24 LAWS OF MARYLAND.

payment of a franchise tax by certain classes of foreign cor-
porations transacting business in this State.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted 6y the General Assembly of Mary-
land, That the following sections of Article twenty-three (23)
of the Code of Public General. Laws, title "Corporations, " as
the same are numbered and set forth in the Code of nineteen
hundred and four (1904), as legalized by Chapter seventy-two
(72) of the Acts of the General Assembly of that year, namely:
Sections one (1) to ninety-two (92) (both inclusive); Sections
one hundred and thirty-seven (137) to one hundred and forty-
one (141) (both inclusive); Section two hundred and twenty-
six (226); Sections three hundred and sixty-seven (367) to four
hundred and one (401) (both inclusive), and Sections four
hundred and eight (408) to four hundred and seventeen (417)
(both inclusive), be and the same are hereby repealed; and
that as a substitute for the sections of said article so repealed,
the following seventy-nine (79) new sections, to be known as
Sections one (1) to seventy-nine (79) (both inclusive) of said
Article twenty-three (23), shall be and they are hereby enacted
to read as follows:

GENERAL PROVISIONS.

SEC. 1. (1) Except as therein otherwise provided, the sections
of this article, numbered one to seventy-nine inclusive, shall be-
come and be operative on and after the first day of June, in the
year nineteen hundred and eight (1908), and the provisions
thereof shall apply to and govern all corporations then exist-
ing and thereafter formed, and all corporate acts thereafter
done; provided (first), that nothing in said sections contained
shall be construed to affect the existence of any then existing
corporation or to impair the validity of any corporate act done
and performed in accordance with the pre-existing law; and
provided (second), that in the event of any inconsistency be-
tween any of the provisions of said sections and the rights con-
ferred by any special act or any legally authorized agreement of
consolidation passed, or filed prior to said first-day of June, in
the year nineteen hundred and eight (1908), the provisions of
said special act or agreement of consolidation shall prevail to
the extent of such inconsistency; and provided (third), that in
the event of any inconsistency between any of the provisions of
said sections and the provisions made for particular classes of
corporations by the subsequent sections of this article, the
latter shall prevail to the extent of such inconsistency; and pro-
vided (finally), that unless therein otherwise stated, the said
sections shall be available to all corporations of this State as
alternative to and not in substitution for any inconsistent pro-