ART. 40.] FINES AND FORFEITURES. 307

ARTICLE XL.
Fines and Forfeitures.

SEC. 1. All fines, penalties and forfeitures, where the law im-
posing them does not prescribe the mode of collecting or en-
forcing them, shall be collected as follows: if not exceeding one
hundred dollars, by action of debt in the name of the State
before a justice of the peace; if exceeding one hundred dollars,
by action of debt in the name of the State in the Circuit Court
for the county where the offence was committed; or if in the
city of Baltimore, in the Court of Common Pleas, if it does not
exceed five hundred dollars, and if it does, in the Superior
Court of Baltimore city; or if the fine, penalty or forfeiture
exceeds twenty dollars, the same may be collected and enforced
by indictment in the court having criminal jurisdiction in the
county or city where the offence was committed.

2. No person shall be liable to an action of debt and to an
indictment for the same offence, but whichever proceeding is
first instituted shall be prosecuted and the other abandoned.

3. All fines, penalties and forfeitures, when recovered, shall be
paid to the county or city where the same may be imposed,
unless directed to be paid otherwise by the law imposing them;
but if there be an informer, he shall have half, unless otherwise
provided; this section not to apply to fines or forfeitures for
offences at common law.