CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS 1281

dictment is submitted to the court without the intervention of a jury, it
shall be lawful for such amendment to be made as aforesaid, and also to
postpone the hearing of the said case for such time as it shall determine
to be necessary.

This section provides for amendment of indictment when the name of any person
other than defendant has been erroneously set forth therein; such amendment is
made according to the proof in cause, same being authorized only after jury has been
sworn on indictment. Watts v. State, 99 Md. 33; State v. Barrett, 148 Md. 155.

Indictments—Statement of Ownership or Possession.

An. Code, 1924, sec. 552. 1912, sec. 495. 1904, sec. 437. 1888, sec. 285. 1852, ch. 63, sec. 1.

648. In any indictment for any felony or misdemeanor wherein it
shall be requisite to state the ownership or possession of any property what-
soever, whether real or personal, which shall belong to or be in the pos-
session of more than one person, whether such persons be partners in trade,
joint tenants, parceners, tenants in common or trustees, it shall be sufficient
to name one of such persons, and to state such property to belong to or be in
possession of the person so named, and another or others as the case may be;
and whenever in any indictment for any felony or misdemeanor, it shall
be necessary to mention for any purpose whatever any partners; joint
tenants, parceners, tenants in common or trustees, it shall be sufficient to
describe them in the manner aforesaid.

This section referred to in construing sec. 647. See notes thereto. State v. Barrett,
148 Md. 157.

Indictments—Quashing—Arrest of Judgment.

An. Code, 1924, sec. 553. 1912, sec. 496. 1904, sec. 438. 1888, sec. 286. 1852, ch. 63, sec. 2.

649. No indictment or presentment for felony or misdemeanor shall
be quashed, nor shall any judgment upon any indictment for any felony or
misdemeanor, or upon any presentment, whether after verdict, by confes-
sion or otherwise, be stayed or reversed for the want of a proper or perfect
venue, when the court shall appear by the indictment, inquisition or pre-
sentment, or by the statement of the venue in the margin thereof to have
jurisdiction over the offense, nor for the omission or misstatement of the
title, occupation or degree of the defendant or other person or persons
named in the said indictment, inquisition or presentment nor, for the
want of the averment of any matter unnecessary to be proved, nor for the
omission of the words "as appears by the record," or of the words "with
force and arms," nor for the insertion of the words "against the form of
the statute," instead of "against the form of the statutes," or vice versa,
nor for omitting to state the time at which the offense was committed in
any case where time is not of the essence of the offense, nor for stating the
time imperfectly, nor for stating the offense to have been committed on a
day subsequent to the finding of the indictment or making the present-
ment, or on an impossible day, or on a day that never happened, or by
reason of any mere defect or imperfection in matters of form which shall
not tend to the prejudice of the defendant, nor for any matter or cause
which might have been a subject of demurrer to the indictment, inquisition
or presentment.

Demurrer.

Since adoption of this section, the usual and only proper mode of testing constitu-
tionality of a statute under which a party is indicted is by demurrer to indictment.
Foote v. State, 59 Md. 266.
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