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elected by the qualified voters of the said circuits, and shall hold their offices for the term of ten years, removable for misbehavior, on conviction in a court of law, or by the governor, upon the address of the general assembly, provided that two-thirds of the members of each house shall concur in such address; and the said judges shall each receive a salary of two thousand dollars a year, and the same shall not be increased or diminished during the time of their continuance in office; and no judge of any court in this State shall receive any perquisite, fee, commission, or reward, in addition thereto, for the performance of any judicial duty.

SEC. 10. There shall be established for the city of Baltimore one court of law, to be styled "the court of common pleas," which shall have civil jurisdiction in all suits where the debt or damage claimed shall be over one hundred dollars, and shall not exceed five hundred dollars; and shall also have jurisdiction in all cases of appeal from the judgment of justices of the peace in the said city, and shall have jurisdiction. in all applications for the benefit of the insolvent laws of this State, and the supervision and control of the trustees thereof.

SEC. 11. There shall also be established for the city of Baltimore another court of law, to be styled the superior court of Baltimore City, which shall have jurisdiction over all suits where the debt or damage claimed shall exceed the sum of five hundred dollars; and in case any plaintiff or plaintiffs shall recover less than the sum or value of five hundred dollars, he or they shall be allowed or adjuged to pay costs in the discretion of the court. The said court shall also have jurisdiction as a court of equity within the limits of the said city, and in all other civil cases which have not been heretofore assigned to the court of common pleas.

SEC. 12. Each of the said two courts shall consist of one judge, who shall be elected by the legal and qualified voters of the said city, and shall hold his office for the term of ten years, subject to the provisions of this constitution with regard to the election and qualification of judges and their removal from office, and the salary of each of the said judges shall be twenty-five hundred dollars a year; and the legislature shall, whenever it may think the same proper and expedient, provide, by law, another court for the city of Baltimore, to consist of one judge, to be elected by the qualified voters of the said city, who shall be subject to the same constitutional provisions, hold his office for the same term of years, and receive the same compensation as the judge of the court of common pleas of the said city, and the said court shall have such jurisdiction and powers as may be prescribed by law.

SEC. 13. There shall also be a criminal court for the city of Baltimore, to be styled "the criminal court of Baltimore," which shall consist of one judge, who shall also be elected by the legal and qualified voters of the said city, and who shall have and exercise all the jurisdiction now exercised by Baltimore City court, and the said judge shall receive a salary of two thousand dollars a year, and shall be subject to the provisions of this constitution with regard to the election and qualifications of judges, term of office, and removal therefrom.

SEC. 14. There shall be in each county a clerk of the circuit court, who shall be elected by the qualified voters of each county, and the person receiving the greatest number of votes shall be declared and returned duly elected clerk of said circuit court for the said county, and shall hold his office for the term of six years from the time of his election, and until a new election is held; shall be reeligible thereto, and subject to removal for wilful neglect of duty, or other misdemeanor in office, on conviction in a court of law. There shall also be a clerk of the court of common pleas in Baltimore City, and a clerk of the superior court of Baltimore City, and there shall also be a clerk of the criminal court of Baltimore City, and each of said clerks shall be elected as aforesaid by the qualified voters of the city of Baltimore, and shall hold his office for six years from the time of his election, and until a new election is held, and be reeligible thereto, subject, in like manner, to be removed for wilful neglect of duty or other misdemeanor in office, on conviction in a court of law. In case of a vacancy in the office of a clerk, the judge or judges of the court of which he was clerk shall have the power to appoint a clerk until the general election of delegates held next thereafter, when a clerk shall be elected to fill such vacancy.

SEC. 15. The clerk of the court of common pleas for Baltimore City shall have

authority to issue within the said city all marriage and other licenses required by law, subject to such provisions as the legislature shall hereafter prescribe; and the clerk of the superior court for said city shall have the custody of all deeds, conveyances, and other papers now remaining in the office of the clerk of Baltimore County court, and shall hereafter receive and record all deeds, conveyances, and other papers which are required by law to be recorded in said city. He shall also have the custody of all other papers connected with the proceedings on the law or equity side of Baltimore County court, and of the dockets thereof, so far as the same have relation to Baltimore City.

SEC. 16. That the clerk of the court of appeals, and the clerks of the circuit courts in the several counties, shall respectively perform all the duties and be entitled to the fees which appertain to the offices of the clerks of court of appeals for the eastern and western shores and of the clerks of county courts, and the clerks of the court of common pleas, the superior court, and the criminal court for Baltimore City shall perform all the duties appertaining to their respective offices, and heretofore vested in the clerks of Baltimore County court and Baltimore City court respectively, and be entitled to all the fees now allowed by law; and all laws relating to the clerks of court of appeal, clerks of the several county courts, and Baltimore City court shall be applicable to the clerks respectively of the clerk of court of appeals, the circuit courts, the court of common pleas, the superior court, and the criminal court of Baltimore City, until otherwise provided by law; and the said clerks, when duly elected and qualified according to law, shall have the charge and custody of the records and other papers belonging to their respective offices.

SEC. 17. The qualified voters of the city of Baltimore, and of the several counties of the State, shall, on the first Wednesday of November, eighteen hundred and fiftyone, and on the same day of the same month in every fourth year forever thereafter, elect three men to be judges of the orphans' court of said city and counties respectively, who shall be citizens of the State of Maryland and citizens of the city or county for which they may be severally elected at the time of their election. They shall have all the powers now vested in the orphans' courts of this State, subject to such changes therein as the legislature may prescribe, and each of said judges shall be paid at a per diem rate for the time they are in session, to be fixed by the legislature and paid by the said counties and city respectively.

SEC. 18. There shall be a register of wills in each county of the State and in the city of Baltimore, to be elected by the legal and qualified voters of said counties and city respectively, who shall hold his office for six years from the time of his election, and until a new election shall take place, and be reeligible thereto, subject to be removed for wilful neglect of duty or misdemeanor in office, in the same manner that the clerks of the county courts are removable. In the event of any vacancy in the office of register of wills, said vacancy shall be filled by the judges of the orphans' court until the general election next thereafter for delegates to the general assembly, when a register shall be elected to fill such vacancy.

SEC. 19. The legislature at its first session after the adoption of this constitution shall fix the number of justices of the peace and constables for each ward of the city of Baltimore, and for each election district in the several counties, who shall be elected by the legal and qualified voters thereof respectively, at the next general election for delegates thereafter, and shall hold their offices for two years from the time of their election, and until their successors in office are elected and qualified; and the legislature may, from time to time, increase or diminish the number of justices of the peace and constables to be elected in the several wards and election districts as the wants and interests of the people may require. They shall be, by virtue of their offices, conservators of the peace in the said counties and city respectively, and shall have such duties and compensation as now exist or may be provided for by law. In the event of a vacancy in the office of a justice of the peace, the governor shall appoint a person to serve as justice of the peace, until the next regular election of said officers, and in case of a vacancy in the office of constable, the county commissioners of the county in which a vacancy may occur, or the mayor and city council of Baltimore, as the case may be, shall appoint a person to serve as consta

ble until the next regular election thereafter for said officers. An appeal shall lie in all civil cases from the judgment of a justice of the peace to the circuit court, or to the court of common pleas of Baltimore City, as the case may be, and on all such appeals, either party shall be entitled to a trial by jury, according to the laws now existing, or which may be hereafter enacted. And the mayor and city council may provide, by ordinance, from time to time, for the creation and government of such temporary additional police as they may deem necessary to preserve the public peace. SEC. 20. There shall be elected in each county and in the city of Baltimore, every second year, two persons for the office of sheriff for each county, and two for the said city, the one of whom having the highest number of votes of the qualified voters of said county or city, or if both have an equal number, either of them, at the discretion of the governor, to be commissioned by the governor for the said office, and, having served for two years, such person shall be ineligible for the two years next succeeding; bond with security, to be taken every year, and no sheriff shall be qualified to act before the same be given. In case of death, refusal, disqualification, or removal out of the county, before the expiration of the said two years, the other person chosen as aforesaid shall be commissioned by the governor to execute the said office for the residue of the said two years, and said person giving bond with security as aforesaid. No person shall be eligible to the office of sheriff but a resident of such county or city respectively, who shall have been a citizen of this State at least five years preceding his election, and above the age of twenty-one years. The two candidates, properly qualified, having the highest number of legal ballots, shall be declared duly elected for the office of sheriff for such county or city, and returned to the governor, with a certificate of the number of ballots for each of them.

SEC. 21. Coroners, elisors, and notaries public shall be appointed for each county and the city of Baltimore, in the manner now prescribed by law, or in such other manner as the general assembly may hereafter direct.

SEC. 22. No judge shall sit in any case wherein he may be interested, or where either of the parties may be connected with him by affinity or consanguinity, within such degrees as may be prescribed by law, or where he shall have been of council in the case; and whenever any of the judges of the circuit courts, or of the courts for Baltimore City, shall be thus disqualified, or whenever, by reason of sickness, or any other cause, the said judges, or any of them, may be unable to sit in any cause, the parties may, by consent, appoint a proper person to try the said cause, or the judges, or any of them, shall do so when directed by law.

SEC. 23. The present chancellor and the register in chancery, and, in the event of any vacancy in their respective offices, their successors in office respectively, who are to be appointed as at present, by the governor and senate, shall continue in office, with the powers and compensation as at present established, until the expiration of two years after the adoption of this constitution by the people, and until the end of the session of the legislature next thereafter, after which the said offices of chancellor and register shall be abolished. The legislature shall, in the mean time, provide by law for the recording, safe-keeping, or other disposition of the records, decrees, and other proceedings of the court of chancery, and for the copying and attestation thereof, and for the custody and use of the great seal of the State, when required, after the expiration of the said two years, and for transmitting to the said counties, and to the city of Baltimore, all the cases and proceedings in said court then undisposed of and unfinished, in such manner and under such regulations as may be deemed necessary and proper: Provided, That no new business shall originate in the said court, nor shall any cause be removed to the same from any other court, from and after the ratification of this constitution.

SEC. 24. The first election of judges, clerks, registers of wills, and all other officers, whose election by the people is provided for in this article of the constitution, except justices of the peace and constables, shall take place throughout the State on the first Wednesday of November next after the ratification of this constitution by the people. SEC. 25. In case of the death, resignation, removal, or other disqualification of a judge of any of the courts of law, the governor, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, shall thereupon appoint a person, duly qualified, to fill said office until

the next general election for delegates thereafter; at which time an election shall be held, as herein before prescribed, for a judge, who shall hold the said office for ten years, according to the provisions of this constitution.

SEC. 26. In case of the death, resignation, removal, or other disqualification of the judge of an orphans' court, the vacancy shall be filled by the appointment of the governor, by and with the advice and consent of the senate.

SEC. 27. Whenever lands lie partly in one county and partly in another, or partly in a county and partly in the city of Baltimore, or whenever persons proper to be made defendants to proceedings in chancery reside some in one county and some in another, that court shall have jurisdiction in which proceedings shall have been first commenced, subject to such rules, regulations, and alterations as may be prescribed by law.

SEC. 28. In all suits or actions at law, issues from the orphans' court, or from any court sitting in equity, in petitions for freedom, and in all presentments and indictments now pending, or which may be pending at the time of the adoption of this constitution by the people, or which may be hereafter instituted in any of the courts of law of this State, having jurisdiction thereof, the judge or judges thereof, upon suggestion in writing, if made by the State's attorney, or the prosecutor for the State, or upon suggestion in writing, supported by affidavit, made by any of the parties thereto, or other proper evidence, that a fair and impartial trial cannot be had in the court where such suit or action at law, issues or petitions, or presentment and indictment is depending, shall order and direct the record of proceedings in such suit or action, issues or petitions, presentment or indictment, to be transmitted to the court of any adjoining county: Provided, That the removal in all civil causes be confined to an adjoining county within the judicial circuit, except as to the city of Baltimore, where the removal may be to an adjoining county for trial, which court shall hear and determine the same in like manner as if such suit or action, issues or petitions, presentment or indictment, had been originally instituted therein: And provided also, That such suggestion shall be made as aforesaid before or during the term in which the issue or issues may be joined in said suit or action, issues or petition, presentment or indictment, and that such further remedy in the premises may be provided by law as the legislature shall from time to time direct and enact.

SEC. 29. All elections of judges, and other officers provided for by this constitution, shall be certified, and the returns made by the clerks of the respective counties to the governor, who shall issue commissions to the different persons for the offices to which they shall have been respectively elected; and in all such elections the person having the greatest number of votes shall be declared to be elected.

SEC. 30. If in any case of election for judges, clerks of the courts of law, and registers of wills the opposing candidates shall have an equal number of votes, it shall be the duty of the governor to order a new election; and in case of any contested election, the governor shall send the returns to the house of delegates, who shall judge of the election and qualification of the candidates at such election.

SEC. 31. Every person of good moral character, being a voter, shall be admitted to practise law in all the courts of law in this State in his own case.

ARTICLE V.

THE STATE'S ATTORNEYS.

SECTION 1. There shall be an attorney for the State in each county and the city of Baltimore, to be styled "the State's attorney," who shall be elected by the voters thereof, respectively, on the first Wednesday of November next, and on the same day every fourth year thereafter, and hold his office for four years from the first Monday of January next ensuing his election, and until his successor shall be elected and qualified, and shall be recligible thereto, and be subject to removal therefrom for incompetency, wilful neglect of duty, or misdemeanor in office, on conviction in a court of law.

SEC. 2. All elections for the State's attorney shall be certified to, and returns made thereof, by the clerks of the said counties and city to the judges thereof having crimi

nal jurisdiction, respectively, whose duty it shall be to decide upon the elections and qualifications of the persons returned, and in case of a tie between two or more persons to designate which of said persons shall qualify as State's attorney, and to administer the oaths of office to the persons elected.

SEC. 3. The State's attorney shall perform such duties and receive such fees and commissions as are now prescribed by law for the attorney-general and his deputies, and such other duties, fees, and commissions as may hereafter be prescribed by law, and if any State's attorney shall receive any other fee or reward than such as is, or may be allowed by law, he shall, on conviction thereof, be removed from office.

SEC. 4. No person shall be eligible to the office of State's attorney who has not been admitted to practise the law in this State, and who has not resided for at least one year in the county or city in which he may be elected.

SEC. 5. In case of vacancy in the office of State's attorney, or of his removal from the county or city in which he shall have been elected, or on his conviction as hereinbefore specified, the said vacancy shall be filled by the judge of the county or city, respectively, having criminal jurisdiction, in which said vacancy shall occur, until the election and qualification of his successor, at which election said vacancy shall be filled by the voters of the said county or city for the residue of the term thus made

vacant.

SEC. 6. It shall be the duty of the clerk of the court of appeals and the commissioner of the land-office, respectively, whenever a case shall be brought into said court or office in which the State is a party, or has an interest, immediately to notify the governor thereof.

ARTICLE VI.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT.

SECTION 1. There shall be a treasury department, consisting of a comptroller, chosen by the qualified electors of the State at each election of members of the house of delegates, who shall receive an annual salary of two thousand five hundred dollars; and of a treasurer, to be appointed by the two houses of the legislature, at each session thereof, on joint ballot, who shall also receive an annual salary of two thousand five hundred dollars; and neither of the said officers shall be allowed or receive any fees, commissions, or perquisites of any kind, in addition to his salary, for the performance of any duty or service whatever. In case of a vacancy in either of the offices, by death or otherwise, the governor, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, shall fill such vacancy by appointment, to continue until another election by the people or a choice by the legislature, as the case may be, and the qualification of the successor. The comptroller and the treasurer shall keep their offices at the seat of government, and shall take such oath and enter into such bonds for the faithful discharge of their duties as the legislature shall prescribe.

SEC. 2. The comptroller shall have the general superintendence of the fiscal affairs of the State; he shall digest and prepare plans for the improvement and management of the revenue and for the support of the public credit; prepare and report estimates of the revenue and expenditure of the State; superintend and enforce the collection of all taxes and revenue; adjust, settle, and preserve all public accounts; decide on the forms of keeping and stating accounts; grant, under regulations prescribed by law, all warrants for moneys to be paid out of the treasury, in pursuance of appropriations by law; prescribe the formalities of the transfer of stock or other evidences of the State debt; and countersign the same, without which such evidences shall not be valid; he shall make full reports of all his proceedings, and of the state of the treasury department, within ten days after the commencement of each session of the legislature, and perform such other duties as shall be prescribed by law.

SEC. 3. The treasurer shall receive and keep the moneys of the State, and disburse the same upon warrants drawn by the comptroller, and not otherwise; he shall take receipts for all moneys paid by him, and all receipts for moneys received by him shall be indorsed upon warrants signed by the comptroller, without which warrant, so signed, no acknowledgment of money received into the treasury shall be valid; and upon warrants issued by the comptroller he shall make arrangements for the payment

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