Bryan v. State Roads Commission

ELDRIDGE, Judge.

We granted a petition for a writ of certiorari in this case to decide whether landowners are constitutionally entitled to twelve person juries in Maryland condemnation proceedings. We shall hold that a landowner is entitled to a six person jury and not a twelve person jury in a condemnation proceeding, based on the 1992 amendment to Article 5 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights, which entitles a party in a civil proceeding to a jury of at least six persons, and based on the statutory provision implementing the 1992 constitutional amendment, Ch. 85 of the Acts of 1992,…