Marvin Mandel, Governor                            727

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland,
That Section 30 of Article 5 of the Annotated Code of Maryland
(1968 Replacement Volume), title "Appeals," subtitle "Appeals From
Justices of the Peace," be and it is hereby repealed and re-enacted,
with amendments, to read as follows:

30.

Any party may appeal to the circuit court for the county from any
judgment of a justice of the peace or trial magistrate of the county
in any civil [or motor vehicle] cause and the defendant may appeal
to the circuit court for the county from any conviction or sentence,
including the suspension of sentence, in any cause. Such appeal may
be taken at any time within thirty days from the date of said judg-
ment if the cause is civil, and within ten days if the cause is criminal
or deals with a violation of any motor vehicle law. The court to which
such appeal is taken shall hear the case de novo and determine the
same according to law and the equity and right of the matter. This
section shall be construed to include all actions of debt for the col-
lection of fines, penalties and forfeitures imposed by any law of the
State or by any ordinance of any incorporated city or town of the
State, and which are made recoverable before a justice of the peace,
in which a right of appeal may not be given by the law imposing
same; and this section shall also be construed to include all causes of
any kind or nature triable before any justice of the peace.

If an appeal is taken from a conviction imposing a fine or other
monetary penalty in a criminal case, the trial magistrate shall trans-
mit the fine, costs or other monetary penalty so levied to the clerk of
the circuit court to which said appeal is taken. In the event of
acquittal or of the levy of a fine (including costs) by the circuit
court in a sum less than that levied by the magistrate, the entire fine
or the surplus held by the clerk in excess of the fine levied by the
circuit court, as the case may be, shall be returned to the defendant.
All fines levied by the circuit court hereunder shall be paid by the
said clerk to the county commissioners as provided in this section.
In the event of a dismissal of an appeal by the defendant before
trial in the circuit court, the clerk shall pay the fine, costs, or other
monetary penalty so deposited with him to the county commissioners
as hereinabove provided.

In the event an appeal is taken from a conviction for a violation of
the motor vehicle laws, the trial magistrate shall transmit the fine,
costs, or other monetary penalty levied in such case to the clerk of
the circuit court to which said appeal is taken. In the event of
acquittal or the levy of a fine (including costs) by the circuit court
in a sum less than that levied by the magistrate, the entire fine or
the surplus held by the clerk in excess of the fine levied by the circuit
court, as the case may be, shall be returned to the defendant. All
fines levied by the circuit court for motor vehicle violations shall be
paid by the clerk of the circuit court to the Department of Motor
Vehicles. In the event of the dismissal of an appeal by the defendant
before trial in the circuit court the said clerk shall pay the fine, costs,
or other monetary penalty so deposited with him to the Department
of Motor Vehicles.