148 court of appeals of maryland

ernor Francis Thomas, in his message to the
Assembly, declared that the judicial establish-
ment cost the state $36,000 in salaries yearly, and
that there was not a state in the whole union even
those four times the population, where the num-
ber of judges and the salaries were not smaller.³⁰
"Besides these objections," he continued, "another
is that there are no effectual means provided for
in the constitution to get rid of judges once
commissioned as promptly as public interest may
demand." In 1844, the House of Delegates
appointed a committee to consider the reduction
of expenses of the system and changing the tenure
of office of judges, but the committee recom-
mended only a reduction in the number of judges.
The judicial salaries were regarded as low al-
ready. In 1849, county conventions held about
the state to press for the calling of a constitutional
convention generally included the life tenure of
the judiciary as one of the subjects of reform.

Finally, the demand for the convention grew so
strong that there seemed to be a real danger that,
as Governor Philip Francis Thomas expressed
it in his message to the Assembly of 1850, unless
the wishes of the majority of the people were
gratified, the sanction of the Legislature would
not much longer be invoked; and the convention
was held in the next year, 1851.

In the convention there was an unmistakable
sentiment at the outset for an elective judiciary,
but it was by no means unanimous. The lawyers
of the state seemed generally opposed to it, and

30. This was a mistake. Inquiry made for the House of Delegates of
1S44 disclosed that the total salaries of judges in some other
states were much larger.