ARTICLE IV.
JUDICIARY DEPARTMENT.
SECTION 1. The judicial power of this State
shall be vested in a court of appeals, in cir-
cuit courts, in such courts for the city of Bal-
timore as may be hereinafter prescribed, and
in justices of the peace.
SEC. 2. The court of appeals shall have ap-
pellate jurisdiction only, which shall be co-
extensive with the limits of the State. It
shall consist of a chief justice and three asso-
ciate justices, any three of whom shall form a
quorum, whose judgment shall be final and
conclusive in all cases of appeals; and who
shall have the jurisdiction which the present
court of appeals of this State now has, and
such other appellate jurisdiction as hereafter
may be provided for by law. And in every
case decided, an opinion, in writing, shall be
filed, and provision shall be made, by law,
for publishing reports of cases argued and de-
termined in the said court. The Governor,
for the time being, by and with the advice
and consent of the senate, shall designate the
chief justice, and the court of appeals shall
bold its sessions at the city of Annapolis, con
the first Monday of June, and the first Mon-
day of December, in each and every year.
Sec. 3. The court of appeals shall appoint
its own clerk, who shall hold his office for six
years, and may be re-appointed at the end
thereof; he shall be subject to removal by the
said court for incompetency, neglect of duty,
misdemeanor in office, and for such other
causes as may be prescribed by law.
SEC. 4. The State shall be divided into
four judicial districts: Allegany, Washing-
ton, Frederick, Carroll, Baltimore and Har-
ford counties, shall compose the first; Mont-
gomery, Howard, Anne Arundel, Calvert, St.
Mary's, Charles and Prince George's, the sec-
ond; Baltimore city, the third; and Cecil,
Kent, Queen Anne's, Talbot, Caroline, Dor-
chester, Somerset and Worcester, shall com-
pose the fourth district. And one person
from among those learned in the law, having
been admitted to practice in this State, and
who shall have been a citizen of this State
at least five years, and above the age of thirty
years at the time of his election, and a resi-
dent of the judicial district, shall be elected
from each of said districts by the legal and
qualified voters therein, as a judge of the said
court of appeals, who shall bold his office for
the term of ten years from the time of his
election, or until be shall have attained the
age of seventy years, which ever may first
happen, and be re-eligible thereto until be
shall have attained the age of seventy years,
and not after, subject to removal for incom-
petency, wilful neglect of duty or misbeha-
vior in office, on conviction in a court of
law, or by the Governor upon the address of
the general assembly, two-thirds of the mem-
bers of each house concurring in such address; |
and the salary of each of the judges of the
court of appeals shall be two thousand five
hundred dollars annually, and shall not be
increased or diminished during their continu-
ance in office; and no fees or perquisites of
any kind, shall be allowed by law to any of
the said judges.
SEC. 5. No judge of the court of appeals
shall sit in any case wherein he may be inter-
ested, or where either of the parties may be
connected with him by affinity or consanguinity
within such degrees as may he pre-
scribed by law, or when he shall have been of
counsel in said case; when the court of ap-
peals, or any of its members shall be thus disqualified
to hear and determine any case or
cases in said court, so that by reason thereof
no judgment can be rendered in said court,
the same shall be certified to the Governor of
the State, who shall immediately commission
the requisite number of persons learned in
the law for the trial and determination of
said case or cases.
Sic. 6. All judges of the court, of appeals,
of the circuit courts, and of the courts for
the city of Baltimore, shall, by virtue of their
offices, be conservators of the peace through-
out the State.
SEC. 7. All public commissions and grants
shall run thus. "The State of Maryland,"
&c., and shall be signed by the Governor,
with the seal of the State annexed; all writs
and process shall run in the same style, and
be tested, sealed and signed as usual; and all
indictments shall conclude " against the
peace, government and dignity of the State."
SEC. 8. 8. The State shall be divided into
eight judicial circuits, in manner and form
following, to wit: St. Mary's, Charles and
Prince George's counties shall be the first;
Anne Arundel, Howard, Calvert and Mont-
gomery counties shall tie the second; Fred-
erick and Carroll counties shall be the third ;
Washington and Allegany counties shall be
the fourth; Baltimore city shall be the fifth ;
Baltimore, Harford and Cecil counties shall
be the sixth; Kent, Queen Anne's, Talbot and
Caroline counties shall be the seventh; and
Dorchester, Somerset and Worcester counties
shall be the eighth; and there shall be elected
as hereinafter directed for each of the said
judicial circuits, except the fifth, one person
from among those learned in the law, having
been admitted to practice in this State, and
who shall have been a citizen of this State at
least live years, and above the age of thirty
years at the time of his election, and a resi-
dent of the judicial circuit to be judge there-
of; the said judges shall be styled circuit
judges, and shall respectively hold a term of
their courts at least twice in each year, or
oftener if required by law, in each county
composing their respective circuits; and the
said courts shall becalled circuit courts for the
county in which they may be held, and shall
have and exercise in the several counties of |
