SEC. 31. There shall be elected by the legal and qualified
voters of said city, at the election, hereinbefore provided for,
one Chief Judge and four Associate Judges, who, together,
shall constitute the Supreme Bench of Baltimore City, and
shall hold their offices for terms of fifteen years, subject to
the provisions of this Constitution with regard to the election
and qualifications of judges and their removal from office,
and shall exercise the jurisdiction, hereinafter specified, and
shall each receive an annual salary of three thousand five
hundred dollars,(tt) payable quarterly, which shall not be
diminished during their term of office; but authority is hereby
given to the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore to pay
to each of the said judges an annual addition of five hundred
dollars to their respective salaries; provided, that the same
being once granted shall not be diminished nor increased
during the continuance of said judges in office.

SEC. 31A. In addition to the authority granted to the
Mayor and City Council of Baltimore by the preceding sec-
tion to pay to each of the judges of the Supreme Bench the
annual sum of Five Hundred Dollars, authority is hereby
given to said Mayor and City Council to pay to each of said
judges such further annual sum as an addition to their respective
salaries as the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore shall from
time to time deem right and proper, provided, that any such
sum being once granted shall not be diminished during the
continuance of said judges in office.*

SEC. 32. It shall be the duty of the said Supreme Bench
of Baltimore City, as soon as the judges thereof shall be elected
and duly qualified, and from time to time, to provide for the
holding of each of the aforesaid courts, by the assignment of
one or more of their number to each of the said courts, who may
sit either separately or together in the trial of cases; and the
said Supreme Bench of Baltimore City may, from time to time,
change the said assignment, as circumstances may require,
and the public interest may demand; and the judge or judges, so
assigned to the said several courts, shall, when holding the same,
have all the powers and exercise all the jurisdiction which may
belong to the court so being held; and it shall also be the duty of
the said Supreme Bench of Baltimore City, in case of the sick-
ness, absence or disability of any judge or judges assigned as
aforesaid, to provide for the hearing of the cases, or transaction
of the business assigned to said judge or judges, as aforesaid,
before some one or more of the judges of said court.

SEC. 33. The said Supreme Bench of Baltimore City shall

t Increased by Acts of 1892, Chapter 388, to four thousand five hundred dollars.
tt Increased by Acts of 1927, Chapter 235, to six thousand eight hundred and seventy-flve
dollars.
* Sec. 31-A. adopted at the November election 1926, as proposed by Ch. 116, Acts of 1924.