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defined, but nonetheless, could you please
give me an example of the kind of crime
which is now interpreted as being a petty
offense?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Case.
DELEGATE CASE: Delegate Ross, in
the case in the Court of Appeals — I hate to
use this example since a very gracious
lady asked me a question — being a disso-
lute woman was held to be a petty offense.
But let me, if I may, Mr. Chairman, yield
the floor to Delegate Carson. The field of
criminal law is more of his calling than it
is mine. I think he might be able to supply
more answers.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Carson.
DELEGATE CARSON: Well, -the fed-
eral Congress has in the area of petty
offenses included, for example, oleomar-
garine violations having small penalties,
small traffic infractions on the federal en-
claves including the Baltimore-Washington
Expressway in this State, and numerous
other ones. The Maryland cases make it
very clear that you cannot have such an of-
fense that existed in common law and for
which there was a jury trial. There was a
Maryland case making it clear that you can
say a $5.00 larceny would be a limited
offense. We are talking about petty of-
fenses, some of which existed then, and
some of which were created since. Congress
has had many, and the State of Maryland
has had many in the past.
We are not attempting to say that tht
legislature cannot attempt a jury (trial. We
are only saying that in this particular
group the Legislature will be free to decide
whether or not there should be a right to
a jury trial, and it is a very limited class
of cases that we are talking about.
The courts have indicated that the out-
side maximum limit of penalty involved in
such a case would be six months, but most
of the petty offenses would not carry nearly
so grave consequences as that.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Roger.
DELEGATE ROGER: Mr. Chairman,
he said there were a number of kinds of
offenses, but he did not name them.
THE CHAIRMAN: Pie named a great
many.
DELEGATE ROGER: At least relative
to the traffic offense.
THE CHAIRMAN: He said some traffic
violations on the Baltimore-Washington Ex-
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pressway, and offenses under the oleo-
margarine laws.
DELEGATE ROGER: I want to ask
Delegate Case this question.
Delegate Case, suppose you go before a
judge that you know could be somewhat
partial and who calls ladies by their first
name, and says, "Come up, Helen," or
"Joanie," or something. In many instances
we have judges who sit on a bench where
people would pay a fine in order to get out
of going before him because of his dis-
courtesy. Is it possible to ask for another
judge? Sometimes we want to get away
from the judge we have, because all of
them are not the same.
THE CHAIRMAN: The question is
hardly relevant to the amendment, but it
might save us time to have Delegate Case
answer it.
DELEGATE CASE: Delegate Roger, as
I understand, we will have later on a pro-
vision that deals just with this subject,
namely the removal of cases, and at that
time I believe you will find the Committee
has recommended an absolute right of re-
moval in civil cases, and a qualified right
in criminal cases.
THE CHAIRMAN: Are you ready for
the question?
Delegate Vecera.
DELEGATE VECERA: Will Delegate
Case yield to a question?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Case?
DELEGATE CASE: Yes, sir.
THE CHAIRMAN: State the question.
DELEGATE VECERA: You have writ-
ten in the amendment "for petty offenses
of the type .....". That for me is still not
restricted: "of the type" could be inter-
preted 'to open the door to more. Is that not
a fact? "Petty offenses" has still not been
defined.
DELEGATE CASE: I think the Chair-
man explained that in the explanation that
he made to Delegate Bamberger's recita-
tion of the amendment.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Vecera.
DELEGATE VECERA: In other words,
Mr. Chairman, it says "petty offenses of
the type ....."; so that opens the door. It
means anything of this type, whoever
wants to define the word type.
My first question was who will define
"petty offenses"; who will make an in-
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