THE TEXT OF THE ARTICLE
"That no person shall hold, at the
same time, more than one office of
profit created by the Constitution or
Laws of this State;
nor shall any person in public trust
receive any present from any foreign
Prince or State, or from the United
States, or any of them, without the
approbation of this State.
The position of Notary Public shall not
be considered an office of profit within
the meaning of this Article."
THE TWO PARTS OF THE ARTICLE
1. The prohibition of a public officer's
receiving a "present" from another gov-
ernment without State approval.
2. The prohibition of an individual's
simultaneously holding more than one
public office in the State and the declara-
tion that Notary Public is not a public
office.
THE TWO PARTS ANALYZED
1. the constitutional history of
the prohibition of receiving pres-
ents:
The substance of Article 35 was added
in 1851. There is no recorded debate on
the provision except for a change of
"ought to" to "shall" in 1867 to achieve
a mandatory effect.
Article I, Section 9 of the United
States Constitution provides:
"No person holding any office of
1 This article was prepared for the Commis-
sion by Frank T. Ralabate, research assistant
to the Constitutional Convention Commission;
B.S., 1964, Canisius College; LL.B., 1967,
Eastern College, Mount Vernon School of
Law.
314
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Profit or Trust under (the United
States) shall, without the consent of
Congress, accept of any present, emolu-
ment, Office, or Title, of any kind
whatever, from any King, Prince or
foreign State."
The Maryland provision differs from
the federal statement in that the latter
(a) prohibits not only presents but also
"Office", "Title", and "emolument" (b)
specifies that permission must come from
the legislature, and (c) prohibits gifts,
etc., only from foreign powers.
The Court of Appeals has not passed
upon this provision of Article 35.
Maryland is unique in having so broad
a provision. the index digest of state
constitutions, groups the Maryland
provision with those of fourteen other
states which prohibit public officers only
from accepting transportation, communi-
cation and franking privileges.2
2. the constitutional history of
the prohibition of dual office
holding and the exception of notary
public :
The Notary Public provision was added
in 1964, one year after the Court of Ap-
peals had ruled that the Notary Public
was a public office.3
Article 37 of the Constitution of 1776
prohibited state senators, delegates, the
governor and his council from occupy-
ing "any office of profit". Article 32 of
the 1851 Constitution introduced the all-
inclusive language which we have today.
2 legislative drafting research fund
of columbia university, index digest of
state constitutions 823-24 (1959).
3Moser v. Howard County Bd., 235 Md.
279 (1963).
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