Article IV
SEC. 39."° The General Assembly shall, as
often, as it may think the same proper and expe-
dient, provide by law for the election of an addi-
tional Judge of the Supreme Bench of Baltimore
City, and whenever provision is so made by the
General Assembly, there shall be elected by the
voters of said City another Judge of the Supreme
Bench of Baltimore City, who shall be subject to
the same constitutional provisions, hold his office
for the same term of years, receive the same
compensation and have the same powers as are,
or shall be provided by the Constitution, or laws
of this State, for the Judges of said Supreme
Bench of Baltimore City, and the General As-
sembly may provide by laws, or the Supreme
Bench by its rules, for requinng causes in any of
the Courts of Baltimore City to be tned before
the Court without a Jury, unless the litigants or
some one of them shall within such reasonable
time or times as may be prescribed, elect to have
their causes tned before a jury And the General
Assembly may reapportion, change or enlarge
the jurisdiction of the several Courts in said
City
Part V— Orphans' Court
SEC. 40."' The qualified voters of the City of
Baltimore, and of the several Counties, except
Montgomery County and Harford County, shall
elect three Judges of the Orphans' Courts of City
and Counties, respectively, who shall be citizens
of the State and residents for the twelve months
preceding, in the City or County for which they
may be elected They shall have all the powers
now vested in the Orphans' Courts of the State,
subject to such changes as the Legislature may
prescribe Each of the Judges shall be paid such
compensation as may be regulated by Law, to be
paid by the City or Counties, respectively In case
of a vacancy in the office of Judge of the
Orphans' Court, the Governor shall appoint, sub-
ject to confirmation or rejection by the Senate,
some suitable person to fill the vacancy for the
residue of the term
SEC. 41.'" There shall be a Register of Wills
in each county of the State, and the City of
Baltimore, to be elected by the legal and qualified
voters of said counties and city, respectively, who
shall hold his office for four years from the time
'" Thus amended by Chapter 313, Acts of 1892, ratified No-
vember 7,1893
'•" Thus amended by Chapter 681 Acts of 1977 ratified No-
vember 7,1978
'" Thus amended by Chapter 99, Acts of 1956, ratified No-
vember 6,1956

Constitution of Maryland/823
of his election and until his successor is elected
and qualified, he shall be re-eligible, and subject
at all times to removal for willful neglect of duty,
or misdemeanor in office in the same manner that
the Clerks of the Courts are removable In the
event of any vacancy in the office of the Register
of Wills, said vacancy shall be filled by the
Judges of the Orphans' Court, in which such va-
cancy occurs, until the next general election for
Delegates to the General Assembly when a Regis-
ter shall be elected to serve for four years thereaf-
ter
Part VI— District Court.
SEC. 41A.i" The District Court shall have the
original jurisdiction prescribed by law Jurisdic-
tion of the District Court shall be uniform
throughout the State, except that in Montgomery
County and other counties and the City of
Baltimore, the Court may have such jurisdiction
over juvenile causes as is provided by law
SEC. 41B."" The District Court shall consist
of the number of judges prescribed by law The
State shall be divided by law into distncts Each
distnct shall consist of one county or two or
more entire and adjoining counties The number
of judges shall be allocated among the distncts
by law, and there shall be at least one Distnct
Court judge resident in each distnct In any dis-
tnct containing more than one county, there shall
be at least one Distnct Court judge resident in
each county in the distnct Functional divisions
of the Distnct Court may be established in any
distnct
SEC. 41C. Each Distnct Court judge shall de-
vote full time to his judicial duties, shall have the
qualifications presenbed by Section 2 of this Arti-
cle, and shall be a resident of the distnct in
which he holds office The number of judges for
any distnct may be increased or decreased by the
General Assembly from time to time, subject to
the requirements of Section 41B of this Article,
and any vacancy so created shall be filled as pro-
vided in Section 4 ID of this Article
SEC. 41D. The Governor, by and with the ad-
vice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint each
judge of the Distnct Court whenever for any rea-
son a vacancy shall exist in the office All
heanngs, deliberations and debate on the
'" Thus amended by Chapter 544, Acts of 1976, ratified No-
vember 2,1976
'" Sections 41B through 411 added by Chapter 789, Acts of
1969, ratified November 3, 1970