| 1785.
CHAP.
LXXII. |
LAWS of MARYLAND.
answer,) shall omit or neglect to file such answer accordingly, the
defendant
shall be in contempt, and the plaintiff shall and may, upon motion,
have an attachment of contempt against him, and if the defendant
upon such attachment shall be returned non est inventus, the plaintiff
shall be at liberty to obtain, upon motion, the usual process of attachment
with proclamations, to compel the defendant to answer, and if the
defendant shall stand out the said process of attachment, and attachment
with proclamations, and shall not file a good and sufficient answer by
the
return court of the last of the said process, the bill or petition filed,
unless
the defendant shall have further time granted him by the court to put
in such answer, shall, upon motion, be take pro confesso, and such decree
made thereupon as by the court may be thought just, and if the said
defendant shall have further time granted him to answer, and the said defendant
shall not, before the expiration of such further time, put in a
good and sufficient answer to the bill or petition exhibited against him,
such bill or petition shall be taken pro confesso, without further delay,
and such decree made thereon as by the court may be deemed just, or the
chancellor may, in his discretion, in said cases, order commission to issue
as aforesaid, or examine the plaintiff as aforesaid, and thereupon decree
as he shall think just. |
And may exhibit
interrogatories,
&c. |
XXII. And be
it enacted, That in all cases, the defendant in chancery
may exhibit interrogatories to the plaintiff, which shall be answered by
him in writing upon oath, and such answer shall be evidence in the cause,
in the same manner, and to the same effect, that the defendant's answer
to the plaintiff's bill is evidence, and there shall be the same process,
and
the same power exercised by the chancellor to compel the plaintiff to answer
the defendant's interrogatories, as can be issued, or lawfully exercised,
to compel the defendant to answer the plaintiff's bill. |
To enforce obedience,
the
party in contempt
shall
pay a fine,
&c. |
XXIII. And be
it enacted, That in order to enforce obedience to the
process, rules and orders, of the chancery court, in all cases where any
party or person shall be in contempt for disobedience, non-performance
or non-observance, of any process, rule or order, of the chancellor or
chancery court, or for any other matter or thing whatsoever, whereby or
wherein a contempt, according to the rules, law, practice or course, of
the said court, may be incurred, such party or person shall, for every
such
contempt, and before he shall be released or discharged from the same,
pay to the register in chancery, (to be by him accounted for upon oath,
and paid, at the end of every six months, to the treasurer of the western
shore, to the use of the state,) a sum not exceeding ten pounds current
money, as a fine for the purgation of every such contempt, and that the
said party or person being in court, upon any process of contempt,
or
otherwise, upon the order of the chancery court, shall and may stand
committed, and remain in close custody, until the said process, rule or
order, shall be fully performed, obeyed and fulfilled, and until the said
fine or fines for such contempts imposed by the said court, and the costs,
shall be fully paid and discharged. |
Sheriff, &c.
serving process,
and not
bringing in
the body, may
be amerced,
&c. |
XXIV. And be
it enacted, That if any sheriff, coroner, or other public
officer or person, to whom any process or order, according to the course
of the chancery court, shall or may be directed or delivered, shall serve
and execute, and return served or executed, and the said sheriff, coroner
and other public officer, is and are hereby authorised and commanded to
serve and execute any process of contempt, whether it be an attachment
of contempt, attachment with proclamations, or any order of the chancellor
commanding such sheriff, coroner, or other pubic officer or person,
to take and bring into court the body or bodies of the person or persons
therein mentioned, and the said sheriff, coroner, or other public officer |
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