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DELEGATE GRANT: I will speak just
briefly to this amendment. I hope that we
do not get into forty minutes of debate
again.
Essentially the amendment simply says
that instead of the commissioners being
limited to the four powers set forth — that
is, arrest, bail, collateral, and incarceration
pending hearing — they may exercise such
power as prescribed by rule. It would ap-
pear unwise to fix for all time in the fu-
ture that an officer set up by the consti-
tution may issue only four pieces of paper.
Times will change, requirements will
change, qualifications of personnel will
change, the necessities will change. This
simply means that the commissioners will
exercise such power as may be prescribed
to them by rule of the court.
It would mean commissioners in rural
areas may be required to exercise a very
different power. It may mean a commis-
sioner in a rural area would have to be of
necessity of sufficient qualifications to issue
a search warrant. The same necessity
might not prevail in an urban area.
I would normally ask the Committee if
they would accept this recommendation,
but in view of the primrose path which I
led Delegate Mudd down the last time I
would not do that. I would simply urge
you to vote to allow the commissioners a
broad power.
THE CHAIRMAN: The Chair recog-
nizes Delegate Mudd.
DELEGATE MUDD: Mr. Chairman,
ladies and gentlemen of the Committee of
the Whole: I appreciate the kind remarks
of Delegate Grant and certainly I would
be most grateful if I could, consistent with
the Committee recommendation, concur in
his proposed amendment.
We admitted in our initial presentation
we were to the best of our ability recom-
v mending adoption by this Convention of an
over-all judiciary article that did contain
in some instances guidelines which we
thought would be helpful in the adminis-
tration and functioning of an efficient ju-
diciary.
These limitations on the actions and
powers of the commissioners, spelled out in
the last sentence of 5.11, are intended to
limit the function of these part-time non-
lawyer members of the judicial branch so
to speak, if we may put them in that cate-
gory.
It is the considered opinion of the ma-
jority of the Committee on the Judicial
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Branch that the functions and powers of
these commissioners should be limited and
that the best way to keep the uniformity
and court structure within proper spheres
of activity was to suggest guidelines to the
court in rule-making power governing the
function of the commissioners.
I, therefore, reluctantly oppose the posi-
tion of my good friend, Delegate Grant,
but must necessarily urge the defeat of
this amendment consistent with the consid-
ered opinion and majority recommendation
of our Committee.
THE CHAIRMAN: Is there any other
delegate who desires to speak in favor of
the amendment?
Delegate Clagett.
DELEGATE CLAGETT: Mr. Chairman,
this amendment I think came as a result
of questioning of the Chairman of the Com-
mittee yesterday afternoon. It is in line
with the questions at that time with re-
spect to qualifications. If the qualifications
of the commissioners are to be set by rule,
and we heard Delegate Case a few minutes
earlier this afternoon indicate that before
the Bar Association, the recommendation
of the Committee was that where possible
these commissioners would be lawyers.
Ultimately, as time and nocessit^ dic-
tate, the qualifications of these commis-
sioners will be quite high. There is no rea-
son to anticipate that they may not be
sufficiently high to justify the responsibility
of issuing search warrants.
I cannot but think in these terms. Where
the case load on the district judge is going
to be so heavy in a community that if you
routed him out of bed at 2:00 P.M. or 3:00
P.M. in the morning in order to issue a
search warrant and kept him up two or
three hours, then put him on the bench at
10:00 A.M. the next morning, or earlier, he
is going to be a rather sleepy judge. He is
going to have a great deal of difficulty in
properly administering the responsibilities
of that court.
There is no reason in the world why the
powers of these commissioners should not
be flexible, should not be increased in addi-
tion to those specifically assigned in the
constitutional language here. By confining
to those powers only, we tend to strait-
jacket rather than encourage flexibility. By
this amendment I think we have the flexi-
bility, but we have the same thought.
THE CHAIRMAN: Does any delegate
desire to speak in opposition?
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