circuits; and the present judge of the first ju-
dicial circuit shall continue to act as the judge
of the first judicial circuit, and the present
judge of the second judicial circuit shall con-
tinue to act as judge of the second judicial
circuit, and the present judge of the third ju-
dicial circuit shall continue to act as the judge
of the fourth judicial circuit, and the present
judge of the fourth judicial circuit shall con-
tinue to act as the judge of the fifth
Judicial circuit, and the present judge of the
sixth judicial circuit shall continue to act as
the judge of the ninth judicial circuit, and
the present judge of the seventh judicial cir-
cuit shall continue to act as the judge of the
tenth judicial circuit, and the present judge of
the eighth judicial circuit shall continue to act
the judge of the twelfth judicial circuit, and
the present judges of the several courts of the
fifth judicial circuit shall continue to act as
the judges of the several courts of the nine-
teenth judicial circuit, until the expiration of
the time for which they have been severally
elected, or until they shall have attained the
age of seventy years, whichever shall first
happen, and until their successors are elected
and qualified. And in case of the death, res-
ignation, removal or other disqualification of
any of the judges hereby continued in office,
the governor, by and with the advice and con-
sent of the senate, shall appoint a person duly
qualified, according to the terms of this con-
stitution, to fill said office, until the next gen-
eral election for county officers thereafter; at
which time an election shall be held as herein
before prescribed for a judge, who shall hold
his office for fifteen years, according to the
provisions of this constitution, as to the qual-
ification and removal of judges."
Mr. HEBB. Some of these provisions are al-
ready embraced in the report on the tenure of
office, &c. I have prepared an amendment
which I think will answer the purpose, and
which I designed to offer to the come in at
the end of Part III.
Mr. THOMAS withdrew his amendment.
Mr. HEBB submitted the following amend-
ment :
Insert as an additional section, to follow
section twenty-one, the following :
''The present judges of the circuit courts
shall continue to act as judges of the respec-
tive circuit. courts within the judicial circuits
in which they respectively reside, until the ex-
piration of the term for which they were re-
spectively elected, and until their successors
are elected and qualified, viz: the present
judges of the first, second, third, fourth, sixth
and eighth judicial circuits, as organized at
the time of the adoption of this constitution,
shall continue to act as judges respectively of
the first, second, fourth, fifth, ninth and twelfth
judicial circuits, as organized under this con-
stitution; and an election for judges of the
third, sixth, seventh, eighth, tenth and elev-
enth judicial circuits shall be held on Tuesday |
next after the first Monday of November, eigh-
teen hundred and sixty-four."
Mr. THOMAS. I will suggest that the gen-
tleman includes the tenth judicial circuit.—
Judge Ricaud was only appointed last year ;
and according to the rules be would not be
elected until a year from next fall.
Mr. STIRLING. It strikes me that the judge
would have held over a year more if the con-
vention had not been held; and you ought not
to displace him and require an election to be
held in the district sooner than it would other-
wise have seen held. There is no necessity for
holding an election in that district for judge
until a year from next fall, I move that the
further consideration of this section be infor-
mally passed over. It occurs to me that that
makes no provision with reference to the court
of appeals; and I think there ought to be
some provision made there.
Mr. HEBB. I have made provision for that
in another amendment With regard to the
judge of the tenth judicial circuit I will state
that the election of all these judges is provi-
ded for to take place at the next general elec-
tion of members of the general assembly.—
The election next year is for county officers ;
and if the convention choose to reconsider
what they have already decided, and say they
may be elected at the election either of mem-
bers of the general assembly or of county of-
ficers, then it will be proper to provide that
the election of the judge of that district shall
take place next year.
Mr. STIRLING. Some provision will have to
be made with regard to that; for the conven-
tion have determined that the judges shall
hold for fifteen years, a term which will inevi-
tably require a change in the time of election,
or make this an anomalous provision. I do
not, however) propose to change this, for 1
want these elections to be kept separate as far
as possible from party politics.
The motion to postpone was agreed to.
ANOTHER COURT IN BALTIMORE.
Mr THOMAS submitted the following amend-
ment :
"Sec.—. The legislature shall, whenever
it may think the same proper and expedient,
provide by law another court for the city of
Baltimore, to consist of one judge, to be elec-
ted by the legal and qualified voters of said
city, who shall be subject to the same consti-
tutional provisions, hold his office for the same
term of years, and receive the same compen-
sation as the judge of the superior court of said
city, and said court shall have such jurisdic-
tion and powers as may be prescribed by law ;
and the general assembly may reapportion the
civil jurisdiction among the several courts in
Baltimore city, from time to time as in their
judgments the public interest and convenience
may require."
Mr. THOMAS said: I will state that that is
an exact copy, with a very slight variation in |
