|
where the amount set by the legislature for
District Court jurisdiction is a higher
amount than the amount required for other
jury trials. It would then be possible to
have, if the legislature so wanted, a jury
of less than twelve. The legislature could
also arrange for juries of less than twelve
in the Superior Court, but we thought it
was desirable to put a bottom to this figure.
That is why we use the figure of six but
we had no intention of limiting the legisla-
ture or even requiring the legislature to
take any action on this.
THE CHAIRMAN: Is there any other
discussion?
(There was no response.)
Are you ready for the question?
(Call for the question.)
The Clerk will ring the quorum bell.
The question arises on the adoption of
amendment No. 17. A vote Aye is a vote in
favor of the amendment; a vote No a vote
against.
Cast you votes.
Has every member voted?
Does any delegate desire to change his
vote?
(There was no response.)
The Clerk will record the vote.
There being 15 votes in the affirmative
and 90 in the negative, the motion fails.
The amendment is rejected.
Are there any other amendments to sec-
tion 7?
(There, was no response.)
The Chair recognizes Delegate Kiefer for
another statement with respect to section 5.
DELEGATE KIEFER: Mr. Chairman,
ladies and gentlemen of the jury — I guess
this is the jury. I just want you to know
first of all that anything I said earlier to
Delegate Willoner, what may have appeared
to be sharp, was not intended in any way
as pique, but rather to settle something
once and for all. I have a great deal of
admiration and respect for this young fel-
low. I wanted to say and what I wanted to
make clear, however, and he may not agree
to it — if he does not, .then he had better do
something else about it — was that in con-
sidering this matter, I believe it was the
Committee's intention that we were con-
sidering the three articles that are con-
tained in the present Declaration of Rights.
The first is Article 5, which again I
would like to read to you very quickly, and
|
point out that we thought that the entire
article belonged in the constitution. Part
of it belongs in the general provisions sec-
tion because it is transitory, and carries on
the common law. We do include most of it
in our Recommendation R&P-2 in section 6.
If you compare that section with the pres-
ent Declaration, Article 5, you will see that
we have omitted from the recommendation
that portion of Article 5 which says: that
"the inhabitants of Maryland are entitled
to trial by jury according to the course of
that law."
Now, I will be the first to say that you
will not find a reference in our memoran-
dum to Article 5. That was really an over-
sight; nor will you find a reference to Arti-
cle 23, which is the due process article in
the present Maryland Declaration of Rights.
I believe it was the intent of the Com-
mittee that when we re-wrote the article,
we were covering these two articles as well
as Article 21. We did not take into con-
sideration the necessity of a statute nor
did we know about these obscure cases.
We were restating what we thought was
the constitutional law, and that is what we
stand on now.
THE CHAIRMAN: Very well, on the
basis of that statement the Chair will state
that he thinks the intent of the Committee,
and, therefore, of the Committee of the
Whole, is that section 5 (a), in guaranteeing
a right of trial by jury, does so with the
same meaning as provided in article 5 of
the present Declaration of Rights, so that
it would authorize the legislature to pro-
vide for trial without a jury in petty of-
fenses, as that term is interpreted in the
earlier cases. That being the case, the Chair
would suggest if any delegate disagrees
with that interpretation, the best way to
make the intent of the Committee clear
would be to offer an amendment so indicat-
ing.
For what purpose does Delegate Scanlan
rise?
DELEGATE SCANLAN: To put a foot-
note on ex post facto legislative history,
I just want to say that the late Justice
Jackson once said that legislative history is
a very slim reed to rely on to ascertain the
meaning of the English language. I think
he would have turned over in his grave if
anybody suggested to him that ex post
facto legislation could determine the mean-
ing of the words "by a legislative body." I
will keep secret what I voted on that last
proposal.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Hardwicke.
|
