1892. ] OF THE SENATE. 575

BALTIMORE, MD, March 7th, 1892.
Hon. James P. Gorter,

Annapolis., Md.;

DEAR SIR: —I regret that I was unable to send the
result of my examination of the questions submitted
to me by you on Saturday. I was so much inter-
rupted that I was unable to complete the examination,
and have only been able to do so to-day.

The provisions of the Constitution on the subject
of the increase of the salaries of Judges are apparently
somewhat conflicting, and it is necessary to reconcile
these apparently different provisions in order to arrive
at the meaning of the whole instrument.

Looking first at the provisions of Article 15, section
1, which provides that "No person holding any office
created by or existing under this Constitution or laws
of the State, or holding any appointment under any
Court in this State, shall receive more than $3, 000 a
year as a compensation for the discharge of his official
duties, except in cases specially provided in this Con-
stitution" I think that provision is not intended to
apply to the salary Judges. I think that the Judges
are treated as officers under the Constitution, as will
be seen by reference to section 9, of Article 15, where
"Judges and other officers" are spoken of, but section
1, of Article 15, does not apply to the case of the
salary of Judges, because the salary of Judges, in my
opinion, is specially provided for in the Constitution,
and therefore comes with the exception mentioned in
section 1, of Article 15.

The case of the salary of Judges is specially pro-
vided for in the Constitution, as is evident from the
provisions of Article 4, section 24, which gives each
Chief Judge and the Judge of the Court of Appeals
from Baltimore city more than $3, 000, and gives each
Associate Judge $2, 800. This is a special provision
and of course comes within the exception mentioned
in Article 15, section 1.

Again, the Judges of the Courts of Baltimore city
are allowed by Article 4, section 31, a salary of more
than $3, 000, and power is given to the Mayor and City
Council to add $500 more to the salary of each Judge.