ARCHIVIST OF THE HALL OF RECORDS 63

January 3, 1955.

DR. MORRIS L. RADOFF,

ARCHIVIST,

HALL OF RECORDS,

ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND.

DEAR DR. RADOFF:

Under date of December 28, 1954, we received a letter from
Dr. Robert H. Reddick, Secretary-Treasurer of the Board of Medical
Examiners of the State of Maryland (Homeopathic) raising again
the matter of recovery of the records of the Board of Homeopathic
Medical Examiners of Maryland which have been deposited with you.

We have re-examined the matter and, from the correspondence,
it appears that some time ago, upon the death of the former Secre-
tary⁷ of the Board, the Board's records were, pursuant to advice from
this office, deposited with you. While the matter is not entirely clear,
it appears that there was a certain hiatus in the operations of the
Board, but, in any event, it now appears that the Board has been
reactivated and Dr. Reddick has been duly elected Secretary-
Treasurer. When he first requested that you turn over to him the
books, records and seal of the Board, explaining that the operations
of the Board were severely hampered by the lack of such data and
articles, you referred the matter to us and we advised you not to re-
turn the same on the theory that the provisions of Article 41 relat-
ing to your duties authorized you to accept such records, but were
silent as to your authority to return same in such a situation as that
outlined above. We suggested that a special act of the Legislature
might be required.

Upon further reflection, it is true that the Statute is silent as
to what should be done in a situation like this, but it would seem
unreasonable to require a special act of the Legislature to authorize
the return of the books, records and seal to the present Board. We
do not intend to set any precedent of general application for the re-
turn of records, but we do feel that if you are satisfied that the pre-
sent Board is constituted as provided by law and that Dr. Reddick
has been duly elected Secretary-Treasurer, it would be proper for
you to honor a request to return the records of the Board and deliver
them to the possession of Dr. Reddick. We do not believe that a sit-
uation similar to this will be repeated too often, and we would pre-
fer to pass upon each case on its merits, but, with an over-burdened
Legislature, we do not feel, on the basis of the facts outlined above,
that a special act of the Legislature should be required.