JUSTICES OF THE PEACE 2231

An. Code, 1924, sec. 31. 1912, sec. 29. 1904, sec. 27. 1888, sec. 26. 1791, ch. 68, secs. 2, 3.

33. If either party shall fail to appear on the day to which a case is
postponed, the justice may proceed to try the case ex parte.

This section contemplates and requires a trial, and though the trial is ex parte, the
plaintiff must prove his claim. Wagner v. Shank, 59 Md. 321.

For a case which should have been tried in accordance with this section, see Ewing v.
Nickle, 45 Md. 417.

An. Code, 1924, sec. 32. 1912, sec. 30. 1904, sec. 28. 1888, sec. 27. 1852, ch. 239, sec. 2.

34. No special pleading shall be required in any action before a jus-
tice of the peace.

This section referred to in construing Art. 10, Secs. 31 and 32. Rehm v. Coal Co.,
169 Md. 368.

Cited but not construed in McNabb v. Haas, 168 Md. 223.

An. Code, 1924, sec. 33. 1912, sec. 31. 1904, sec. 29. 1888, sec. 28. 1845, ch. 379, sec. 8.

1920, ch. 726.

35. If any justice of the peace shall die or shall cease to act as such
from any cause, any justice of the peace in the same county shall have the
same power to receive returns of writs or process, to issue any writ or proc-
ess and to do all other acts in relation thereto as such justice would have
had if he were living and acting as a justice of the peace, to the end that no
pending suit or action shall abate by reason of the death or disqualifica-
tion of any justice of the peace, but that any other justice of the same
county may, upon the filing with him by either party of a copy of the
docket entries of such suit or action taken from the docket of such deceased
or otherwise disqualified justice, certified by the Clerk of the Circuit
Court, and after notice of not less than ten days to all the other parties to
the suit or action, proceed with such suit or action to final determination
the same as though such suit or action had been originally brought
before him.

An. Code, 1924, sec. 34. 1912, sec. 32. 1904, sec. 30. 1888, sec. 29.

36. If any constable or other officer returns process before another jus-
tice by reason of the death or disqualification of the justice before whom
the same was returnable, he shall give notice, previous to the return thereof
to the plaintiff or his agent and the defendant, of the justice before whom
he intends returning the same.

An. Code, 1924, sec. 35. 1912, sec. 33. 1904, sec. 31. 1900, ch. 11. 1904, ch. 89, sec. 29A.

1912, ch. 383.

37. In all actions or proceedings before any justice of the peace in this
State, and appeals therefrom the partnership of parties the incorporation of
any body corporate and the representative character of any party suing
or being sued, and the genuineness of any signature, purporting to be the
signature of the defendant upon any paper filed as the cause of action in
such actions or proceedings, shall be taken as admitted for the purpose of
such action or proceeding, unless the fact of such partnership, incorpora-
tion or representative character as the case may be, or that such signature
was written by or by the authority of the person whose signature it pur-
ports to be, shall be denied in writing under oath by the opposite party
before any hearing of such case or proceeding shall be had; provided,
however, that in case of a corporation, the affidavit to such denial may be