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to close, with the understanding that the
majority Chairman would have a like op-
portunity. I have no other particular speak-
ers to call upon, although I have something
myself to add.
THE CHAIRMAN: The Chair recog-
nizes Delegate Mudd.
DELEGATE MUDD: May I yield three
minutes, Mr. Chairman, to Delegate Har-
grove?
THE CHAIRMAN: The Chair recog-
nizes Delegate Hargrove.
For what purpose does Delegate Malkus
rise?
DELEGATE MALKUS: I will be back
later, Mr. President. I want to ask the
Chairman if he would yield to a question.
THE CHAIRMAN: The Chair recog-
nizes Delegate Hargrove.
DELEGATE HARGROVE: Mr. Chair-
man, fellow delegates, I rise to oppose the
amendment of the minority report. I think
there is more perhaps to a unified court
system than the courts themselves. We
have not touched on one very important
aspect of our present court system, which
in my opinion needs uniformity more than
any other.
I think generally what we are talking
about when we talk about a unified system
is a reform of the lowest court system.
We of the majority did not go about this
report in a haphazard manner. We had the
benefit of many studies. I would only sug-
gest, in addition to what Delegate Hodge
Smith has said, that one of our delegates,
Delegate Case, made a complete study, and
the Commission made a complete study of
the inferior court system in this State and
recommended what the majority report sug-
gests.
However, there is one other area which
I would like to point out, that of procedure.
From the superior court and into the
lower courts, the monetary jurisdiction of
the courts varies from county to county,
from $100 to $3,000. A lawyer who prac-
tices law in the State of Maryland, only to
step over an imaginary line, such as from
Baltimore City to Anne Arundel County
and the various counties, and he does not
know how to practice law. This is one of
the very important aspects of reform.
I cannot imagine that if we allow the
state legislature to create inferior courts
that if sufficient pressure were put on
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the legislators they would not create a
lower court for claims, which could be
placed in a functional division. If this
were not the case, again we would be back
to the practice of whether or not a $500
suit or a $600 suit could be filed in Peoples'
Court of Baltimore County, and one would
have to look to the statute, which in many
instances is very obscure as to jurisdiction,
to determine the proper court.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Hargrove,
you have a little less than a minute.
DELEGATE HARGROVE: We need in
this State a unified system. The proposal
of the majority gives us that system. It
gives us a system which provides for func-
tional divisions, and many innovations
which we do not have today. I submit it
will provide us with a very complete and
adequate system for many years to come.
Thank you.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Johnson,
Delegate Mudd has left to him now only
three minutes of controlled debate. The
Chair suggests that now would be the time
for you to conclude your debate or call on
someone else to do so.
DELEGATE JOHNSON: Thank you
very much, Mr. Chairman.
Unfortunately, fellow delegates, you are
being asked to consider a matter that really
is not reluctant to the question. The ma-
jority implies it is the minority's intention
to destroy the unified judicial court sys-
tem. That is certainly not the case. That
is certainly not our intention, and even if
it were we could not do so by adopting the
language in the majority report, which we
have approved, and urge.
Our amendment, section 5.0I would read
as follows: "The judicial power of the
State is vested in a unified judicial system,
composed of the Court of Appeals, the In-
termediate Appellate Court, the Superior
Court, the District Court and other courts,
as may be provided by law."
Now, I do not nor does the minority, dis-
trust the legislature. The legislature is
going to have to determine the jurisdiction
that will be allowed to each specific court
by virtue of this article.
If the majority is afraid that the legis-
lature will create a proliferation of other
magistrate or inferior courts, then I would
submit they should be equally concerned
about the fact that the legislature may
withhold certain jurisdiction. All the legis-
lature would have to do is not grant juris-
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