equity judges gone; and I have frequently
been under the necessity of sending to Sara-
toga or Bedford Spring in the summer time,
for the purpose of getting an injunction, and
the same way as to writs of habeas corpus or
similar papers. Human nature is the same
in three judges as it is in one. The mere fact
of electing one judge from each county will
not keep the judge in that county if he does
not choose to stay there. And you cannot
make him hold more terms of his court than
are provided tor by (he constitution or the
law, and whenever a judge chooses to ad-
journ his court he can do it.
These are my views of this subject. I do
hope the convention will take a step back from
the one they have just taken, and go over to
our present system,
Mr. BERRY, of Prince George's. I am sorry
to see evinced by our friend from Baltimore
city (Mr. Thomas) an evidence of opposition
to a measure which we regard as a matter of
justice to the people in the several counties of
the State. More particularly am I sorry for
it as we are perfectly willing that Baltimore
city shall fix her own system, and we are will-
ing to vole for any system they may think
the most advantageous to their people. I have
had a great deal of practical experience since
I have been at lire bar, as lo the inconveni-
ence of the present system. I know of two
cases that have arisen within the last two
years in my county, in one of which the party
was committed to jail for a very small offence
against the criminal law, tor which if convic-
ted he could not have been sent to the peni-
tentiary, but tor which he was committed by
ajustice of the peace; and the means of get-
ting that man out of jail was by habeas cor-
pus; and he had to stay there six months be-
cause we could not get a judge there to try
the habeas corpus in order to deliver him. In
the other case a man was committed for an of-
fence for which he would not have been sent
to the penitentiary if found guilty, and when
the case was tried he was acquitted. The
judge rode thirty-seven miles in the inclemency
of the weather of the winter season to try the
case, and the man was acquitted after he had
been kept in jail six months.
Mr. STIRLING. I admit all that; but I ask
the gentleman from Prince George's if it would
not be remedied by dividing the circuit in
which Prince George's county is contained in-
to two parts.
Mr. BERRY, of Prince George's. I answer
it would for Charles and St. Mary's, the two
lower counties, where the judge now lives.—
Unless you give us in Prince George's a cir-
cuit, the judge lives as near as—
Mr. STIRLING. Suppose you make Prince
George's one circuit, and put Charles and St.
Mary's together.
Mr. BERRY, of Prince George's. It would
remedy it so far as we are concerned; but
would not for Charier and St. Mary's; for |
Charles and St. Mary's are two quite large
counties.
There is another reason I will assign for this
system. It is proposed by this system that
the judge elected from the county shall preside
as the chief justice of the orphans' court. 1
do think if there is any court known to the
law where a lawyer should preside, it is the
orphans' court. I have known most important
cases arise in the orphans' courts; more
so than in the circuit court of the county. 1
have known cases of this sort. I was coun-
sel in a case where we presented the will of a
party, it was in few words—1 want A B to
administer my estate. The judge said it was
not a testamentary appointment; and I had to
bring it to the court of appeals. The court of
appeals declared it was a testamentary ap-
pointment. I carried it back; and they raised
another objection, and decided against me on
that. I carried that up to the court of appeals
and they reversed than. The result was that be-
fore the letters testamentary were taken out,
nearly the whole estate was wasted, In very
many cases there are questions of law alone ;
and therefore there is a necessity of having at
the head of the court a judge who knows
something about the law.
Mr. STIRLING. Is it not perfectly possible
with some indifferent judge, that you might
have had the same decisions?
Mr. BERRY, of Prince George's. I do not
think he could if he had read the hornbooks
of the law. Any treatise on that branch of
the law would have determined that that was
a will.
Mr. SMITH, of Carroll. the proposition be-
fore the convention, as I understand it, is a
simple one, standing entirely by itself. Every
gentleman who has addressed the convention
has confused it, it seems to me, by associating
it with other provisions which do not
necessarily attach to it. The simple proposition
is whether there shall be or shall not
be a judge in each county. Must of the gen-
tlemen have connected with it that the duties
of chief judge of the orphans' court are to be
discharged ley the judge of the circuit court
in the county; and they have connected with
it also the fact, assuming it as a necessary
consequence of this vote, that there must
be three counties in a circuit. I am, for.
one, entirely opposed to interfering in the
slightest degree with the orphans' court as it
now exists; and I cannot and shall not vote
for it. This proposition is an isolated sub-
stantive proposition with no sort of connec-
tion with anything else. I have listened
attentively to the statements made here; and
in my mind they are conclusive as to the
necessity of halving a judge resident in each
county in the State.
1 am not so fortunate as the gentleman
from Baltimore city (Mr. Thomas,) in under-
standing my constituents upon this or other
subjects. I believe they have done very well |
