PREFACE.

The Act of 1918, chapter 144, legalized this Volume and made it,
in connection with Volumes 1, 2 and 3 of the Annotated Code, evidence
of the law. The object of Volume 4 is to bring the Annotated Code
down to date both as to statutes and decisions. It includes the Public
General Laws of 1016, 1917 and 1918, and annotations of all decisions
in 122 to 130 Md., 231 to 244 U. S. and 207 to 246 Federal, all inclu-
sive, construing or referring to any Public General statute or provision
of the Maryland Constitution.

Where there are annotations of a section which was not amended,
enacted or repealed in ]91C, 1917 or 1918, the number of that section
is printed, followed by the notes. The annotations to a section in
Volumes 1 or 2 and 3 should be consulted as well as those in this
Volume. Attention should be given to whether the case annotated deals
with the statute as it stands at the present time. As the plan of
Volume 4 of the Annotated Code is the same as that of Volume 3, with
which the profession is presumably familiar, a further explanation is
deemed unnecessary.

Tables of the Acts of 191G, 1917 and 1918, appearing in this
Volume, will be found in the Appendix which is printed just before the
Index. Although the Annexation Act (Act of 1918, chapter 82) is not
a General Law, and hence could not properly be codified in this Volume,
in view of its importance and interest to the State in general, and to
the city and counties affected in particular, it is printed in the Appen-
dix, together with a supplement thereto (Act of 1918, chapter 283).

In connection with appropriations, it should be borne in mind that
under the Act of 1916, chapter 126—see article 88A, section 7A—all
annual and continuing appropriations payable ont of the General Treas-
ury, to schools, commissions, boards, corporations, officers, etc., are
repealed. Such appropriations are now provided for in the State
Budget—see article 3, section 52 of the Maryland Constitution. Hence
for information as to any appropriation of the character above men-
tioned for the fiscal years beginning October 1, 1918 and October 1,
19]9, the Budget Bill of 1918 (Act of 1918, chapter 206), rather than
the pre-existing statute on the subject, should be consulted.