Resolved, That a select committee to con-
sist of nine members, of which committee
the President of the Convention shall be
chairman, be appointed by the chair, whose
duty it shall be to confer with the President
of the United States, our Senators and Rep-
resentatives in Congress, and the appropriate
committees of Congress, to ascertain and re-
port to this Convention what appropriation
if any, will be made by Congress, in pursu-
ance of the recommendations contained 'in
the messages of the President of the United
States, of December, 1862, and December,
1863, and the joint Resolutions of Congress
No. 26, approved April 10th, 1862, to aid
the State of Maryland in the adoption of a
system of Emancipation, and " to be used by
said State in its discretion to compensate for
the inconvenience's, public and private, pro-
duced by such change of system,"
Which was read the first time.
COURT OF APPEALS.
Mr. GOLDSBOROUGH (Mr. Purnell in the
chair) submitted the following order, which
was adopted:
Ordered, That the Committee on the Judi-
ciary be instructed to inquire into the expe-
diency of reporting for the action of this
Convention an elective system for the Judges
of the Court of Appeals, based on the follow-
ing suggestions:
1st. That the said court consist of five
Judges, two of whom shall be chosen from
the Eastern Shore, and three from the West-
ern Shore counties of the State.
2d. That one of said Judges be selected
from the Eastern Shore, and one from the
Western Shore counties of the State, who
shall be elected by a majority of the legal
votes cast in the whole State.
3d. That the other three Judges of said
court be. chosen, one from each of the present
Gubernatorial Districts of the State, who
shall be elected by the legal voters of said
respective districts, from other counties in
said district than those from which the two
Judges elected by the people of the whole
State may have been selected.
4th. That each of said Judges be elected
for the period of twenty years—be required
to reside, at least eight months of the year,
at the seat of Government; be not less than
thirty years of age at the time of his election,
and disqualified after he shall have attained
the age of seventy years.
5th. That the salary of each of said Judges
shall not be less than the sum of three thou-
sand five hundred dollars.
6th. In the event of their death, disqualifi-
cation or removal from office, or from the
State, the remaunder of their term so vacated
shall be filled by an appointment by ajoint
vote of the General Assembly of Maryland,
if in session, and in case of their failure so
to do, or their not being in session, the ap-
pointment shall then devolve upon the Ex- |
ecutive, who shall fill the same for the unex-
pired period of their election, subject to a
ratification by the Senate.
CIROBIT COCRTB.
Mr, GOLDBBOROCGH (Mr. Purnell in the
chair) submitted the following order, which
was adopted:
Ordered, That the Committee on the Judi-
ciary be instructed to inquire into the expe-
diency of creating certain Judicial Districts
within which Circuit Courts and Courts of
Equity, Probate and Administration shall be
held, the respective systems to be defined by
the following principles:
1st. That the Circuit Court shall embrace
the same civil and criminal business over
which the present Circuit Courts have juris-
diction.
2d. That the Courts of Equity, Probate
and Administration shall include within the
sphere of their duties, all the equity business
now transacted in the Circuit Courts, con-
nected with the sale, division or other dispo-
sition of real estate, injunctions, petitions
and commissions. The Judges of each of
said Courts sliall also act in all such matters
as are now within the province of the Or-
phans' Courts of the State wliere parties liti-
gant may desire a determination and decision
by him as sole presiding Judge, in all which
cases the Register shall keep a docket, and
the decisioaa of said Judge shall be made in
writing, and filed among the records of said
Court, from which an appeal may be taken
within sixty days to the Court of Appeals.
3d. That there shall be one Judge of the
Circuit Court, and one Judge of the Court of
1 Equity, Probate and Administration, elected
in each Judicial District as hereinafter des-
ignated; and that each of said Judges shall
be men of integrity, learned in the law, and
not less than thirty years of age at the time
of their election.
4th. That each of said Judicial Districts
shall be composed of three counties, except
the fourth, fifth and sixth districts, which
i shall be composed of two counties, and there
shall be two Judges for each of said Judicial
Districts, to lie selected from different coun-
ties in said district; the one to be styled the
Circuit Judge, the other the Judge of Equity,
Probate and Administration, the latter of
whom shall also be the sole Judge in all con-
tested matters of Probate and Administration
and other business now usually transacted
by the Orphans' Court of this State, when-
ever desired by any of the partics litigant,
or parties interested in any issue or issues
then pending before said Court, in cases of
any temporary disqualification by sickness
or otherwise, each of said Judges shall per-
form the duties of the other so disqualified.
5th. That with the said Presiding Judge
of Equity, Probate and Administration, there
shall be associated two men of sound judg-
ment and integrity, not less than thirty years |
