HARRY HUGHES, Governor

4099

is to say, such of them as are judicial in their
character to the judiciary; such as are legislative to
the Legislative; such as are executive in their nature
to the executive. Within the particular limits
assigned to each, they are supreme and uncontrollable."
1/

In an Opinion of this office, it was stated,

"... the separation of powers provision means that one
branch may not usurp the essential functions and powers
of another branch, may not act to destroy the essential
functions and powers of another branch, and may not
delegate its essential functions and powers to another
branch." (Citations omitted).

63 Opinions of the Attorney General 305, 310 (1978). Thus, the
authority of each branch is absolute within the core powers which
the Constitution assigns it. Id. See also 65 Opinions of the
Attorney General 285 (1980). Article 8 prohibits the interchange
of these core functions. Shell Oil Co. v. Supervisors of
Assessments, 276 Md. 36 (1975).

Article IV, Section 1 of the Maryland Constitution vests
"[t]he Judicial power of this State" in the Court of Appeals and
the other courts of the Judicial Branch. It is this power that
is exclusively vested in the Judiciary, Department of Natural
Resources v. Linchester Sand and Gravel Corp., 274 Md. 211,
222-23 (1975); and it is this power that, given the separation of
powers clause, may not be usurped, destroyed, or delegated. See
Shell Oil Co. v. Supervisors of Assessments, 276 Md. 36, 46
(1975).

The question here, then, is whether the authority granted to
the AELR Committee to make the aforementioned determinations
concerning a regulation and to suspend the operation of the
regulation upon such determinations usurps the essential judicial
power vested in the courts of the State and violates the
separation of powers clause. For the following reasons, we
believe that it does.

The Maryland courts have long recognized the fundamental
distinction between the legislative and the judicial powers. The
legislative power includes the power to make policy and to pass
rules of law for the government and regulation of people and
property. The judicial power includes the power to hear and
determine those matters which affect life, liberty, or property,
to interpret, construe, and apply the law, and make certain that
other instruments of government do likewise; to determine the
constitutionality of legislation; and to determine whether
constitutional limitations have been transcended or
constitutional restraints have been violated. See, Maryland
Committee for Fair Representation v. Tawes, 228 Md. 412 (1962),