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DELEGATE GRANT: In line 6, it should
read "unless public peace would require
otherwise."
THE CHAIRMAN: Unless public what?
DELEGATE GRANT: Peace.
THE CHAIRMAN: Is there any objec-
tion to the modification?
If not, the amendment will be regarded
as so modified and the Clerk will please
read the amendment as modified. This will
be amendment No. 16.
READING CLERK: Amendment No. 16
to Committee Recommendation No. R&P-1,
by Delegate Grant:
On page 3, section 5, Rights of Accused,
following line 12 add the following:
"An accused, except in cases punishable
by death or life imprisonment, shall be
entitled, unless public safety would re-
quire otherwise, to release pending trial
conditioned only upon such bail or other
terms as are reasonably necessary to
secure his appearance before .the court."
THE CHAIRMAN: The amendment is
submitted by Delegate Grant. Is there a
second?
DELEGATE GLEASON: Second.
THE CHAIRMAN: The Chair recognizes
Delegate Grant to speak to the amendment.
DELEGATE GRANT: Mr. Chairman, I
will try to make this brief.
In the discussion this morning which re-
sulted in Article 5 (b) being deleted, it
seemed that there were two lines of argu-
ment going, both of which had substantial
merit. In the case of the Committee Report,
we were faced with the situation where
they were trying to raise the constitutional
dignity, the right of a person not to be
summarily incarcerated without some good
reason. In the case of the people who were
advocating that this section be eliminated,
their fears were well founded because of
the fact that it said that they should be
entitled to release and that the only con-
ditions that their release would be based
upon would be the conditions necessary to
get them back to trial. This would not
allow the judge any discretion in whether
or not as a matter of public interest the
person should be at that time granted the
right of bail.
This amendment attempts to take the
two points of view and bring them together;
first of all to raise to constitutional dignity
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the right of a person not to be incarcerated.
There was ancillary discussion on whether
or not this was a constitutional or statutory
matter. There were people advocating the
fact that the right was already inherent,
people suggesting we maintain the consti-
tutional dignity, and some maintaining it
was not inherent. The argument then based
itself, however, primarily on a deeper issue
and that is the unwarranted incarceration
versus the question of the protection of the
public.
This amendment simply takes what the
Committee Report said, that there would
be a constitutional right to bail, except in
capital cases, and that there could be no
interference with this, with this one ex-
ception, that the public peace would require
otherwise. Public peace is a well defined
and well understood legal concept. I bring
to the Committee of the Whole's attention
several citations from Words and Phrases
in which this is found. A contract case de-
fined public peace as used in this statute,
pointing out the penalties to be imposed,
as: "where a breach of the peace means
that in the physical sense every security
which every man fees is so necessary to his
comfort and for which all governments are
instituted."
In a New York case, it was defined as:
"public peace as used in this statute means
free from agitation of disturbance which is
guaranteed by the law and which is practi-
cally synonymous with the word order."
In an Iowa case it was defined as: "pub-
lic peace is that tranquility enjoyed by the
citizens of a municipality where good order
reigns among its members," and in a North
Dakota case, "public peace means tranquili-
ty, joy for the citizens of the municipality or
community where good order reigns, a visi-
ble sense of security which every man feels
is necessary for his comfort and for which
all governments are instituted."
In other words, this is putting in a well
defined legal concept of public peace as
the only other restriction on a right to bail.
If this amendment is adopted it will
mean there is a constitutionally demand-
able right to bail, except in three in-
stances: where the crime is punishable by
death, where the crime is punishable by
life imprisonment, and where it would be
contrary to public peace or as stated, un-
less public peace would require otherwise.
THE CHAIRMAN: Are there any ques-
tions of the sponsor of the amendment?
Delegate Scanlan.
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