Brune, Frederick W.

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Maryland Law ReviewVolume 16 | Issue 2 Article 2Judicial Administration in Maryland - ForewordFrederick W. BruneFollow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/mlrThis Front Matter is brought to you for free and open access by the Academic Journals at DigitalCommons@UM Carey Law. It has been accepted forinclusion in Maryland Law Review by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UM Carey Law. For more information, please contactsmccarty@law.umaryland.edu.Recommended CitationFrederick W. Brune, Judicial Administration in Maryland - Foreword, 16 Md. L. Rev. 93 (1956)Available at: http://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/mlr/vol16/iss2/2Maryland Law ReviewVOLUME XVI SPRING, 1956 NUMBER 2JUDICIAL ADMINISTRATION IN MARYLANDtFOREWORDBy FumuIcK W. BRUNE*This foreword to the article by Professor Robert G.Dixon, Jr., entitled "Judicial Administration in Maryland-The Administrative Office of the Courts" is written uponthe invitation of THE MARYLAND LAW REviEw. The broadscope of the article makes any detailed introductory re-marks impossible.To those of us who are daily engaged (to the best ofour abilities) in the tasks of the administration of justicein Maryland, a study such as that of Professor Dixon is atleast a partial answer to the wish expressed in the oft-quoted lines of Robert Burns about the gift "to see ourselsas ithers see us", and it may help us to realize the hope ex-pressed in the next two (but rarely quoted) lines:"It wad frae monie a blunder free us,An' foolish notion."Professor Dixon brings to this study the detached pointof view of a professor of political science and the directinterest in the law and the administration of justice, whichis manifested by his having added the degree of Bachelorof Laws to his Ph.D. in Political Science. A reading of hisarticle will reveal the breadth and the thoroughness of theresearch which he has put into its preparation. It willprove a valuable storehouse of information for othert [Editor's Note: Recognizing the Importance of a study of judicialadministration in Maryland, and the significance of the recently createdAdministrative Office of the Courts, the REVIEW requested Chief JudgeFrederick W. 'Brune, of the Court of Appeals of Maryland and Chief JusticeArthur T. Vanderbilt, of the Supreme Court of New Jersey to read Pro-fessor Dixon's article (herein, p. 95), and to favor our readers with briefcomments. The REVIEw is grateful to Chief Judge Brune for his "Foreword",and to Chief Justice Vanderbilt for his "Comments", which will follow theconcluding part of the article in the next number of the REvmrw.]* Chief Judge, Court of Appeals of Maryland.MARYLAND LAW REVIEWscholars who may wish in later years to pursue the linesof inquiry and study which he has developed.The Administrative Office of the Courts of Marylandhas made data in its possession available to Professor Dixonfor his study and use; and both Professor Invernizzi, theDirector of the Administrative Office, and I are gratifiedthat Professor Dixon has undertaken such a scholarly workon a subject in which we are so deeply interested. It is onlyfair to say that the ideas expressed in Professor Dixon'sarticle (with many of which Professor Invernizzi and I arein agreement) are his own. It is not, and it of course does notpurport to be, either an official or an unofficial publicationor statement of either Professor Invernizzi's or my views.Several rather general comments may be in order. Therequirement of brevity prevents their amplification. Thefirst is to emphasize what Professor Dixon recognizes -that his study has been undertaken so soon after the estab-lishment of the Administrative Office that the statisticsthus far compiled by it cover so short a period of time asto give only an imperfect and perhaps somewhat distortedpicture, because the law of averages has not had time toequalize various factors affecting the work of the courts.The second is that it is probably difficult for one who has apredilection for the appointment, rather than the electionof the clerks, and who is not closely connected with theoperation of the courts and the offices of the clerks of court,to realize the strength and earnestness of the desire pre-vailing generally among the clerks, their deputies andassistants to do a workmanlike job. The third is that, re-gardless of possible overlapping, rather than separation,of powers, the practical operation of the Comptroller'sbudgetary controls appears to be satisfactory and will prob-ably be helpful in the development of standard job andsalary classifications in the clerks' offices, which now seemprobable.It is my hope that Professor Dixon's article will helpto bring to the attention of the profession in Maryland theimportance of the work of the Administrative Office andthat it will stimulate interest in the work of that Office.[VOL. XVI

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