1867 and after 197

land as yet—it should be observed that the differ-
ence between the appointive system and the elec-
tive system in Maryland has not in practice been
so great as has been assumed, because once an elec-
tive system has been started vacancies seldom oc-
cur at the dates of election, and are therefore more
often than not still filled by appointments by the
Governor; and in this state satisfactory appointees
well established in office are frequently elected,
even when an opposing party is in power. Since
1851, when under the constitution then adopted
judges were first elected in Maryland, fifty-one
judges have held seats on the Court of Appeals,
twenty-seven have taken office originally by ap-
pointment, and twenty-four by election; and of the
twenty-seven appointed, eighteen have been con-
tinued in office at the subsequent elections. Per-
haps a better view of the ordinary working of the
system would be had by disregarding, as out of
the ordinary, the thirteen judges who were elected
upon the establishment of new constitutions; then
in the ordinary working of the system, twenty-
seven judges out of thirty-eight, or seventy-one
per cent., have taken office originally by appoint-
ment. Taking Judge Bowie's terms separately,
there was one more election to be counted in this
reckoning. And apart from these facts, no law-
yer in Maryland would feel able to say that there
has been a difference in quality between the judges
who have come to the bench in the state by one
method and the other. Some of the best have
come to the court originally by election.

It cannot be said that any judge on the Court of
Appeals of Maryland has attained wide personal