Second Mencken Chrestomathy (53 page)

Sec. 7. The Legislative Council, with the approval of the Governor, shall establish all departments, bureaus and offices necessary to the government and security of the State, shall provide by law for the appointment of all officers and employés thereof, and shall determine their compensation and their pensions on retirement.
It shall make all laws, levy all State taxes, make all appropriations of public money, determine the powers and prerogatives of all public officers and employés, including the members of District Councils, save as otherwise provided in this Constitution, determine the compensation of all judges and of all officers and employés of the judiciary, and in general have all the powers hitherto possessed by the General Assembly.…

Sec. 10. The Legislative Council shall meet at Annapolis and shall be in session for the consideration of public business at least ten days in every calendar month save July and August. Its meetings shall be open to the press and public, and there shall be no limitation upon its debates save by the vote of at least twelve members. It shall appoint committees for the expedition of its business, and its committees shall grant public hearings to all parties interested in legislation before it, or bringing complaints of grievances.

Sec. 11. The compensation of members of the Legislative Council shall be determined by law, but no member who votes for an increase in that compensation shall enjoy it during the term for which he was elected, or, if he be reelected, for the term next succeeding.…

Sec. 14. The Legislative Council shall provide by law for the punishment of all persons who willfully violate the rights of people of the Maryland Free State under this Constitution, and all such punishment shall be by imprisonment, with no alternative of fine.

Section 1. The judicial power of the Maryland Free State shall be vested in a High Court, in District Courts, in an Administrative Court, and in justices of the peace.

Sec. 2. All judges and justices of the peace shall be appointed by the Governor, by and with the consent of the Legislative Council.

Sec. 3. The persons selected for appointment as judges shall be not less than 30 years old and not more than 50.… No one shall be eligible who has not been engaged in the practise of the law or
in teaching the law, as his principal source of earned income, for at least seven years next preceding his appointment. Nor shall anyone be appointed who has held any office of profit under the Maryland Free State or the United States during the five years next preceding his appointment, or who has been a candidate for such office at any election.

Sec. 4. Every judge shall be appointed for life or during good behavior, but no judge shall serve beyond his seventy-fifth birthday. No judge shall be engaged, during his service, in the practise of the law, and no judge, after his retirement, whether by age, removal, or resignation, shall be eligible to appointment or election to any other office of profit under the Maryland Free State, or any of its districts or agencies.

Sec. 5. The compensation of judges … shall continue for the lifetime of every judge, notwithstanding his retirement, provided that if he resign his office, or be removed for misconduct, or resume the practise of the law in his retirement, it shall terminate forthwith. The compensation of a judge may be increased but not diminished during his continuance in service or retirement. In case a judge, on the certificate of the chief judge and at least three other judges of the High Court to the Governor, shall be determined to be totally disabled but shall not resign his office, another shall be appointed in his place and his service shall terminate, but his compensation shall continue.

Sec. 6. The High Court shall consist of nine judges, of whom one shall be designated chief judge by the Governor, to continue as such while he remains a judge. In appointing judges to the High Court the Governor shall give the preference to District Court judges of at least five years diligent and competent service, and when he appoints some other person he shall publish his reasons for departing from this policy.

Sec. 7. In each of the four districts of the State and in Baltimore city there shall be a District Court composed of as many judges as the Legislative Council, with the approval of the Governor, shall from time to time determine.…

Sec. 14. To the end that the deliberations of the courts may be enlightened and just, they may appoint any number of assessors skilled in any art, science or mystery to advise them in cases involving
matters within the said assessors’ knowledge. Such assessors shall take the oath required by law of judges, and shall sit with the judges, and have the right to question witnesses, but they shall not vote on the decisions of the court.…

Sec. 15. The employment of expert witnesses by the State or by a defendant in a criminal case or by any other litigant is prohibited, but on the motion of any party to an action the trial judge or judges shall appoint competent assessors as provided in the preceding section.…

Sec. 18. There shall be a Court of Criminal Appeals, consisting of three members of the High Court, to be appointed for the purpose by the chief judge thereof, and serving for such times as he may determine. He may appoint himself to this court. It shall have jurisdiction of all criminal cases appealed from the District Courts, and its decision shall be the decision of the High Court. It may sit at any place within the State determined by the chief judge to be most convenient for the business in hand. It shall have power to review both the law and the facts, to examine the record in the court below, to hear the witnesses heard there, to hear other witnesses, to examine any papers or documents that it deems apposite, and to undertake any other inquiry that, in its judgment, is likely to throw light upon a case before it. It may, in its discretion, quash a conviction and direct that a verdict of not guilty be entered, or affirm, reduce or increase a sentence, or order a new trial. All appeals to it shall be filed within twenty days of the entering of judgment in the court below, and it shall announce its own decision within ten days of the termination of proceedings before it. It shall simplify as much as possible its rules of evidence and other procedure, to the end that the actual guilt or innocence of persons before it may be determined beyond doubt.…
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Sec. 22. In capital cases wherein no appeal is entered within twenty days by the convicted defendant, the Court of Criminal Appeals shall assume jurisdiction on its own motion, and shall conduct an inquiry into the law and the facts precisely as if an appeal had been entered. Whenever its judgment sustains the sentence in
a capital case, the sentence shall be executed within ten days thereafter.…

Sec. 24. There shall be an Administrative Court for hearing and determining complaints against officers and employés of the Maryland Free State and its divisions and agencies. It shall consist of three judges, appointed and compensated as judges of the District Courts are appointed and compensated, and possessing the same qualifications.…

Sec. 25. The Administrative Court shall have jurisdiction over all officers and employés of the State, and all officers and employés of the divisions and agencies thereof, save only the Governor, the Attorney-General, members of the Legislative Council, members of the District Councils, the Mayor of Baltimore, members of the City Council of Baltimore, judges, officers and employés of the courts, and officers of the militia.

Sec. 26. On the filing of information under oath by any group of not less than ten citizens, to the effect that any officer or employé within the jurisdiction of the Administrative Court is incapable of or unwilling to perform his duties, or has neglected them, or violated any of the laws of the State or any of the rights of the people under this Constitution, or administered the laws partially or unfairly, or engaged in partisan political activity, or accepted any favor, whether of monetary value or not and whether directly or indirectly, from any person having official business with him, the court shall summon him for a hearing within ten days, and if it appears at that hearing that a
prima facie
case against him has been established, it shall order him for trial within thirty days thereafter.

Sec. 27. The trial of any such officer or employé shall be either before the three judges of the Administrative Court without a jury or before one of them with a jury, as he may elect. On conviction he shall be removed from office forthwith. In addition in the discretion of the trial judge or judges, he may be fined or imprisoned according to law, and judgment may be entered against him for any damage he may have caused to any person or persons by his misconduct. No officer or employé thus removed shall ever be appointed to any other office of trust or profit under the Maryland Free State, or under any division or agency thereof.…

Sec. 31. The High Court, sitting
en banc
, shall have the power to determine the constitutionality of all laws of the State. Its decision shall be by a majority vote of all its members, and no dissenting opinion shall be entered upon the record or otherwise published. The decision shall specify all the particulars in which the law under consideration violates this Constitution, whether all parts of it shall be in question or not, and any decision may, in the discretion of the court, include recommendations to the Legislative Council for amendments.

Sec. 32. No person who has been a prosecuting officer in any court shall be eligible for any elective office under the State, or under any division or agency thereof, during the five years next following the termination of his service as prosecuting officer.

Section 1. There shall be a Grand Inquest of the State for the trial of impeachments, and for the investigation of other grave matters. It shall have all the powers of a court, and may summon any person to give evidence or produce documents before it, including judges. It shall have the power to punish summarily, by fine or imprisonment, any person who shall disobey its mandates, but it may not issue any mandate or inflict any punishment in violation of the inalienable rights of the people under this Constitution.…

Sec. 3. The Grand Inquest shall consist of the following persons:

(
a
) Two members of the Legislative Council, to be chosen by lot.

(
b
) Two judges of the High Court, to be chosen by lot.

(
c
) Three judges of the District Courts, to be chosen by lot.

(
d
) Two other persons notable for their intelligence, worldly experience and integrity, to be elected by a majority vote of the seven persons hitherto named. Neither of these two persons shall be a member or former member of the bar.…

Sec. 8. The Grand Inquest shall have jurisdiction in all proceedings for the impeachment of the Governor, members of the Legislative Council, members of the District Councils, the Mayor of
Baltimore, members of the City Council of Baltimore, and judges. Such proceedings may be instituted by a resolution of at least nine members of the Legislative Council, or by writ of the Governor, or by petition of not less than six judges, or by petition of not less than 5,000 registered voters. The parties complained of shall be informed of the charges against them, they shall have not less than one month to prepare their defense, they shall be confronted by their accusers, and they shall have the right to representation by counsel.…

Sec. 9. The Grand Inquest shall sustain no impeachment by the votes of less than seven of its members, including at least one of each category. In case an impeachment is not so sustained, it shall fail, and the party or parties accused shall go harmless. In case an impeachment is sustained, the Grand Inquest may order any punishment that it deems fitting, including removal from office and fine or imprisonment, and there shall be no appeal from its sentence. No person against whom an impeachment has been sustained shall ever occupy any office of trust or honor under the Maryland Free State, or any of its divisions or agencies, and no such person shall be permitted to vote at any election.

Sec. 10. The Grand Inquest may sustain an impeachment for any sort or degree of neglect, misconduct or incompetence in office, whether or not it involves moral turpitude.…

Sec. 2. The Legislative Council, by a vote of not less than ten members, and with the approval of the Governor, may propose amendments of this Constitution at any time. No such amendment shall become a part of this Constitution until it shall have been approved by a plebiscite of the registered voters of the State, on a day designated by the Legislative Council. Every such plebiscite shall be held by secret ballot, or by secret voting machine, and the full text of the amendment shall be posted in every polling place. No such plebiscite shall be held sooner than three months after the date of the proposal of an amendment by the Legislative
Council, nor more than six months thereafter. In order that a proposed amendment may become a part of this Constitution it must be approved either by a majority of all the registered voters of the State or by three-fourths of those actually voting; whichever may be the larger number.

From the New York
American
, Jan. 3, 1936

In Delaware, a few weeks ago, an author named Victor Thaddeus was thrown into jail. It seemed to me, when I heard of it, an excellent idea, and Mr. Thaddeus himself appears to have thought likewise, for when the magistrate gave him his choice between a moderate fine and a term behind the bars he chose the bars. My belief is that all authors should be benefited by a dose of the same elixir, and not only all authors, but also all other men who devote themselves to telling humanity what it is all about, and where to get off.

Every such man, soon or late, falls a victim to his professional technic. His very skill at publishing his notions degenerates inevitably into mere virtuosity, and so he becomes a sorry mountebank, juggling brilliantly a set of gaudy but increasingly hollow balls. It commonly takes his customers a long time to observe that they are hollow; sometimes, indeed, they never notice it at all. Worse, he is in the same situation himself, for artists are notoriously incompetent critics of their own performances. So he goes on with his show until some uncouth iconoclast raids it, or his years run out and he is translated to bliss eternal. What he needs, from time to time, is a renewal of first-hand observation, of illuminating personal experience, of the fundamental raw materials of his trade. He must return to the world for a rejuvenating sniff of humanity on the half shell, and another load of data. For, though the tower he works in may not be of ivory, it is still always a tower. The things that enter into a work of art are gathered in crowds, but the works themselves are concocted behind closed doors. The
danger to the artist lies in the fact that he is very comfortable there, and prone to stay too long.