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so that our total recommendation will con-
sist of 30 sections, is our complete recom-
mendation, and in doing so it is the rec-
ommendation of the majority that the offi-
cers I have mentioned not be given con-
stitutional statute, which, however, is not
to say that our Committee does not recog-
nize these offices to be of substantial statute
and to be provided in the manner pre-
scribed by the legislature or local govern-
ments.
THE CHAIRMAN: Are there any ques-
tions of the Committee Chairman?
If not, the Chair recognizes Delegate
Johnson to present the Minority Report.
Delegate Johnson.
DELEGATE JOHNSON: Mr. Chairman,
if there is no objection, I would just as
soon make the report from here. It is ex-
tremely brief.
THE CHAIRMAN: Proceed.
DELEGATE JOHNSON: The minority
members of the Committee agree with the
majority members of the Committee with
respect to certain deletions. However, be-
cause of the fact that we are establishing
a unified judicial system, which widely de-
parts from our current system, we strongly
suggest that there be sections in the con-
stitution that will help in the changeover,
and therefore we urge the adoption of sec-
tions pertaining to the permissive estab-
lishment of the office of sheriff, and the
office of register of wills, and it is to these
two sections only that we have amend-
ments for additions to the judicial article.
I will not take this time to go into detail,
because we have some delegates who would
like to be heard on this matter, but if my
memory serves me correctly, the office of
sheriff has been in existence in this state
since some time in the 17th Century. It
has been in our constitution, in practically
every constitution, and as Chairman Mudd
has indicated, it is a highly important of-
fice, and in many of the counties in this
State indeed it is the chief law enforce-
ment office as I believe it is in eighteen
counties.
We think that this office deserves to be
put into the constitution, where it has long
been.
Now under the unified judicial system,
we have departed from the register of
wills office — excuse me, from the orphans
court office.
There is only one county in this state
that has departed from the orphans court
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as we know it today, and in that county
this new system, which is similar to the
system which we will adopt under the ^ uni-
fied judicial court system, is not working.
We agree that we should eliminate the
orphans court as it exists in Maryland
today, but we are also greatly concerned
because of the field of specialization that is
required in orphans court work and in
matters of probate, that someone, some
individual, with particular expertise,
should be assigned to assist both litigants,
counsel, and parties interested in probate
matters.
This field is growing faster than any
other field in the law today, and if we do
not provide for the protection of an expert
in this particular field, we feel that the
same chaos will result as has resulted in
one of the counties in our State that has
done away with the orphans court setup.
For those reasons and for others that
you will hear in a moment, we urge that
a section be added to the judiciary article
which will provide for the permissive use
of the office of sheriff, and the permissive
establishment of the office of register of
wills.
THE CHAIRMAN: The Chief Page will
distribute amendment R. This will be
Amendment No. 60. The Clerk will read
the amendment.
READING CLERK: Amendment No. 60
to accompany Minority Report No. JB-1
to Committee Recommendation No. JB-1,
by Delegates Johnson, Harkness, Hickman,
Kahl, Murphy, Siewierski, Rush: On page
9 following Section 5.30 add the following
section: "Section 5. Sheriffs. The General
Assembly may provide by law for the office
of sheriff in any county of this State. The
selection, tenure, compensation, power and
non-judicial duties of the sheriff shall be
prescribed by law. The General Assembly
may provide by law for deputies of the
sheriff in each county. The judicial duties
of the office of sheriff may be prescribed by
rule."
THE CHAIRMAN: Please correct the
spelling of Delegate Siewierski's name, as
one of the sponsors.
The amendment having been seconded,
the Chair recognizes Delegate Johnson.
DELEGATE JOHNSON: Mr. Chair-
man —
THE CHAIRMAN: We are under con-
trolled debate.
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