of Caroline and Dorchester, the tenth; the
counties of Somerset and Worcester the elev-
enth; and the city of Baltimore, the twelfth."
Mr. HEBB said: I will state that if this
amendment should be adopted, dividing the
State into twelve judicial districts, instead of
eight, I shall offer another providing one
judge for each circuit, making twelve judges,
The system reported requires twenty-two
judges—three for each of the seven circuits—
and one for the eighth circuit. My object is
to have one judge in each circuit instead of
three.
Mr. KING. Would it not be better to pass
over this section informally until we come to
the 21st, to know whether we shall have one
judge in each circuit, or three? I make that
motion.
The motion to pass over the section in-
formally was agreed to.
Mr. CLARKE. I will offer a proposition
when it shall be in order, to test the sense of
the convention upon the question whether
there shall be ajudge for each county in the
State.
The next section was read as follows :
"Sec. 20. in each of the above named
circuits, 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 here-
after be prescribed by law."
Mr. AUDOUN moved to strike out "three"
in the second line, and insert " one."
Mr. HEBB submitted the following amend-
ment :
Strike out the section and insert:
" Sec 20. One court shall be held in each
county of the State; the said courts shall be
called circuit courts tor the county in which
they may be held, and shall have and exer-
cise all the power, authority and jurisdiction,
original and appellate, which the present cir-
cuit courts of this State now have and exer-
cise. or which may hereafter be prescribed by
law."
Mr. SANDS. I do not see bow we can pro-
perly act upon this until we have decided
whether we shall have three judges to a cir-
cuit, or whether we shall have three counties
to a circuit, or one county in some cases,
two counties in others, and three in others,
as proposed by the substitute of the gentle-
man from Allegany (Mr. Hebb.) I move to
pass over the twentieth and twenty-first sec-
tions informally.
Mr. STIRLING. it seems to me if we are
going" to do that, we might as well pass over
all of it; we shall have to meet the question
somewhere,
Mr. SANDS. I will withdraw the motion,
if we can have the question at once. |
Mr. STIRLING. The whole report will have
to be recast; and if the house come to some
conclusion upon this point, the committee
can more readily revise it. This whole part
was very carefully drawn for a three judge
system, and it is now proposed to have a one-judge
system.
Mr. AUDOUN withdrew his amendment.
The question recurred upon Mr. HEBB'S
amendment.
Mr. BERRY, of Prince George's. Does
that mean that only one term of the court
shall be held in each county of the State ?
Mr. SANDS. Certainly not.
Mr. STOCKBRIDGE. The twenty-first section
provides for that.
This amendment, I think, brings before the
convention fairly the question of the system
of circuit courts they may choose to adopt.
As such I am very glad it has been offered.
This is perhaps as good a time to decide that
question as any. As there have been several
indications on different sides that this report
has not been read or considered in its entire-
ty, but only in its separate parts, I wish to
say a word with reference to the system, as a
system, that is reported.
There have been a variety of amendments
offered, not systematized at all, not fitting
the one into the others and several of them
adopted, sufficient to make it clear that we
are not to have a judicial system at a 1, but a
thing of shreds and patches, a little of this
and a little of that.
The effort of the committee at which they
worked a long time, was to digest and pre-
pare asystem; and they settled two or three
cardinal principles, and fitted every detail to
these principles.
There is a necessity for four different kinds
of jurisdiction in the State, aside from the
court of appeals; that is, the ordinary com-
mon law, civil jurisdiction, criminal jurisdic-
tion, equity jurisdiction, and the jurisdiction
of the estate of deceased persons.
The effect and design of this system was
to cover the whole ground, to form a system
which should give sufficient force to meet the
wants of the people in all these departments,
which should give no more than was neces-
sary, which should be at all times accessible,
and which should be able to render justice
promptly to all suitors.
The system which has prevailed for the last
fifteen years in the State has been a circuit
court system, with but one judge upon the
bench in any place. That system has some
advantages; the chief one being its very
great economy, there being but one judge
over sometimes one county, and sometimes
two or more. But there has been this prac-
tical difficulty, that the judges have been
overworked in almost every instance, and in
many instances they halve not been at all times
accessible for the discharge of what are called
the chamber duties of the court in the dis- |
