AET. VIII] EDUCATION. 103

such fees as are now, or may be hereafter fixed, by Law. He shall make
a semi-annual report of all the fees of his office, both as Commissioner
of the Land Office, and as keeper of the Chancery Records, to the Comp-
troller of the Treasury, and shall pay the same semi-annually into the
Treasury.

The act of 1890, chapter 513, providing for the forfeiture of the property
of unknown owners upon their failure to produce evidence of their title,,
and authorizing the agents of certain counties to make examinations of
the records in the land office free of charge, and remitting the sum due-
by the authorities of a certain county for examinations previously made,
held to be void because in violation of article 23 of the declaration of
rights, and of article 3, sections 29 and 33, of the constitution Scharf v.
Tasker, 73 Md. 381.

This section (as it stood in the constitution of 1864), in providing for
the election of the commissioner of the land office, left his powers and
duties completely under the control of the legislature; that officer does
not form part of the judiciary under the constitution of 1864. Smith v.
Devecmon, 30 Md. 479.

This section referred to in construing article 2, section 15—see notes
thereto. Harman v. Harwood, 58 Md. 10.
See article 15, section 9, of the Maryland constitution.
See article 54 of the Annotated Code.

Sec. 5. The Commissioner of the Land Office shall also, without
additional compensation, collect, arrange, classify, have charge of, and
safely keep all papers, records, relics and other memorials connected
with the early history of Maryland, not belonging to any other office.

Sec. 6. The qualified voters of Worcester County shall on the Tues-
day next after the first Monday in the month of November, in the year
eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, and every two years thereafter, elect
a Wreck-Master for said County, whose duties and compensation shall
be the same as are now or may be hereafter prescribed by law; the term
of office of said Wreck-Master shall commence on the first Monday of
January next succeeding his election, and a vacancy in said office shall
be filled by the County Commissioners of said County for the residue
of the terra.

ARTICLE VIIL

EDUCATION.

Section 1. The General Assembly, at its first session after the adop-
tion of this Constitution, shall, by law, establish throughout the State a
thorough and efficient system of free Public Schools; and shall provide
by taxation or otherwise, for their maintenance.

This section means that the schools must be open to all without expense;
to single out a certain portion of the people by the arbitrary standard
of color and deny them the rights which are possessed by others, denies
them the equal protection of the laws, and, as applied to public schools,
violates this section. Colored pupils, however, may lawfully be excluded,
from an institution which receives municipal aid but is not a part of
the public school system, such as the Maryland Institute in Baltimore,
Mandamus denied. Clark v. Md. Institute, 87 Md. 661.