visions 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, 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 the Courts 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 Clerk of the Court of Appeals, Clerks of the several county Courts and Baltimore city Court, shall be applicable to the Clerks respectively of the 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 fifty-one, 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 re-eligible 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 the 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 Constable 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. 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.

And

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, the 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 be 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 counsel 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 meantime, 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 transinitting to the said counties and to the city of Baltimore, all the cases and proceedings in said court then und:sposed 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 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 adjoi ing 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 indictinent, 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 sunt 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 practice 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 re-eligible 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 criminal 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 practice 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 herein before 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.