election of delegates held next thereafter,
when a clerk shall be elected to fill such va-
cancy.
SEC. 15. The clerk of the court of common
pleas for Baltimore city, shall have authority
to issue within the said city, all marriage and
other licenses required by law, subject to such
provisions as the legislature shall hereafter
prescribe; and the clerk of the superior court
for said city, shall have the custody of all
deeds, conveyances, and other papers now
remaining in the office of the clerk of Balti-
more county court, and shall hereafter receive
and record all deeds, conveyances, and other
papers which are required by law to be re-
corded in said city. He shall also have the
custody of all other papers connected with the
proceedings on the law or equity side of Bal-
timore county court, and of the dockets there-
of, so far as the same have relation to Balti-
more city.
SEC. 16. That the clerk of the court of ap-
peals; and the clerks of the circuit courts in
the several counties, shall respectively perform
all the duties and be entitled to the fees which
appertain to the offices of the clerks of court
of appeals for the eastern and western shores
and of the clerks of county courts, and the
clerks of the court of common pleas, the supe-
rior court, and the criminal court for Balti-
more city, shall perform all the duties apper-
taining to their respective offices, and hereto-
fore vested in the clerks of Baltimore county
court and Baltimore city court respectively,
and be entitled to all the fees now allowed by
law; and all laws relating to the clerks of
court of appeal, clerks of the several county
courts and Baltimore city court, shall be ap-
plicable to the clerks respectively of the clerk
of court of appeals, the circuit courts, the
court of common pleas, the superior court.
and the criminal court of Baltimore city, until
otherwise provided by law; and the said
clerks, when duly elected and qualified accord-
ing to law, shall have the charge and custody
of the records and other papers belonging to
their respective offices.
SEC. 17. The qualified voters of the city of
Baltimore, and of the several counties of the
State, shall, on the first Wednesday of No-
vember, eighteen hundred and fifty-one, and
on the same day of the same month in every
fourth year forever thereafter, elect three men
to be judges of the orphans' court of said
city and counties respectively, who shall be
citizens of the State of Maryland, and citizens
of the city or county for which they may be
severally elected at the time of their election,
They shall have all the powers now vested in
the orphans' courts of this State, subject to
such changes therein as the legislature may
prescribe, and each of said judges shall be
paid at a per diem rate, for the time they are
in session, to be fixed by the legislature, and
paid by the said counties and city respectively.
SEC. 18. There shall be a register of wills |
in each county of the State, and in the city of
Baltimore, to be elected by the legal and qual-
ified voters of said counties and city respec-
tively, who shall hold his office for six years
from the time of his election, and until a new-
election shall take place, and be re-eligible
thereto, subject to be removed for wilful ne-
glect of duty, or misdemeanor in office, in the
same' manner that the clerks of the county
courts are removable, in the event of any
vacancy in the office of register of wills, said
vacancy shall be filled by the judges of the
orphans' court until the general election next
thereafter for delegates to the general assem-
bly, when a register shall be elected to fill
such vacancy.
SEC. 19, The legislature at its first session
after the adoption of this Constitution, shall
fix the number of justices of the peace and
constables for each ward of the city of Balti-
more, and for each election district in the sev-
eral counties, who shall he elected by the
legal and qualified voters thereof respectively,
at the next general election for delegates
thereafter, and shall hold their offices for two
years from the time of their election, and until
their successors in office are elected and quali-
fied; and the legislature may, from time to
time, increase or diminish the number of jus-
tices of the peace and constables to be elected
iii the several wards and election districts, as
the wants and interests of the people may re-
quire. They shall be, by virtue of their offices,
conservators of the peace in the said counties
and city respectively, and shall have such
duties and compensation as now exist, or may
be provided for by law. In the event of a
vacancy in the office of a justice of the peace,
the Governor shall appoint a person to serve
as justice of the peace, until the next regular
election of said officers, and in case of a va-
cancy in the office of constable, the county
commissioners of the county, in which a va-
cancy may occur, or the mayor and city coun-
cil of Baltimore, as the case may be, shall ap-
point a person to serve as constable until the
next regular election thereafter for said offi-
cers. An appeal shall lie in all civil cases
from the judgment of a justice of the peace to
the circuit court, or to the court of common
pleas of Baltimore city, as the case may be,
and on all such appeals, either party shall be
entitled to a trial by jury, according to the
laws now existing, or which may be hereafter
enacted. And the mayor and city council
may provide, by ordinance, from time to
time for the creation and government of such
temporary additional police, as they may deem
necessary to preserve the public peace.
SEC. 20. There shall be elected in each
county and in the city of Baltimore, every
second year two persons for the office of sher-
iff for each county, and two for the said city,
the one of whom having the highest number
of votes of the qualified voters of said county
or city, or if both have an equal number, |
