has been eligible to a seat in either house. A senator must be twenty-five
years of age or over, and both senators and delegates must have
lived within the state at least three years and in their county or
legislative district at least one year immediately preceding their
election.
The constitution provides that no bill or joint resolution shall pass either house except by an affirmative vote of a majority of all the members elected to that house and requires that on the final vote the yeas and nays be recorded.
Justice, &c.—The administration of justice is entrusted to a court of appeals, circuit courts, special courts for the city of Baltimore, orphans’ courts, and justices of the peace. Exclusive of the city of Baltimore, the state is divided into seven judicial circuits, in each of which are elected for a term of fifteen years one chief judge and two associate judges, who at the time of their election must be members of the Maryland bar, between the ages of thirty and seventy, and must have been residents of the state for at least five years. The seven chief judges so elected, together with one elected from the city of Baltimore, constitute the court of appeals, the governor with the advice and consent of the senate designating one of the eight as chief judge of that court. The court has appellate jurisdiction only. The three judges elected in each circuit constitute the circuit court of each of the several counties in such circuit. The courts have both original and appellate jurisdiction and are required to hold at least two sessions to which jurors shall be summoned every year in each county of its circuit, and if only two such terms are held, there must be two other and intermediate terms to which jurors shall not be summoned. Three other judges are elected for four-year terms, in each county and in the city of Baltimore to constitute an orphans’ court. The number of justices of the peace for each county is fixed by local law; they are appointed by the governor, subject to the confirmation of the Senate, for a term of two years.
In the colonial era Maryland had an interesting list of governmental subdivisions—the manor, the hundred, the parish, the county, and the city—but the two last are about all that remain and even these are in considerable measure subject to the special local acts of the General Assembly. In general, each county has from three to seven commissioners—the number is fixed by county laws—elected on a general ticket of each county for a term of from two to six years, entrusted with the charge and control of property owned by the county, empowered to appoint constables, judges of elections, collectors of taxes, trustees of the poor, and road supervisors, to levy taxes, to revise taxable valuations of real property, and open or close public roads.
In Maryland a wife holds her property as if single except that she can convey real estate only by a joint deed with her husband (this requirement being for the purpose of effecting a release of the husband’s “dower interest”), neither husband nor wife is liable for the separate debts of the other, and on the death of either the rights of the survivor in the estate of the other are about equal. Wife-beating is made punishable by whipping in gaol, not exceeding forty lashes. Prior to 1841 a divorce was granted by the legislature only, from then until 1851 it could be granted by either the legislature or the equity courts, since 1851 by the courts only. The grounds for a divorce a mensa et thoro, which may be granted for ever or for a limited time only, are cruelty, excessively vicious conduct, or desertion; for a divorce a vinculo matrimonii the chief grounds are impotence at the time of marriage, adultery or deliberate abandonment for three years. There is no homestead exemption law and exemptions from levy for the satisfaction of debts extend only to $100 worth of property, besides wearing apparel and books and tools used by the debtor in his profession or trade, and to all money payable in the nature of insurance. Employers of workmen in a clay or coal mine, stone quarry, or on a steam or street railway are liable for damage in case of an injury to any of their workmen where such injury is caused by the negligence of the employer or of any servant or employee of the employer. The chief of the bureau of labour statistics is directed in case of danger of a strike or lockout to seek to mediate between the parties and if unsuccessful in that, then to endeavour to secure their consent to the formation of a board of arbitration.
The state penal and charitable institutions include a penitentiary at Baltimore; a house of correction at Jessups, two houses of refuge at Baltimore; a house of reformation in Prince George’s county; St Mary’s industrial school for boys at Baltimore; an industrial home for negro girls at Melvale; an asylum and training school for the feeble-minded at Owings Mills; an infirmary at Cumberland; the Maryland hospital for the insane at Catonsville; the Springfield state hospital for the insane; the Maryland school for the deaf and dumb at Frederick city; and the Maryland school for the blind at Baltimore. Each of these is under the management of a board appointed by the governor subject to the confirmation of the senate. Besides these there are a large number of state-aided charitable institutions. In 1900 there was created a board of state aid and charities, composed of seven members appointed by the governor for a term of two years, not more than four to be reappointed. There is also a state lunacy commission of four members, who are appointed for terms of four years, one annually, by the governor.
Education.—The basis of the present common school system was laid in 1865, after which a marked development was accompanied by some important changes in the system and its administration, and the percentage of total illiteracy (i.e. inability to write among those ten years old and over) decreased from 19.3 in 1800 to 11.1 in 1900, while illiteracy among the native whites decreased during the same period from 7.8 to 4.1 and among negroes from 59.6 to 35.2. At the head of the system is a state board and a state superintendent, and under these in each county is a county board which appoints a superintendent for the county and a board of trustees for each school district none of which is to be more than four miles square. The state board is composed of the governor as its president, the state superintendent as its secretary, six other members appointed by the governor for a term of six years, and, as ex-officio members without the right to vote, the principals of the state and other normal schools. Prior to 1900 the principal of the state normal was ex-officio state superintendent, but since then the superintendent has been appointed by the governor for a term of four years. Each county board is also appointed by the governor for a term of six years. In both the state and the county boards at least one-third of the members appointed by the governor are not to be of the dominant political party and only one-third of the members are to be appointed every two years. The state board enacts by-laws for the administration of the system; its decision of controversies arising under the school law is final; it may suspend or remove a county superintendent for inefficiency or incompetency; it issues life state certificates, but applicants must have had seven years of experience in teaching, five in Maryland, and must hold a first-class certificate or a college or normal school diploma; and it pensions teachers who have taught successfully for twenty-five years in any of the public or normal schools of the state, who have reached the age of sixty, and who have become physically or mentally incapable of teaching longer, the pension amounting to $200 a year. The legislature of 1908 passed a law under which the minimum pay for a teacher holding a first-class certificate should be $350 a year after three years’ teaching, $400 after five years’ teaching and $450 after eight years’ teaching. By a law of 1904 all teachers who taught an average of 15 pupils were to receive at least $300. School books are purchased out of the proceeds of the school tax, but parents may purchase if they prefer. In 1908 the average school year was nine and seven-tenths months—ten in the cities and nine and four-tenths in the counties; the aim is ten months throughout, and a law of 1904 provides that if a school is taught less than nine months a portion of the funds set apart for it shall be withheld. A compulsory education law of 1902—to operate, however, only in the city of Baltimore and in Allegany county—requires the attendance for the whole school year of children between the ages of eight and twelve and also of those between the ages of twelve and sixteen who are not employed at home or elsewhere. A separate school for negro children is to be maintained in every election district in which the population warrants it. The system is maintained by a state tax of 16 cents on each $100 of taxable property.
The higher state educational institutions are two normal schools and one agricultural college. One of the normal schools was opened in Baltimore in 1866, the other at Frostburg in 1904. Both are under the management of the state Board of Education, which appoints the principals and teachers and prescribes the course of study. There is besides, in Washington College at Chestertown, a normal department supported by the state and under the supervision of the state Board of Education. The Maryland Agricultural College, to which an experiment station has been added, was opened in 1859; it is at College Park in Prince George’s county, and is largely under state management. Maryland supports no state university, but Johns Hopkins University, one of the leading institutions of its kind in the country, receives $25,000 a year from the state; the medical department of the university of Maryland receives an annual appropriation of about $2500, and St John’s College, the academic department of the university of Maryland, receives from the state $13,000 annually and gives for each county in the state one free scholarship and one scholarship covering all expenses. Among the principal institutions in the state are the university of Maryland, an outgrowth of the medical college of Maryland (1807) in Baltimore, with a law school (reorganized in 1869), a dental school (1882), a school of pharmacy (1904), and, since 1907, a department of arts and science in St John’s College (non-sect., opened in 1789) at Annapolis; Washington College, with a normal department (non-sect., opened in 1782) at Chestertown; Mount St Mary’s College (Roman Catholic, 1808) at Emmitsburg; New Windsor College (Presbyterian, 1843) at New Windsor; St Charles College (Roman Catholic, opened in 1848) and Rock Hill College (Roman Catholic, 1857) near Ellicott City; Loyola College (Roman Catholic, 1852) at Baltimore; Western Maryland College (Methodist Protestant, 1867) at Westminster; Johns Hopkins University (non-sect., 1876) at Baltimore; Morgan College (coloured, Methodist, 1876) at Baltimore; Goucher College (Methodist, founded 1884, opened 1888) at Baltimore; several professional schools mostly in Baltimore (q.v.); the Peabody Institute at Baltimore; and the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis.
Revenue.—The state’s revenue is derived from a general direct property tax, a licence tax, corporation taxes, a collateral inheritance
