Mr. NEGLEY. And in order to get this
proposition in the house must strike out the
original ?
The PRESIDENT. Yes, sir.
The motion to strike out prevailed.
The PRESIDENT, The question recurs upon
the substitute submitted by the gentleman
from Talbot (Mr. Mullikin) as amended.
Mr, THRUSTON. I move to strike out
" voter in this State" and insert " citizen of
the United States," because the constitution
of the United States requires that " the citi-
zens of each State shall be entitled to all the
privileges and immunities of citizens in the
several States" [art. 4, sec. 2,] and I do not
want to have our constitution at variance
with the constitution of the United States in
any way.
Mr. NEGLEY. I think that is an edge tool
that will cut two ways. It is competent to
allow a man who has not been naturalized to
vote for State officers; yet he could not vote
for United States officers.
Mr THRUSTON. It is not competent to give
a privilege to citizens of Maryland in a suit
at law, that citizens of other States have not
a right to. I do not want to have a useless
conflict between our own constitution and
the constitution of the United States, because
our constitution must give way to the consti-
tution of the United States. That is the
reason for my motion.
The amendment was agreed to,
Mr. NEGLEY. I move the following amend-
ment, being section 31 of the article in our
present constitution:
"Every person of good moral character,
being a voter, shall be admitted to practice
law in all the courts of law in this State, in
his own case."
The PRESIDENT rilled the amendment out
of order, having already been acted upon.
Mr. CHAMBERS demanded the yeas and nays
upon the adoption of the section as amended,
and they were ordered.
The question being taken, the result was—
yeas 40, nays 32—as follows :
Teas—Messrs. Abbott, Annan, Audoun,
Barron, Brown, Crawford, Cunningham,
Daniel, Davis, of Charles, Davis, of Wash-
ington, Dennis, Duvall, Ecker, Galloway,
Hebb, Hopkins, Hopper, Horsey, Jones, of
Somerset, Keefer, Kennard, King, Lansdale,
Markey, Mayhugh, McComas, Mullikin, Neg-
ley, Nyman, Robinette, Sands, Schlosser,
Smith, of Carroll, Smith, of Dorchester,
Smith, of Worcester, Sykes, Thomas, Thrus-
ton, Wickard—40.
Nays—Messrs. Goldsborough, President ;
Berry, of Prince George's, Billingsley, Black-
iston, Brooks, Carter, Chambers, Clarke,
Dent, Earle, Edelen, Hatch, Jones, of Cecil,
Lee, Mace, Marbury, Mitchell, Morgan, Mur-
ray, Parker, Parran, Peter, Pugh, Purnell,
Russell, Schley, Stirling, Stockbridge, Swope,
Todd, Turner', Wooden—32. |
When their names were called,
Mr SCHLEY said: For the same reason 1
voted for striking out yesterday, I vote
"no."
Mr. STIRLING said: I do not know that this
section can practically give any rights a man
cannot exercise now; and I think it is only
calculated to produce confusion, and perhaps
restrict some rights. I therefore vote " no."
Mr BROOKS said: Under the explanation of
the gentleman from Baltimore city (Mr. Stir-
ling, ) I will change my vote and vote " no."
The section was accordingly adopted as
follows:
" Sec. 11, Every person, being a citizen of
the United States, shall bepermitted to appear
and try his own case."
The next section was read as follows :
PART II.
Court of Appeals.
" Sec. 12. The court of appeals shall consist
of a chief justice and four associate justices,
and for their selection the State shall be di-
vided into five judicial districts as follows,
viz: Worcester, Somerset, Dorchester, Tal-
bot, Caroline. Queen Anne, Kent and Cecil
counties, 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; St. Mary's, Charles, Anne
Arundel, Calvert, Prince George's and Montgomery
counties, shall compose the filth dis-
trict; and one of the judges of the court of
appeals shall be appointed from each of said
districts."
Mr ABBOTT. I move to strike out " ap-
pointed" and insert "elected" in the last line.
Mr. JONES, of Somerset. I would suggest
to the gentleman to insert " by the qualified
voters in each of the said judicial dis-
tricts."
Mr. STIRLING. It would be better to take
the vote first upon the amendment as offered,
and afterwards upon the mode of election.
Mr. SANDS. That can be provided for by
inserting in line two, after the words "asso-
ciate justices" the words "to be elected on
general ticket by the qualified voters of the
State."
Mr. SCHLEY. I give notice that I will
move to amend by inserting " to be elected
by the qualified voters of the State" in the
second line, and to strike out the last clause;
and let the justices be elected from the State
at large.
Mr. DENT. I will move to amend by add-
ing at the end of the section, "by the quali-
fied voters thereof."
Mr. THOMAS. I give notice that at the
proper time I shall offer a substitute for the
whole section. |
