260 BASTARDY AND FOENICATION. [ART. 12

1904, art. 12, sec. 1. 188S, art. 12, sec. 1. 1860. art. 13. sec. 1.
1781, ch. 13, sec 1. 1882, ch. 339.

1. Any justice of the peace, upon information given him of any
woman having an illegitimate child, may issue his warrant to a con-
stable of the county or city, and the said constable shall thereupon take
such person before some justice of the peace of the county, who shall
require her to give security to indemnify the county from any charge
ihat may accrue by means of such child; and upon neglect or refusal,
shall commit, her to the custody of the sheriff of the county, to be by
him kept until she shall give such security.

Nature and purpose of the bastardy laws. For a case upholding the
validity of this section as it stood in the code of 1860, see Plunkard v. State.
67 Md. 368.

Cited but not construed in Wagaman v. Byers. 17 Md. 183; State v. Phelps.
9 Md. 27; Oldham v. State, 5 Gill, 93.

Ibid. sec. 2. 1888, art. 12, sec. 2. 1860, art. 13, sec. 2. 1781, ch. 13, sec. 1.

1894, ch. 108.

2. But if the said person shall on oath discover the father of such
child, the justice shall discharge her, and shall cause to be arrested and
brought before him such father, if a resident of the county, and shall
cause him to give security in the sum of eighty dollars ($80) to indem-
nify the county from all charges that may arise for the maintenance
of such child; and upon the failure of such putative father to enter
into security, the justice shall commit him to the custody of the sheriff
of the county for the period of twelve months.

The preliminary proceedings before the Justice form no part of the record,
and need not be set out in the indictment. The object in requiring the justice
to issue his warrant is that he may get jurisdiction of the person of the
father, and if the latter is present, it makes no difference whether the war-
rant was issued to a constable of one or another county, or whether he
appeared voluntarily. Norwood v. State, 45 Md. 72.

As this section provides for a special proceeding, its requirements must be
strictly complied with. Cushwa v. State, 20 Md. 281; Root v. State, 10 G. &
J. 374; State v. Chaney, 93 Md. 72.

The father is to be committed for twelve months, unless in the meantime
he gives the required security. There is nothing in the act of 1894, ch. 108,
which imposes any additional penalty upon the father, but that act was for
the benefit of the accused. Lynn v. State, 84 Md. 80; State v. Smith, 84 Md.
83.

The indictment of the father need not allege the residence of the mother,
but must show in what county the child is at the time of the indictment.
Anyone maintaining the child has the right to proceed by scire facias to
collect from the father and his sureties. Robinson v. State, 68 Md. 618.

The affidavit of the mother may properly be made in the county in which
she and the child reside, and be transmitted to the county in which the
supposed father resides. Root v. State. 10 G. & J. 376.

The father may plead in bar that the mother appeared before a justice and
declined to disclose the name of the father, and herself gave the requisite
security. State v. Trlmble. 33 Md. 470.

Cited but not construed in Huyett v. Slick, 43 Md. 289; State v. Phelps. 9
Md. 27.

See notes to sections 1 and 5.

Ibid. sec. 3. 1888, art. 12. sec. 3. 1860. art. 13. sec. 3. 1781, ch. 13, sec. 1.

3. If the father be a resident of any other county, the justice shall
transmit, under his hand and seal, a copy of the proceedings in such