425]                          The Convention.                             47

less than two members, and the whole number of delegates
never to exceed eighty.

In the Senate the method of federal representation was
adopted; one senator from each county and the city of
Baltimore elected by the people. This increased the rep-
resentation of Baltimore City in the General Assembly
from one-sixteenth to one-eighth of the total representa-
tion of the State.²⁹

Among the reforms brought forward, that of the judi-
cial system of the State held a prominent place. The ju-
diciary had been but slightly changed since the framing of
the original constitution. In 1776 a court of appeals was
established, whose judgment was final in all cases of appeal
from the county courts, and courts of chancery. Orig-
inally there was also a court of admiralty, which court was
abolished at the time of the adoption of the United States
Constitution in 1789. In 1804 the State was divided into
six judicial districts. For each district three judges were
appointed by the governor with the approval of the Sen-
ate.

Reform in the judiciary had been one of the prominent
features of the earlier agitation of 1836; but no change
was made at that time. The tenure during good behavior,
and the appointing of the judges by the governor, together
with the extraordinary expense attendant upon the ad-
ministration of justice were the principal grounds of com-
plaint. The annual cost incurred by the State for the
maintenance of the judicial system in salaries alone ex-
ceeded by several thousand dollars that of many other
states of the Union, far more populous and of much greater
territorial extent.³⁰

A reduction in the number of judges and a limitation on
the income of county clerks, registers of wills, and other
officers it was thought, would afford relief to the taxpay-
ers of the State, and contribute toward payment of the

²⁹ See ch. iii, p. 75.                                ³⁰ See ch. i, p. 19.