office.
Sec. 23. There shall be a clerk of the cir-
cuit court for each county, who shall be elected
by a plurality vote of the qualified voters
of said county; he shall hold his office for the
term of six years from the time of his elec-
tion, and until a new election is held and his
successor duly qualified; he shall be re-eligi-
ble at the end of his term, and shall at any
time be subject to removal for wilful neglect
of duty, or other misdemeanor in office, on
conviction in a court of law.
PART IV.
Orphans' Court.
See. 24. There shall be an orphans' court
in each of the counties of the State, and the
city of Baltimore, and the circuit judge resi-
dent in any county shall be ex-officio chief
judge of the orphans' court of such county,
and one of the judges of the circuit court of
Baltimore city shall sit as chief judge of the
orphans' court of said city; the qualified vo-
ters of the city of Baltimore and of the several
counties of the State shall, on Tuesday next
after the first Monday in the month of No-
vember, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven,
and on the game day of the same month in
every fourth year thereafter, elect two men to
be associate judges of the orphans' court of |
