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by Amendment No. 4 sponsored by Dele-
gate Scanlan.
Do you see any conflict between the fact
that the constitution has specifically re-
jected any suspension of law and this
provision which is now being proposed?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Gallagher.
DELEGATE GALLAGHER: No, I do
not, and I say that the Committee took
this action without respect to what the
Committee of the Whole did on eliminating
R&P-2, section 4.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Willoner.
DELEGATE WILLONER: Mr. Chair-
man, it was my understanding at the time
that this provision, section 9 of R&P-1,
was discussed, that the suspension of the
constitution went to the suspension not only
of personal rights but it went to the sus-
pension of the constitution as a whole. In
discussing this with you I thought we ar-
rived at the conclusion that this was in-
consistent with it, but it was an appropriate
limitation, or I should say exception, to the
suspension rule.
The colloquy between you and the Chair-
man of the Committee of the Whole indi-
cated that you feel that the provisions of
section 9 only applies to personal rights.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Gallagher.
DELEGATE GALLAGHER: I was
merely saying by way of example that we
do not intend that it should apply to the
suspension of any of the rights guaranteed
under the personal rights section. We tried
to limit this just to two areas, the filling
of offices and the operation of government,
continuity in both.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Willoner.
DELEGATE WILLONER: I understand
that, but you understand that this provi-
sion and the provisions of this constitution,
with the exception of your exception, is to
apply to the whole constitution.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Gallagher.
DELEGATE GALLAGHER: I under-
stand that, yes.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Willoner,
you and Chairman Gallagher understand,
but the Chairman of the Committee of the
Whole did not. Would you state that again?
DELEGATE WILLONER: That the sec-
ond phrase of section 9 of R&P-1 and the
provisions of this constitution shall not be
suspended, applies to the whole constitution
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with the exception of the provision that is
under discussion now.
THE CHAIRMAN: I understand, thank
you.
Are there any further questions? The
Chair hears none.
Delegate Gallagher, will you proceed to
consideration of section 3.17 (A) (b) ?
DELEGATE GALLAGHER: I am going
to apologize in advance for the technical
nature of the discussion of 3.17 (A) (b)
on corporate charters.
For purposes of identification, I would
like to call this the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad section. However, by that I do not
mean to say that it applies only to the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, but then
again I cannot say that it applies to any-
body else as well.
This particular section was reluctantly,
and I stress the word "reluctantly", in-
cluded by the Committee on the Legislative
Branch because it is by no means beaute-
ous, nor does it possess the virtues of
clarity or style, and at this point I must
earnestly beg the Committee on Style and
Drafting not to change a word because we
are keeping it not only for its historical
value, but also for its legal impact, what-
ever it may be.
Now, we were ill-disposed to including it,
but we were persuaded upon further study
that we could not take the chance of leav-
ing it out, and if you will permit me the
liberty of a slight historical excursion, I
would like to tell you something about the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and like
corporations.
In 1826, the Maryland General Assembly
passed a charter creating the Baltimore
and Ohio Railroad. It anticipated in that
charter that the State of Maryland and
the City of Baltimore would subscribe at
least to half of the stock which would be
available.
As a result of that, section 18 of the
charter conferred what amounted to an
exemption from taxation upon the Balti-
more and Ohio Railroad.
Now, under the decisions of the Supreme
Court, a charter passed by a state con-
ferred upon a corporate body is considered
to be a contract between the two and is
subject to all the protections of a contract,
so that consequently, once the charter has
been conferred by the General Assembly,
the State could not alter or repeal it, and
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