464 CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS. [ART. 27.

Bigamy.

P. G. L., (1860,) art. 30, sec. 11. 1706, ch. 8. 1809, ch. 138, sec. 7.

17. Whosoever being married shall, the first husband or wife
(as the case may be,) being alive, marry any person, shall under-
go a confinement in the penitentiary for a period not less than
eighteen months nor more than nine years; provided, that
nothing herein contained shall extend to any person whose hus-
band or wife shall be continuously remaining beyond the seas
seven years together, or shall be absent himself or herself seven
years together, in any part within the United States or elsewhere,
the one of them not knowing the other to be living at that time;
and if such offender be a man, his first wife shall, on his convic-
tion, be forthwith endowed of one-third part of his real estate,
which she shall hold as tenant in dower, the assignment of which,
shall be made as prescribed by law in other cases of dower, and
she shall have the like remedy for the recovery thereof; and
she shall also, on his conviction, be forthwith entitled to one-
third part of his personal estate, in the same manner as if such
husband had died intestate, and she had survived him, which
third part shall be divided and allotted to her in the same man-
ner as distribution is made of the personal estate of intestates;
and if the said offender be a man, he shall, on conviction, forfeit
his claim or title as tenant by the curtesy, and also all his claim or
title to any estate, real, personal or mixed, which he may have in
right of his first wife; and if the said offender be a woman, she
shall, on conviction, forfeit her claim to dower of the estate of her
first husband, and also her distributive share of his personal
estate, which she would be entitled to if he had died intestate,
and she had survived him.

Sellman v. Bowen, 8 G. & J. 50. Dennison n. Dennison, 35 Md. 361. Jones
v. Jones, 48 Md. 399. Barber e State, 50 Md. 161. Johns v. State, 55 Md. 362.
Lebrun v. Lebrun, 55 Md. 506.

Blasphemy.

P. G. L., (1860,) art. 30, sec 13. 1723, ch. 16, sec. 1. 1819, ch 49.

18. If any person, by writing or speaking, shall blaspheme or
curse God, or shall write or utter any profane words of and con-
cerning our Saviour Jesus Christ, or of and concerning the
Trinity, or any of the persons thereof, he shall, on conviction, be