Ex parte O'Neill

Mason, J., delivered the opinion of the court upon this application. We cannot discover from tire new constitution any purpose to abrogate any of the acts of Assembly imposing duties upon the members of the Court of Appeals in their individual capacities; but on the contrary, we are of opinion, that the members of the new Court of Appeals accepted their offices, burlhened with the obligation to discharge the duties which were imposed by those acts upon the judges of the former court. Under this impression all the members of this court have acted in their attendance upon, and participation in the proceedings of the board of Governors and Yisitors of St. John’s College, and under which others have acted in taking acknowledgments of deeds, in hearing cases in habeas corpus and the like. It. is evident that the new constitution designed that the present ²²⁸ Court of Appeals, as well as the individual members thereof, should, for every purpose, unless otherwise specified, be substituted to all the powers, duties and responsibilities of the former court, and its individual members.

The act of 1809, ch. 125, empowering any judge of the Court of Appeals, in vacation, to grant the writ of habeas carpus, is still in force and applies to the present members of the Court of Appeals. The reason why the power under that act was only to be exercised during vacation was, manifestly, because during the sessions of the court there would be no necessity for the judges to exercise the power, inasmuch as the court possessed the same power, and being in actual session could exercise it, and thus grant immediate relief to the aggrieved party. The judge who pronounced the opinion in the case of Walsh, 5 Md. Rep., 607 , (the same who delivers the opinion of the court in this case,) fell into the error of supposing, that the vacation referred to in the act of 1809 embraced as well the vacations of the Court of Appeals as those of the county courts. Mature reflection brings us to the conclusion, that the term, vacation, refers only to the county, now circuit, courts, and the courts of Baltimore, to which have been transferred the powers and duties of the former county court.

It does not appear to us that the Court of Appeals ever had original jurisdiction in cases of habeas corpus, (Norwood vs. Martin, 3 H. & J., 199 ,) and therefore there is no more reason why this power should be only exercised during the vacation than, during the actual sessions of that court. The reason why this power was conferred upon judges in their individual capacities only, in vacation, was to provide against the delay which parties would be subjected to if they should have been required to wait for relief until the court having jurisdiction in their case should hold a session; and if the Court of Appeals had no jurisdiction, the same reason would apply why the