724 CORPORATIONS. [ART. 23

in their official capacity, or for the annual reports of the commission in
the ordinary course of distribution. All fees charged and collected by
the commission shall belong to the State of Maryland and shall be paid
monthly, accompanied by a detailed statement thereof, into the treasury
of the State, and become part of the general funds of the State; pro-
vided, however, that one-fourth of all such fees charged and collected,
as aforesaid, shall be paid to the mayor and city council of Baltimore.

1910, ch. 180, sec, 9 (p. 351).

421. All subpoenas shall be signed and issued by the commissioners
or by the secretary of the commission, and may be served by any per-
son of full age. The fees of witnesses required to attend before the
commission or a commissioner shall, where the hearing is in Baltimore
city, be the same as allowed by the courts of Baltimore city for the
attendance of witnesses in cases before them, and where the hearing is
in any of the counties, shall be the same as allowed by the circuit court
of the county in which the hearing takes place, for attendance of
witnesses before it, and the disbursements made in the payment of
such fees shall be duly audited in accordance with a due and satis-
factory method of auditing and bookkeeping, and shall be included
in and paid in the same manner as is provided for the pay-
ment of other expenses of the commission. It shall be the duty of
every public officer, without exacting or receiving charge or fee of any
kind, to furnish to the commission, upon its application, a certified copy
of any document, or part thereof, on file in his office, and no public
officer shall be entitled to receive from the commission any fee for
entering, filing, docketing or recording any document required or
authorized by law to be filed in his office.

If a person subpoenaed to attend before the commission or a com-
missioner fail to obey the command of such subpoena, without reasonable
cause, or if a person in attendance before the commission or a com-
missioner shall, without a reasonable cause, refuse to be sworn or to be
examined, or answer a question, or to produce a book or paper when
ordered to do so by the commission or a commissioner, or to subscribe
or swear to his deposition after it has been correctly produced in writ-
ing, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and may be prosecuted there-
for .in any court of competent criminal jurisdiction.

If a person in attendance before the commission or a commissioner
refuse, without reasonable cause, to be examined, or to answer a legal
and pertinent question, or to produce a book or paper when ordered
to do so by the commission or commissioner, the commission or commis-
sioner may apply to any judge of the supreme bench of Baltimore city
or of the circuit court for any county, upon proof by affidavit of the
fact, for a rule or order returnable in not less than two nor more than
five days, directing such person to show cause before the judge who
made the order, or any other judge aforesaid, why he should not be
committed to jail; upon the return of such order, the judge before
whom the matter shall come on for a hearing shall examine under oath