Sec. —, There shall be a clerk of each of
the said superior, common pleas and criminal
courts, who shall be elected by the qualified
voters of the city of Baltimore, hold their respective
offices for the term of six years, and
until a new election is held, and their succes-
sors duly qualified, and be re-eligible thereto,
but removable for wilful neglect of duty, or
other misdemeanor in office, on conviction in
a court of law, or for such other causes as may
be prescribed by law.
Sec.—. The clerk of the present superior
court shall continue to act as clerk of the su
perior court, as herein constituted, until the
end of the time for which he was elected; and
the clerks of the present court of common
pleas and criminal court shall continue to act
as clerks of said courts respectively until the
end of the time for which they were elected,
and to exercise and perform the same powers
and duties as they now exercise and perform
or such as may be prescribed by law.
Mr. SCOTT gave notice that at the proper
time be would submit the following amend-
ment to the report of the committee on the
judiciary department:
Strike out section two, and insert the fol-
lowing:
"Sec. 2. The judges of the court of appeals
shall he elected by the people of the State, by
general ticket; the court of appeals shall ap-
point the judges of the circuit courts, and the
circuit courts shall appoint the justices of the
peace in their respective circuits."
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT.
The convention then resumed the consider-
ation of the unfinished business of Friday
last, being the report of the committee on
the executive department, which was on its
second reading.
The section under consideration was the fol-
lowing :
"Section 2. The first election for governor
under this constitution, shall be held on the
Tuesday next after the first Monday of Novem-
ber, in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-
four, and on the same day and month in ev-
ery fourth year thereafter, at the places of vo-
ting for delegates to the general assembly,
and every person qualified to vote for dele-
gates, shall be qualified and entitled to vote
for governor; the election to be held in the
same manner as the election of delegates, and
the returns thereof, under seal, to be address-
ed to the speaker of the house of delegates,
and enclosed and transmitted to the secretary
of State, and delivered to the said speaker at
the commencement of the session of the leg-
islature next ensuing said election."
Mr. VALLIANT, I would like. to be informed
by some member of the committee, what will
be the effect of the second and third sections
If this report is adopted? If I understand it,
the effect of the third section will be to make
the term of the present governor expire at the |
close of the present year. Is that or not the
effect this report will have, if adopted ?—
The third section is :
' ' The speaker of the house of delegates shall
then open the said returns in the presence of
both houses, .and the person leaving the high-
est number of votes, and being constitution-
ally eligible, shall be the governor, and shall
qualify in the manner herein prescribed, on
the second Wednesday of January next ensu-
ing his election, or as soon thereafter as may
be practicable."
The PRESIDENT. The first section controls
that. It says that the governor first elected
under this constitution shall take office at the
expiration of the term of the present gov-
ernor.
No amendment was offered to the second
section,
Section three was then read as follows :
"Section 3. The speaker of the house of
delegates shall then open the said returns in
the presence of both houses, and the person
having the highest number of votes, and be-
ing constitutionally eligible, shall be the gov-
ernor, and shall qualify in the manner herein
prescribed, on the second Wednesday of Jan-
uary next ensuing his election, or as soon
thereafter as may be practicable."
Mr. SANDS. This section certainly requires
the first governor elected to qualify before the
expiration of the term of the present incum-
bent.
Mr. VALLIANT. And then there is another
difficulty. The second section names the day
for the first election, and then provides that
the election shall take place "on the same day
and month in every fourth year thereaf-
ter." Now if we want. the gubernatorial
term to continue, the governor will have to
enter upon his office in the January ensuing
his election.
Mr. PUGH, The governor first elected under
this constitution will serve only three years.
That provision was made in order to allow
the present incumbent to fill out the term for
which be was elected, I do not myself sup-
pose that It relieves the sentence from all ambi-
guity; but I suppose the words "constitutionally
eligible" were intended to cover the
difficulty the gentleman suggests.
Mr. SANDS. I think the difficulty may be
reached by striking out all after the words,
" and shall qualify in the manner herein pre-
scribed." That will leave the governor elect
to qualify at any time after his election, and
before the expiration of the term of the pres-
ent governor. Or rather. I will move to
amend this section by adding the words "save
in the ease of the governor first elected under
this constitution as provided in the first sec-
tion of this article." That answers the double
purpose of naming the day for the qualifica-
tion of the governor, and excepting the first
governor elected under this constitution.
Mr. MILLER. That will leave out any time |
