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amendment in such a way that it would not
be the same as one of the others. I am not
encouraging you to do so. I do not want
to shut you off.
Delegate Grant.
DELEGATE GRANT: I would suggest
in that case that if you would give leave
to come back to this section at a later time,
that an amendment will be suitably drafted
without taking up time for debate to draft
it on the floor.
THE CHAIRMAN: Is Amendment No.
18 then withdrawn?
DELEGATE GRANT: I withdraw the
amendment.
THE CHAIRMAN: Amendment No. 18
is withdrawn. Just tear it up. We will do
away with the number, too.
Are there any other amendments to sec-
tion 5.11?
Any other amendment to section 5.11?
Delegate Malkus, do you desire to offer
your amendment to section 5.10?
DELEGATE MALKUS: Mr. President,
I thank you for your patience.
I have an amendment to 5.10, which will
do this: —
THE CHAIRMAN: Just a moment. The
pages will please distribute Amendment
AW. This will be numbered Amendment
No. 18.
The Clerk will read the amendment.
READING CLERK: Amendment No. 18
to Committee Recommendation JB-1 by
Delegate Malkus: on page 3 section 5.10
Composition of District Court in line 36
strike out the word "district" and insert in
lieu thereof the word "county"; and in
lines 36 through 39, inclusive, strike out the
following sentence "In any district con-
taining more than one county, a District
Court judge shall sit regularly in each
county."
THE CHAIRMAN: Is the amendment
seconded?
(Whereupon, the amendment was duly
seconded.)
THE CHAIRMAN: The amendment hav-
ing been seconded, the Chair recognizes
Delegate Malkus to speak to the amend-
ment.
DELEGATE MALKUS: Mr. President,
Members of the Convention, I will be brief.
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All that this amendment does is it guar-
antees to each county a resident district
judge. By your previous action you have
guaranteed that they will have a resident
superior court judge.
I have just finished talking to probably
the second most important state's attorney
in the State of Maryland, John Sanford.
He has more problems than anyone else,
with the exception of my good friend from
Baltimore City, and he said it is absolutely
imperative that there be a guarantee that
areas such as Worcester County would
have a resident district court judge.
Now, I believe that most of us who come
before a court come before the trial magis-
trates or people's courts, which will soon be
known as district courts, and this is all my
amendment does.
If the wording is not right, I will submit
to any change, but it was written by Mr.
Lee Benson, who I believe knows the sub-
ject matter very well.
In closing, the amendment guarantees
that every county shall have a district
judge, just as your previous action guar-
anteed that they will have a superior court
judge.
THE CHAIRMAN: The Chair recog-
nizes Delegate Mudd.
DELEGATE MUDD: Mr. Chairman, la-
dies and gentlemen of the Committee of the
Whole: I rise to oppose this amendment.
It may appear for a strange reason, but it
is to leave this matter with the legislature,
in its wisdom to determine whether the re-
quirement advanced by Delegate Malkus
is necessary, and if so, that it be accom-
plished in the legislature where the power
to create districts is vested by the Com-
mittee Recommendation.
May I briefly call your attention to the
facts and figures contained in the very able
report of the Case Commission referred to
yesterday by our distinguished Delegate,
Dick Case, and which exhaustively investi-
gated the judicial processes in Maryland
some time ago.
That report contains a wealth of facts
and figures as to the caseload in the vari-
ous political subdivisions of the counties.
There is a constant change in the trend
in various areas of the State.
It occurred to us that at this particular
time, particularly in view of the light case-
load before the courts of limited jurisdic-
tion, and the fact that a great number of
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