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Proceedings and Debates of the 1850 Constitutional Convention
Volume 101, Volume 2, Debates 577   View pdf image
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577
meetings of the court. If a contested will comes
up, the issues are made up, a considerable job, too,
and the case goes into the county court. During
a fourteen years' connection with the orphans'
court, I have known but two appeals taken from
the orphans' court. Will cases have been deci-
ded in the orphans' court, but in a large number
of cases they are taken to the county court. It
may be, as the gentleman from Prince George's
said, that a judge of the orphans' court had
boasted that he had never read the testamentary
system. We cannot always make men do what
they ought to do. The plainest man can take up
the little testamentary digest by Dorsey, and un-
derstand that. The judges keep that upon their
desks for reference. I regret that I am not myself
learned in the law, and so it may be with most of
the judges; but I undertake to say that the judges
of the orphans' court understood more about testa-
mentary law than a great many lawyers do. That
branch of law is looked upon by members of the
profession as a small sort of thing, and they make
the most inferior executors and administrators that
I have ever known. It seems to me as if many
members of the Convention look at this matter as
though it were a mere question of the elevation
of particular individuals. I look at it far differ-
ently. I consider these tribunals as to be estab-
lished not for the benefit of the occupants of the
bench, but for the benefit of the people who do
not understand law.
It is not to be expected that the people are
to be benefited by placing in these positions oth-
ers than men of high character, who will mete
out equal justice to all. With a view to the em-
ployment of such men, I am in favor of good
salaries, and stated salaries, such as will secure
to us the very best talent in the State of Mary-
land. In the orphans' court, however, we want
sensible and practical men, who will know when
an account brought before them is extravagant,
and who will ascertain whether the minors are
assisting the administrator in his business, &c,,
and who will commute the charges when made
extravagant in particular cases. These are things
which must be taken up practically, and which
can be well attended to by men in the plainer
walks of life. I think that there can be no bet-
ter system than the present, allowing the people
to elect their own judges, and they will select
men who will take care of their true interests.—
I consider the duties which they have to perform
as being of a most important character, and I
am therefore especially anxious that the orphans'
court system should be such as to result in benefit
to the whole community.
MR. SMITH. I am decidedly in favor of the
orphans' court as at present constituted, save and
except the number. I agree perfectly with the
gentleman from Baltimore city upon that sub-
ject. One judge is amply sufficient. I see no
reason why the judge should be familiar with the
particular condition of the man whose estate is
before them, for the purpose of doing justice to
that estate. The administrator is bound by all
the obligations of his oath to do justice, I am in
favor of electing the judge by the people. It is
a local matter entirely confined to the counties,
and I think the people are at all times competent
to select their officers; and I see no reason for re-
stricting them to the legal profession. For years
past I think the orphans' court has been admira-
bly conducted. And I think it will be conducted
still better when the people select their own
agents. At present, so fir as my knowledge ex-
tends, you will rarely find more than one gentleman
in the orphan's court competent to transact
the business. The other members are useless—
totally unnecessary. If the judge is to be a legal
man, then in the settlement of estates lawyers
must be employed, and in a very short time the
legislature will, by their action, render it necessary.
Technicalities will soon grow up, and every
thing will be in such a state of confusion that
lawyers must necessarily be employed by admin-
istrators. I have sometimes been in the habit of
settling estates, and I have never had any diffi-
culty in their adjustment in the courts of Allegany
county. Every thing has gone on smoothly, and
I am disposed think it will so long as this is kept
from the legal profession. I have no idea that
the whole community should be made subservient
to the legal profession. This is not necessarily a
part and parcel of their avocation. I think that
plain matter-of-fact business men are more com-
petent to transact the ordinary business of any
section or neighborhood than legal men; and I
think, sir, if we had fewer lawyers we could get
along much more comfortably. [Laughter.]
Several MEMBERS. And fewer doctors. [Re-
newed laughter.]
Mr. SOLLERS. Mr. President, I do not rise
for the purpose of protecting the legal profession.
The history of their deeds is written in pages of
living light all over the political and judicial his-
tory of this country, from the very commence-
ment of its existence to the present hour. It is
not for me to defend it; and it is not for that pur-
pose I arose. I arose for the purpose of saying I
approve of the plan of having a judge of the legal
profession in the orphans' court. If the fraud and
corruption perpetrated in these orphans' courts
could be disclosed to members of the Convention,
I venture to affirm that there is not a man here
who would not wish a legal judge to preside over
it. I have known cases in my own county where
estates have been defrauded of ten and fifteen
thousand dollars, and I unhesitatingly say that it
was in consequence of fraud perpetrated by the
executor, and the ignorance of the judges. We
all know these facts. The gentleman from Dor-
chester (Mr. Hicks) tells us about the widow and
the orphan. It is the widow and the orphan
whose cause I stand here now to advocate, when
I ask that the judge may possess a legal know-
edge sufficient to protect their interests. It is
because the executor and administrator passes his
account ex parte that frauds are committed, the
judges not being able to detect those frauds. I
shall offer an amendment hereafter to abolish the
office of register of wills, &c.
Mr. WEBER. I have had some difficulty
in determining how to vote on the motion to
strike out. I am not a member of the legal
profession, but my judgment is, that it would be
best to have & lawyer to preside in the Orphans'


 
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Proceedings and Debates of the 1850 Constitutional Convention
Volume 101, Volume 2, Debates 577   View pdf image
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