98 CONSTITUTION OP MARYLAND [Art. 4]

Part II: —Court of Appeals.

Sec. 14. The Court of Appeals shall be composed of the Chief Judge
of the first seven of the several Judicial Circuits of the State and a Judge
from the City of Baltimore specially elected thereto, one of whom shall be
designated by the Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the
Senate, as the Chief Judge; and in all cases until action by the Senate can
be had, the Judge so designated by the Governor shall act as Chief Judge.
The Judge of the Court of Appeals from the City of Baltimore shall be
elected by the qualified voters of said city at the election of Judges to be held
therein, as hereinbefore provided; and in addition to his duties as Judge
of the Court of Appeals, shall perform such other duties as the General
Assembly shall prescribe. The jurisdiction of said Court of Appeals shall
be co-extensive with the limits of the State, and such as now is or may here-
after be prescribed by Law. It shall hold its sessions in the City of Annap-
olis, on the first Monday in April, and the first Monday in October; [on
the second Monday in January, the first Monday in April and the -first
Monday in October] ¹ of each and every year, or at such other times as
the General Assembly may by Law direct. Its sessions shall continue not
less than ten months in the year, if the business before it shall so require;
and it shall be competent, for the Judges temporarily to transfer their
sittings elsewhere upon sufficient cause.

Cited in holding that judges' salaries are not subject to State income tax (1937, Sp.
Sess., ch. 11). Gordy v. Dennis, 176 Md. 114.

The legislature may confer on the court of appeals the right to hear appeals in
special cases, but such law must leave the judicial functions of the court untrammeled.
The act of 1862, ch. 2, authorizing the court of appeals to hear and determine the
appeal of the state against the Northern Central Railway Company, held valid. State v.
Northern Central Ry. Co., 18 Md. 210; Prout v. Berry, 2 Gill. 147.

The act of 1809, ch. 125—see art. 42 of the An. Code—empowering the judges of
the court of appeals in vacation to grant the writ of habeas corpus, held to be still in
force under the Constitution of 1851; but art. 4, sec. 2, of that Constitution, was de-
signed to withhold the above powers from the court of appeals as such. The above
powers, however, may be claimed by the individual judges of the court of appeals
under art. 4, sec. 6, of the Constitution. The legislature cannot confer original juris-
diction upon the court of appeals, though that court may grant a mandamus, certiorari
or other appropriate writ, in aid of its appellate jurisdiction. Ex parte O'Neill, 8 Md.
227; Sevinskey v. Wagus, 76 Md. 336; Hendrick v. State, 115 Md. 558.

The act of 1835, ch. 339, authorizing any party to a cause to have a transcript of
chancery proceedings transmitted to the court of appeals for the purpose of getting
its opinion touching the validity of certain acts and on such other points as the parties
might by agreement have submitted to the lower court, held unconstitutional. Lawrence
v. Hicks, 2 G. & J. 386.

An appeal lies from the order of the court of common pleas removing a trustee in
insolvency and dismissing a petition for the benefit of the insolvent laws; such right,
of appeal is not taken away by sec. 28. Van Nostrand v. Carr, 30 Md. 130.

As to appeals, see art. 5 of the An. Code.

Sec. 15. Four of said Judges shall constitute a quorum; no cause shall
be decided without the concurrence of at least three; but the Judge who
heard the cause below shall not participate in the decision; in every case
an opinion, in writing, shall be filed within three months after the argu-
ment or submission of the cause; and the judgment of the court shall be
final and conclusive; and all cases shall stand for hearing at the first term
after the transmission of the record.

This section referred to in construing Sec. 7. Gordy v. Dennis, 176 Md. 108.

The portion of this section requiring a written opinion to be filed within three months,
is directory and not mandatory. Reargument denied. McCall's Ferry Co. v. Price, 108
Md. 112.

The portion of this section requiring a written opinion in every case and provid-
ing that the judgment of the court shall be final and conclusive, held not to require

¹ Terms thus arranged by act of 1886, ch. 185.