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"Secretary Robert J. Martineau."
(Laughter.)
THE CHAIRMAN : The Clerk will read
the amendment, Amendment No. 15.
READING CLERK: Amendment No. 15
to Committee Recommendation GP-13 by
Delegate Rybczynski: On page 21 following
line 45 of Section 20, Duties of Clerk of
Superior Court in Baltimore City, add the
following new section :
Section 20A. Jurisdiction of Orphan's
Courts
On January 1, 1971, the judicial powers
and jurisdiction previously vested in the
various orphan's courts in the State shall
be vested in and exercised only by the
superior court.
THE CHAIRMAN: The amendment is
offered by Delegate Rybczynski. Is there a
second?
(Whereupon, the amendment was duly
seconded.)
THE CHAIRMAN: The amendment
having been seconded, the Chair recog-
nizes Delegate Rybczknski.
DELEGATE RYBCZYNSKI: Mr. Chair-
man, in questioning Delegate Hardwicke
yesterday I found much to me surprise
that there was a gap as to what was to
happen —
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Rybczyn-
ski, will you wait just a second?
Will the Clerk ring the quorum bell?
You may proceed.
DELEGATE RYBCZYNSKI: That the
jurisdiction and powers of the Orphans
Court were to be left to the General As-
sembly as to placement in the future, con-
trary to every other court now in exist-
ence; that is, that the court of appeals
would go to the new court of appeals and
right down the line, until we got there to
the Orphans Court and found no provision.
Although there is a strong feeling within
the Convention that the General Assembly
might very well see to this in the future,
I cannot help but observe that every lawyer
I know would be very unhappy to wake up
one day to find that possibly all or part
of the jurisdiction now in the orphan's
court would find itself residing in the Dis-
trict Court. This would prove, or could
prove to be a very unhappy situation.
On an informal poll of many of the
lawyers in this Convention I learned that
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practically everybody feels that the discus-
sions during the judicial article section led
us to believe that the work of the Orphans
Court would in fact become part of the
Superior Court, so that I know of no reason
why we should not do this now. Why put
it off? Why leave this gap, this obvious
gap in what we are trying to do?
I strongly urge everyone to think about
the enormous size of many of the estates,
the importance of the work concerned in
the Orphans Court, and in the probate work,
and suggest to you that it just does not
belong, even by a remote possibility, in a
district court, but rather in a superior
court.
I urge you to fill this gap by adopting
section 20A so that the work now in the
Orphans Court will automatically go to the
Superior Court.
THE CHAIRMAN: Any questions of the
sponsor of the amendment?
The Chair hears none.
Delegate Hardwicke?
Delegate Della, do you have a question?
DELEGATE DELLA: Yes, I do.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Rybczyn-
ski, do you yield to a question?
DELEGATE DELLA: Would you not
have a conflict of jurisdiction between the
cities and the counties?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Rybczynski.
DELEGATE RYBCZYNSKI: I do not
believe so.
THE CHAIRMAN : Delegate Della.
DELEGATE DELLA: Would the dis-
trict courts in the county not supervise the
work in the Orphans Court while the Su-
perior Court in Baltimore City could take
over the duties of the Orphans Court in
Baltimore City?
THE CHAIRMAN : Delegate Rybczynski.
DELEGATE RYBCZYNSKI: No, sir.
I see what is bothering you, Senator
Della.
The reference is merely to a previous
section; but what we are looking at here,
section 20A, is 'a totally new section gov-
erning all Orphans Courts and all Superior
Courts of the future.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Hardwicke.
DELEGATE HARDWICKE: Mr. Chair-
man and ladies and gentlemen: this Con-
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