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DELEGATE J. CLARK (presiding) :
Your time is up.
The motion before the House for this
Committee is on the adoption of Amend-
ment No. 11 which is the Wagandt amend-
ment which adds "public general" after the
word "by" and before the word "law".
Delegate Macdonald.
DELEGATE MACDONALD: Mr. Chair-
man and fellow delegates: I think that
Delegate Case has made a very good point
and a very good observation. I think this
amendment by Delegate Wagandt probably
goes further than the sponsor intended.
As has been brought out here, it would
prohibit the counties to which we have
given home rule the opportunity of legis-
lating on this subject. I would request the
sponsor of the amendment to withdraw this.
Maybe we can come back to it later, but I
think this is something that we may be
able to work out over the lunch hour.
DELEGATE J. CLARK (presiding) :
Delegate Wagandt.
DELEGATE WAGANDT: If I may re-
offer it, I would be happy to withdraw it
at this time and discuss it with Delegates
Macdonald and Clagett during lunch as
has been suggested.
DELEGATE J. CLARK (presiding) :
Do you withdraw the amendment?
DELEGATE WAGANDT: I seem to get
some shaking of heads. I would like to get
a chance to confer with the individuals
who have raised this question. Perhaps we
could step out into the lounge and not
hold up the proceedings of this Committee.
DELEGATE J. CLARK (presiding) :
Very well. The amendment is withdrawn
and can be taken up at a later time.
If there are no objections, we will move
on to section 8. Are there any amendments
to section 8?
DELEGATE BENNETT: Can we not
proceed and adopt section 7 subject to fur-
ther amendment?
DELEGATE J. CLARK (presiding) :
No, sir. That is not the procedure. It is
still open to amendment. We do not adopt
it section by section as we go along.
Delegate Scanlan.
DELEGATE SCANLAN: I have an
Amendment R to section 8. Briefly, the
amendment would strike the section.
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DELEGATE J. CLARK (presiding) :
This will be Amendment No. 12, marked
"R" at the top. The clerk will read the
amendment.
READING CLERK: This is Amendment
No. 12 to Committee Recommendation R&P-
2 by Delegate Scanlan:
On page 3 section 8, Right of Removal
of Civil Cases strike out all of lines 11
through 20, inclusive.
DELEGATE J. CLARK (presiding) :
The Chair recognizes Delegate Scanlan.
DELEGATE SCANLAN: Although
somewhat shaken, I remain undeterred to
keep out of the constitution things that
have no necessity for insertion there. This
refers to the right of removal in civil
cases. It concerns the practice where the
mere filing of an affidavit requires that the
Court transfer the case out of the jurisdic-
tion. This rule has been essentially abused
in my own county. I know in other juris-
dictions it has also been subject to abuse.
The right of a removal should be guar-
anteed by statute or by rule of court as is
the case in federal jurisdiction and in most
states.
I will not occupy the time and attention
of this Convention by belaboring the point.
The right of removal has been abused, and
while the right should be preserved, it
should be preserved in the legislature. The
abusal of this right of removal is one of
the contributing factors. This should be
left to the General Assembly and courts
not enshrined forever in the constitution.
DELEGATE J. CLARK (presiding) :
The Chair recognizes Delegate Kiefer.
DELEGATE KIEFER: Mr. Chairman,
there have been a number of amendments
to this. This is a particular section which
is the special interest of Delegate Willoner
who has special expertise and I delegate
him to answer all questions.
DELEGATE J. CLARK (presiding) :
The Chair recognizes Delegate Willoner.
DELEGATE WILLONER: We agreed
on a committee amendment. I would feel
that that committee amendment should be
the first matter that we take up instead of
the elimination of the section altogether,
because it becomes very difficult to debate
the issue. I believe it was amendment —
DELEGATE J. CLARK (presiding) :
The Chair will rule that this is in order.
You can offer your amendment. Is this your
wish?
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