In Re Ingoglia's Petition

The opinion was delivered per Curiam. A petition is filed in this court for the issue of a writ of mandamus to compel the judge of the Superior Court of Baltimore City to sign and certify bills of exceptions presented to him for an appeal from a judgment in a case tried before him. The petition recites that the petitioner had, by ²⁰⁸ Ms counsel, prepared forms of bills of exceptions which the counsel considered to constitute a sufficient presentation of the facts and rulings made, and had within the time required bylaw (Baltimore City Charter, sec. 316)., delivered the bills to opposing counsel for examination and amendment, but that the opposing counsel had declined to act upon the forms without the aid of a full transcript of the court stenographer’s record of the testimony and proceedings in court. The petitioner, being a man of small means, wished to avoid the expense of obtaining such a transcript, and, after the lapse of the time specified in the statute for procuring the concurrence or amendments of opposing counsel, laid the bills prepared before the court for signature and certification.

There was a hearing of counsel on the controversies which arose over the contents of the bills, and thereafter the trial judge refused to sign the forms because he found them inadequate and incorrect presentations of the grounds of the rulings objected to. The trial judge’s reasons appear in notes on the forms of bills of exceptions filed in this court with the present petition. Section 316 of the Baltimore City Charter referred to provides that, after an appellant has duly laid the forms prepared before opposing counsel, and opposing counsel within ten days thereafter have failed to return the bills, the “bills of exception shall be signed by the court, as originally prepared by the appellant, or his counsel.” The statute concludes with the provision that: “If the said appellee, or his counsel, shall return the said bills of exception to the appellant, or his counsel, with his amendments or additions, as hereinbefore provided, the said bills of