1456                                      VETOES

magistrates of the county, to provide for the appointment of
the judges of the court for their tenure, compensation, powers
and duties, to generally provide for the administration, prac-
tice and procedure before the Court in Dorchester County and
to provide for the appointment of a trial magistrate for the
county, to fix his powers, salary and clerical assistance."

We find the bill to be defective in several respects.

First of all, the title states that the People's Court is to have
"the powers and jurisdiction formerly exercised by the trial magis-
trates of the county ....... " However, amendments made to Sections
6 and 12 of Article 52 of the Annotated Code of Maryland (1964 Re-
placement Volume) in the body of House Bill 841 make significant
alterations in the civil jurisdiction of People's Court judges. These
changes are not referred to in the title; and this seems to us to be in
contravention of Article III, Section 29, of the Constitution of Mary-
land which requires that the subjects of bills be described in their
title.

Perhaps a more serious deficiency appears in the attempt to add
a new subsection (g) to Section 97 of Article 52, supra. The pro-
posed subsection provides for the appointment of two committing
magistrates "for terms of four years each ....... " Section 97 is a part
of the "trial magistrates" subtitle of Article 52. The primary char-
acter of all officers appointed pursuant to that subtitle is that of a
justice of the peace; in other words, "trial magistrates" and "com-
mitting magistrates" are justices of the peace with special powers.
Article IV, Section 42, of the Constitution of Maryland provides that
"Justices of the Peace ..... shall hold their office for two years ....... "
Therefore, the attempt in House Bill 841 to provide for four year
terms for committing magistrates is unconstitutional.

For these reasons it is our opinion that House Bill 841 is un-
constitutional.

Very truly yours,

(s) Thomas B. Finan,

Attorney General.

House Bill No. 940—Kent County—Planning Commission

AN ACT to add new Section 12(d) to Article 66B of the Anno-
tated Code of Maryland (1965 Supplement), title "Zoning and Plan-
ning," subtitle "Planning," to follow immediately after Section 12(c)
thereof, and to add new Section 22(b-2) to said Article and title of
said Code, subtitle "Zoning," to follow immediately after Section
22(b-l) thereof, to provide and set the compensation for the Plan-
ning Commission and Appeals Board of Kent County.