Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1885-01-09

close of his term of office. for the VIII ole time
during which be had been clerk, and in each
and every case, the respective Clerks were
paid for such General Index by the County
Commissioners as the records Of the Com
mssioners' office show. The General Index
for the whole twelve years of the incumbency
OF my immediate predecessor, Mr.. Henning,
was begun, continued and finished after his
term expired and after became Clerk in 1868,
and he was paid for said General Index by
the County Commissioners as their records
show. The laws on this subject so far as
this county is concerned, were then exactly
what they are now.
In 1877 Judges Bowie and Bouic having
carefully examined the whole subject, IS to
statute law and us TO usage, also carefully
examined the provisions of Article A, Section
10 of the present Constitution OF Maryla
adopted in 1867. This section is quoted in
full in the latter part of the opinion OF the
Court Of Appeals The latter par: OF the sec
ton is 10 these words, viz: at shall be the
duty Of the Judges Of said (Circuit) Courts
respectively to make, from time TO time, such
rules and regulations as may be necessary and
proper for the government of said clerks, and
for the performance Of the duties Of their Offices,
which shall have tie force Of Law until re-
pealed or modified by the General Assembly
| The whole of this section except the first seven
| lines, /. e., the last fourteen lines, were never
in any former Constitution Of Maryland. II
constitutes new constitutional provision. 1t
had never been Interpreted by the Court o!
Appeals. The language is strong and seems
| TO confer power, with reference to clerks and
the performance of the duties Of their Offices,
limited only by the discretion of the Judges.
| believe that Chief-Judge Bowie conferred
with some of his brethren Of the Court OF
] A pnpala 10 In tho Of tho n .
ferred. know such was his habit in matters
of Importance. Everybo who knew him,
knows that he was constitu tionally and hab-
itually careful, indefatigab BILE, Industrious and
eminenty conservative. He came thus delb-
erately and upon the fullest examination to the
CONCLUSION that The Court possessed the power
to pass the order under which have done the
work in question. He wrote that order in
the quiet Of his library at Glen View and
brought it to the Court House Tor the action
of his associate, Judge Bouic, who, after like
careful examination, signed it also. The Court
of Appeals has taken the trouble to state that
the order was signed by tpo Of the Judges of
the Court. If its inference was that the other
Judge differed in his opinion from his two
brothers in the circuit, TO the best of my
knowledge and belief IL is mistaken. One
thing is certain, viz: that the order of the
Circui; Court signed by the two Judges had
| The force Of ldp 10 me. | did not solicit the
court to pass the order | was willing to do
the work, but as there was no specific provis-
ion of statute law then in existence for pay
ment for this work, | was naturally DESTROYS
that reasonable payment should be assured
me. The Court undertook TO meet the case,
and provided in lis order, and in accordance
with the uniform usage in this county, that
"When the same shall have been completed
81 yal l,.,,l q lNlarL hall hs
paid therefor by said county such compensa-
ton as this Court may deem reasonable. -
If anybody had any objections, that was the
time TO urge them before the work was done.
But nobody raised any objections ! pro-
ceeded 10 make the General Index for the Land
Record of more than n century, on The Camp
BELLS system. have completed the work ac-
cording to the letter aid spirit OF the order
of Court The work has been approved by
an order Of Court in writing and signed by all
three of the Judges. The Index il in the
Clerks Office with the other records belonging
10 the county. / is relied on aud consulted
daily. 1t lessons the labor of A attorneys and
others in the examination Of titles. 1t ena-
bles them to earn money with much less labor
than formerly. 1t saves the land Records
from wear and tear, and thus preserves the
public property. | have been paid 5000 on
account OF the work 10 question ] had al
ready paid out every cent OF the said $500 for
having the said work done, every cent o.,
which was well earned before the Court of
Appeals made its decision. There is still due
me for the said work, as so ordered by the
| Circuit Court compensation for one year s
work which, even according to the measure OF
pay laid down by the Court of Appeals, would
amount to more than $500. am The victim
of an "er post factO decision and opinion OF
the Court of Appeals, which, in its effect, is
as Oppressive and unjust as Article II OF
the Declaration of Rights says an ex post JdctO
ldtc is. | am punished by the loss of $500,
part of which have already paid out for this
approved work, which lie the property OF this
county, because of a mistake which, the Court
of Appeals says, was made in 1877 by tie
Circuit Court, and after have co@p,a,SdNhS
work. The public will take notice too, thai
! the points made in the opinion Of the Court
of Appeals are nal with reference TO the merits
or Justice of my claim, but in the language Of
the opinion itself, at the close of its first par
agraph, 'Fhe only questions for as are questions
OF law" do not mean to be understood
either as concurring ia .he opinion Of the
Court Of Appeals, that the Circuit Court was
mistaken in any OF its orders as to The law
! suppose the Court Of Appeals will not he
| distressed at my nonyconcQrrence. suppose
]
temptuously at acounty clerks undertaking
to pass an opinion on question of law. But
aside from the fact that amy county clerk in
! the course Of twenty years Is likely to know
something about the statute lac that concerns
his special duties.
After all, when you come to think of it, the
ascertanment of what the statute law of Mary
| land is, upon any ordinary subject, is depend
ent more upon industry, in looking up in the
! volumes of laws, what laws the Legislature
has actually passed, with some slight a,ten-
ton to achen and under what circumstances
the laws were passed, than to any great legal
or judicial Attachments remember that my
old friend VIM. Thompson, of r., when pub
| lie printer, got the better OF a Senator of dis
| tinguished capacity and ability, in Il contro-
versy, about the spelling Of the name Of the
county the Senator represented, , by simply look
] ing up the original Act Of Assembly hy which
| il was erected believe that the brief OF
| the complainant in the case under discussion,
aud the argument of his senior voluntary
counsel, Francis Miller, T.. s. Assistant At
torney for the District of Columbia, were cal.
| cuated to mislead the Court of Appeals, and
did misead said Court Section 2 of said
brief refers TO "Secs &, o and 10 of Art. 81
Revised Code Of Md" all in a breath, as it
were, as If they had all been enacted ov the
/ Legislature in the same bill where as there
was a gap of lls years between the original
enactment of sec. 8, in us, aud the original
enactment Of secs 8 and 10 in 1898. Sec. 4
of said brie states what is simply not he lgth
since every word, syllable and letter of the
work in question, was performed under the
/ Constitution OF 1861 and none of IL under the
/ Constitution Of 1864. Moreover the reference
I TO sec. 45 of Art 3 of Constitution OF 1867 is
/ irrelevant, since money paid a Clerk by the
County Commissioners for work done for the
public, is certainly part of the "receipts" of
the office. Moreover call very special atten-
/ ton to sec. &c of Art. Of the Constitution Of
/ 1867 and the very pertinent action of Cons,i-
I tutional Convention of 1867 10 amending said
section As originally reported by the COM
mi;iee on the Judicial Department, il was sec
I ~ (see page 33s in Proceedings Nd State
/ convention 1867 and its FIRST four lines were
as follows, viz; 1.-The compensation of each
OF The said Clerks shall not exceed three thou
sand dollars per year, payable out of the fees
OF their respective offices, and they shall have
no other perquisites or compensation they, "
all Of which was stricken out by an amend
ment adopted Aug. 2, 1867, and in lieu thereof