| NOV. 1809.
CHAP. 138.
Of the second degree.
Petit treason. |
LAWS OF MARYLAND.
robbery or burglary, shall be deemed murder of the first degree;
and all other kind of murder shall be deemed murder of the second
degree; and the jury before whom any person indicted for murder
shall be tried, shall, if they find such person guilty thereof, ascertain
in their verdict, whether it be murder in the first or second degree;
but if such person be convicted by confession, the court shall
proceed, by examination of witnesses, to determine the degree of
the crime, and to give sentence accordingly; and every person liable
to be prosecuted for petit treason shall in future be indicted,
proceeded against and punished, as is directed in other kinds of
murder, according to the degree. |
II. Punishments
of offences affecting
life or person.
1. Of murder of
the first degree.
2. Of murder of
the second degree.
3. Of manslaughter.
4. Of mayhem, and
tarring and feathering.
5. Of cutting out
the tongue, putting
out an eye,
&c.
6. Of rape.
7. Of carnally
knowing a woman
child under ten
years of age.
8. Of Sodomy.
9. Of an assault,
with an intent to
rob, murder or
commit a rape. |
4. AND BE IT ENACTED, That the offences herein
after mentioned,
affecting the lives or the persons of individuals, shall be punished
in a manner following; that is to say, 1st. Every person convicted
of murder of the first degree, his or her aiders, abettors
and counsellors, shall suffer death, by hanging by the neck. 2d.
Every person duly convicted of the crime of murder in the second
degree, or as accessary thereto, shall be sentenced to undergo a confinement
in the penitentiary-house herein after mentioned for a period
not less than five nor more than eighteen years, under the same
conditions as are herein after directed. 3d. Every person duly
convicted of the crime of manslaughter, shall be sentenced to undergo
a confinement in the said penitentiary for a period not more
than ten years, to be dealt with as herein after directed. 4th.
Every
person, his or her aiders and abettors, who shall be duly convicted
of the crime of mayhem, or of tarring and feathering, shall
be sentenced to undergo a confinement in the said penitentiary-house
for a space of time not more than ten years, to be treated as herein
directed. 5th. Every person, his or her aiders, abettors and
counsellors,
who shall be duly convicted of the crime of cutting out or
disabling the tongue, putting out an eye, slitting the nose, cutting
or biting off the nose, ear or lip, or cutting or biting off or disabling
any limb or member of any person, of malice aforethought,
with intention in so doing to maim or disfigure such person, shall
be sentenced to undergo a confinement in the said penitentiary for a
period of time not less than two nor more than ten years, to be
treated as this act directs. 6th. Every person duly convicted
of
the crime of rape, or as being accessary thereto before the fact,
shall, at the discretion of the court, suffer death by hanging by the
neck, or undergo a confinement in the said penitentiary for a period
of time not less than one year nor more than twenty-one years,
under the same conditions as are herein after prescribed. 7th.
If
any person shall carnally know and abuse any woman-child under
the age of ten years, every such carnal knowledge shall be deemed
felony, and the offender, being convicted thereof, shall, at the discretion
of the court, suffer death by hanging by the neck, or undergo
a confinement in the penitentiary for a period not less than
one year nor more than twenty-one years, to be dealt with according
to law. 8th. Every person duly convicted of the crime of sodomy,
shall be sentenced to undergo a similar confinement for a
period not less than one year nor more than ten years, under the
same conditions as are herein after directed. 9th. Every person
duly convicted of the crime of an assault, with an intent to rob,
murder, or commit a rape, shall be sentenced to undergo a confinement |
