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good advocate. I do not take offense at his
saying that I suggested the term "commis-
sioner" is a new term. I did not suggest,
Delegate Case, that the term "commis-
sioner" is a new term. I suggested that the
appointment of commissioners by the ju-
diciary has not been tolerated in any other
state constitution.
THE CHAIRMAN: You have one-
quarter minute, \Delegate Johnson.
DELEGATE JOHNSON: I sincerely
hope and trust that Maryland will remain
in the mainstream.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Mudd, you
have one and one-half minutes.
DELEGATE MUDD: Do you desire to
speak in opposition to the amendment,
Delegate James? I am happy to yield the
minute and a half to Delegate James.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate James
DELEGATE JAMES: I would like to
say that if you want to protect people, if
you want to protect the public, protect
their rights, you want people in office who
know exactly what they are doing, what
the peoples' rights are, who can stand be-
tween the individual and injustice.
The moment you give a man a right to
issue a warrant, the moment you give an
individual the right to say whether he can
be arrested or not, this is a very serious
fundtion. I have been very close to this
function. I have been a trial magistrate for
a couple of years. I have had a little bit
to do with appointing some of these com-
mitting magistrates.
I would like to say that if there is any-
thing that can be done to reform this sys-
tem it should be done.
I would also like to say that the com-
mitting magistrate or commissioners, as
we now call them, should be part and par-
cel of the judicial administration, under
the supervision and working in close co-
operation with the district court. This
would make a sensible system, just as the
circuit courts now have power to appoint
auditors, masters in chancery, all the offi-
cials who form part and parcel of the ju-
dicial system.
To place this matter back in the hands
of the legislature is merely a perpetuation
of the present system and if there is any-
thing that needs reforming in the present
system of courts, especially in the lower
courts, it is the committing magistrate
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system, which is disorderly and does not
have good principles of administration.
THE CHAIRMAN: Under the debate
schedule there is now available two min-
utes of uncontrolled but limited debate.
Does any delegate desire to speak in
favor of the amendment?
Delegate Della.
DELEGATE DELLA: Mr. Chairman
and fellow delegates :
Looking over the report of the Commit-
tee, I find nowhere do they provide for an
examiner or master. To me a master is
more important than a commissioner. I am
informed a commissioner does not have to
be a lawyer. Yet we all know examiners
and masters must be.
Nothing in this report shows that a
master must be appointed in this constitu-
tion. I do not know whether we are gx>ing
to have masters or whether we are going
to have examiners, but the Committee did
see fit to name commissioners.
For all purposes I do not think he has
to be a lawyer. He could be a layman. He
could accept bonds. He is a clerk, so to
speak.
Yet, the General Assembly has authority
over the position of master and examiner;
we gave to the General Assembly that
power, and that power has been trans-
ferred over to the courts, so that the
courts name the examiners and the masters.
I can understand the Maryland Bar As-
sociation fig-hting for commissioners. Prob-
ably that is the only way they are going
to get lawyers there. They do not need
them.
Unfortunately, after reading the bar re-
port, there are over eighty lawyers in this
Convention. If there is ever a conflict of
interest it might be in this Convention by
lawyers fighting for positions in the so-
called judiciary system.
But if they were so interested in naming
jobs, why did they not name the exam-
iners? The examiner takes testimony. He
makes recommendations to the court on
what should be done.
Mr. Chairman, inasmuch as this is a
position that can be created and the ap-
pointing power can be delegated over to
the court if the General Assembly sees fit,
I would have to be in favor of the proposal
offered by Mr. Johnson and his colleagues
in Amendment 13.
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