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the Committee on Judicial Administration
said to its parent, the State Bar Associa-
tion at that time. I am quoting from the
report: "If arrest warrants are to be issued
by judges only, it is, of course, extremely
important that judges be at all times rea-
sonably accessible to the police. This may
not always be possible, particularly in
rural areas of the State. Therefore, the
committee recommends that judges of the
district court" — I emphasize this — "judges
of the district court be authorized to ap-
point commissioners whose duties generally
would be to issue arrest warrants and to
accept bail or collateral. It is hoped that
the persons appointed to these positions
would be lawyers or have prior legal train-
ing and it seems particularly important
that the commissioners be appointed by and
remain under the immediate supervision of
the district court. In this way their work
can be closely observed."
That report, ladies and gentlemen, was
made in the State Bar Association at a
time when it had the greatest attendance
in its history in Atlantic City, and after
the report was made — I made that report —
the matter was put to a vote. There was
but one single voice of dissent in a group
of more than 400 people.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Case, you
have a little over a quarter of a minute
left.
DELEGATE CASE: So you see, this
matter has been before your Bar Associa-
tion. It has been examined carefully. It has
been accepted. I urge, therefore, that this
amendment be rejected.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Johnson.
DELEGATE JOHNSON: Mr. Chairman,
may I answer Delegate Case, and still call
on my next delegate under controlled time?
THE CHAIRMAN: After Delegate
Mudd has called on somebody you may. You
still have time.
DELEGATE JOHNSON: Perhaps I will
use the opportunity then under controlled
time to answer Delegate Case and call upon
now and yield three minutes to Delegate
Harkness.
DELEGATE HARKNESS: Mr. Chair-
man, Fellow Delegates: the hour is grow-
ing late, and I am sure we all do not want
to hear too much more discussion about
the matter. The minority report supports
the minority position. Several delegates
have spoken in behalf of the amendment.
I think quite simply I want to say this: it
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is hard for me to perceive how the ap-
pointment of a commissioner is a judicial
function. It is true that the administration
thereof in his duties may pertain to the
judiciary. What the amendment provides
by rule, that shall be spelled out, but the
amendment further provides that the num-
ber, qualifications, tenure and compensa-
tion should be determined by the General
Assembly or determined in a manner pre-
scribed by law.
We feel that the appointment is strictly
a legislative matter, and as Judge O'Don-
nell from the Supreme Bench in Baltimore
said when he appeared before our Commit-
tee, that the entire subsection should be
governed by legislation, not by the consti-
tution.
One further point: here again we see
creeping into section after section more
power, unrestricted, being given to the
judiciary. We feel that is unnecessary, that
it is against the minority's philosophy of
government because the best government
is the government that is closest to the
people.
I say very briefly in closing, we have
three branches of government: The execu-
tive; let the executive execute. We have
the General Assembly; let them legislate.
In conclusion, let the judges adjudicate and
not appoint.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Mudd, you
have left six and a half minutes to allocate
as you wish.
DELEGATE MUDD: I would like to
yield two minutes at this time to Delegate
Lord.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Lord.
DELEGATE LORD: Mr. Chairman,
ladies and gentlemen of the Convention: I
oppose wholeheartedly this amendment. I
think the reasons will become clear if we
look at the functions that are set out in
section 5.11 to be performed by the com-
missioners.
"He shall exercise only those powers
with respect to warrants of arrest, collat-
eral, and incarceration pending hearing,
and then only as prescribed by rule."
Now, these are functions in the absence
of commissioners that would be performed
and would have to be performed by the dis-
trict judge in question. You must realize
this and treat the commissioners and the
judges as a unit; in the absence of the
commissioner, the job would have to be
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