vote by which the following section was
adopted:
"Sec. 37. The governor by and with the
advice and consent of the senate, shall appoint
such number of justices of the peace, and the
county commissioners of the several counties,
and the mayor and city council of the city of
Baltimore shall appoint such number of con-
stables for the several election districts of the
counties and wards of the city of Baltimore
as are now or may hereafter be prescribed by
law, and justices of peace and constables so
appointed shall be subject to removal by
the judge having criminal jurisdiction in the
county or city, for incompetency, wilful neg-
lect of duty, or misdemeanor in office, on
conviction in a court of law. The justices of
the peace and constables so appointed and
commissioned, shall be conservators of the
peace, shall hold their office for two years,
and shall have such jurisdiction, duties and
compensation, subject to such right of appeal,
as hath been heretofore exercised, or shall be
hereafter prescribed by law."
The motion to reconsider was seconded by
Messrs. THOMAS and MARKEY.
Mr. BRISCOE. I would like to know what
object gentlemen have in moving this recon-
sideration.
Mr. THOMAS. The motive I bad in second-
ing the motion to reconsider was to have the
justices of the peace elected by the people,
and the constables appointed by the commis-
sioners of the counties, and the mayor and
city council of Baltimore. That is my object.
And at the time I voted for the section, I
stated that I did so for the purpose of mov-
ing a reconsideration when there was a full
convention.
Mr. BRISCOE. The convention has ex-
pressed its desire not to have the justices of
the peace elected by the people.
Mr. MILLER. There was a very decided
vote in the convention on two different occa-
sions in favor of having the justices of the
peace appointed, instead of elected. At one
time by a very decided vote they gave the
appointment to the commissioners. But upon
further reflection, they amended that so as to
give the appointment of justices of the peace
to the governor, by and with the advice and
consent of the senate. The vote by which
the appointment was given to the governor
stands recorded upon the journal as yeas 38,
nays 19. Some of the gentlemen may have
voted in the affirmative with a view to a re-
consideration, But I do not think we have
a much fuller house this morning than we
bad then.
It is not necessary to go over the arguments
to the house in favor of the appointment of
these officers, It was fully discussed and
argued when it was under consideration be-
fore and unless some extraordinary new light
has shone in upon the minds of the mem-
bers of this convention, I should suppose |
that the former discussion was sufficient to
show that the proper course to be pursued
was that which the convention determined
upon, I hope the vote will not be reconsid-
ered, because the object of the reconsidera-
tion is simply to put us back again, if possi-
ble, to the elective system, which we have got
rid of by this section.
The question was upon the motion to re-
consider.
Upon this question, Mr. SMITH, of Carrol]
called for the yeas and nays, which were or-
dered.
The question was then taken, by yeas and
nays, and resulted—yeas 38, nays 41—as
follows:
Yeas—Messrs. Annan, Audoun, Baker,
Barron, Billingsley, Briscoe, Brooks, Carter,
Cunningham, Davis, of Charles, Davis of
Washington, Dellinger, Duvall, Ecker, Gal-
loway, Hatch, Hoffman, Johnson, Keefer,
Kennard, King, Larsh, Markey, Mayhugh,
Morgan, Negley, Parran, Ridgely, Sands,
Schlosser, Smith, of Carroll, Smith, of Dor-
chester, Swope, Thomas, Todd, Turner,
Wickard, Wooden—38.
Nays—Messrs. Goldsborough, President ;
Abbott, Blackiston, Bond, Brown, Chambers
Clarke Crawford, Cushing, Daniel, Dent
Earle, Farrow, Greene, Hebb, Henkle, Holly-
day, Hopkins, Hopper, Horsey, Lansdale, Lee,
Marbury, McComas, Miller, Mullikin, Mur-
ray, Nyman, Parker, Peter, Pugh, Purnell,
Russell, Scott, Smith, of Worcester, Sneary,
Stirling, Stockbridge, Sykes, Valliant, Wil-
mer—41.
The motion to reconsider was accordingly
rejected.
On motion of Mr, THOMAS,
The following was adopted as an additional
section in relation to Baltimore city courts :
"Sec. —. All causes pending in the sev-
eral courts of Baltimore city, at the adoption
of this constitution, shall be prosecuted to
final judgment as though the jurisdiction of
the several courts in which they may be pend-
ing had not been changed."
No further amendment was offered to the
report.
The question was upon ordering the report
as amended to be engrossed for its third read-
ing.
Mr. STIRLING. If this report is ordered to be
engrossed for its third reading, it cannot be al-
tered in any respect, except by the consent of a
majority of the members elected to this con-
vention, or by a suspension of the rules, which
will require a three-fifths vote. There may be
some changes necessary, which can only be
told when we have had an opportunity to ex-
amine it as amended, and as there is plenty of
work for us to do, I move that this report as
amended be printed, and that its further con-
sideration be postponed for the present.
The motion was agreed to. |
