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absolute right. I hope that this amendment
will be defeated.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Macdonald,
you desire to offer an amendment to Amend-
ment No. 13?
DELEGATE MACDONALD: I do.
THE CHAIRMAN: "W"?
DELEGATE MACDONALD: "W".
THE CHAIRMAN: Will the pages please
distribute the amendment W ?
Delegate Burdette.
DELEGATE BURDETTE: Mr. Chairman,
would the Chair please clear up exactly
what is on the floor? Before the present
Chair took his position, we had a great deal
of discussion about the Willoner amend-
ment. I cannot find it.
THE CHAIRMAN: The so-called Wil-
loner amendment is Amendment No. 13, the
one with the letter H.
DELEGATE BURDETTE: Where is the
Willoner amendment?
THE CHAIRMAN: That is the so-called
Willoner amendment offered by Delegate
Kiefer, Amendment 13. Do you have a copy?
DELEGATE BURDETTE: I have one by
Delegate Kiefer marked H.
THE CHAIRMAN: That is Amendment
No. 13 which is now before you.
This will be marked 13-A to Amendment
No. 13. It is offered as a substitute for
Amendment No. 13.
Delegate Macdonald, your amendment is
offered as a substitute for Amendment No.
13?
•DELEGATE MACDONALD: That is cor-
rect, Mr. Chairman.
THE CHAIRMAN: The Clerk will read
the amendment.
READING CLERK: Amendment No.
13-A to Committee Recommendation R&P-2
by Delegate Macdonald:
On page 3, section 8, Right of Removal
of Civil Cases, strike out all of lines 14
through 20, inclusive, and insert in lieu
thereof the following:
"In all actions at law or in equity,
the action shall be removed to another
county upon request of a party, except
that in actions involving real property,
actions in the District Court, and all ac-
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tions where the request is made less than
thirty days prior to trial, the action may
be removed only as permitted by the
Court of Appeals by rule."
THE CHAIRMAN: Amendment 13-A is
submitted by Delegate Macdonald. Is there
a second?
(The motion was duly seconded.)
THE CHAIRMAN: The amendment is
seconded.
The Chair recognizes Delegate Macdon-
ald to speak to the amendment.
DELEGATE MACDONALD: Mr. Chair-
man and fellow delegates, let me address
myself first to Amendment 13, the Kiefer-
Willoner amendment.
It does not include equity cases, as I read
it, there would be no right of removal what-
soever in an equity case unless the Court
of Appeals chose to grant one.
As I read it, it does not make an excep-
tion in regard to actions involving land.
I do not think we want actions involving
real property rights treated in the same
way.
For hundreds of years actions involving
real property rights have been involved in
the county where the land is located, and
thirdly, and this is the thing that gives
me the most trouble with Amendment No.
13, it seems to be inconsistent on its face.
In line 9, it says "the Court shall." If I
read just that, it indicates a case must be
removed whenever the party would file an
action under oath. But then the amendment
goes on and says that the Court of Appeals
by rule shall provide for regulation of this
provision. It seems the right under Amend-
ment No. 13 would be unqualified or you
could end up where you would have no
qualifying right.
We have an unqualified right of removal
in the Maryland Constitution since 1875
in certain cases, namely civil cases and
criminal cases where a capital offense was
involved. There is some language at the
end of the present constitutional provision.
I am reading now from the present Consti-
tution which says, "In regard to this un-
qualified right of removal and the General
Assembly shall make such modification of
the existing law as may be necessary to
regulate and give force to this provision."
This language is so much simpler to the
last sentence in Amendment No. 13. In
Barnes v. Mcliski, a decision by the Mary-
land Court of Appeals, the Court held that
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