292 LAWS or MARYLAND. [CH. 135

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That this Act shall take
effect from the first day of June, nineteen hundred and twenty-
four.

Approved April 9, 1924.

CHAPTER 135.

AN ACT to add a new section to Article 9 of the Code of Public
Local Laws of Maryland, title, "Charles County, " sub-title,
Circuit Court, '' said new section to be known as Section 48-A
and to follow immediately after Section 48 of said Article,
providing for speedy judgments in certain cases.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Mary-
land, That a new section be and it is hereby added to Article 9
of the Code of Public Local Laws of Maryland, title, "Charles
County, " sub-title, "Circuit Court, " said new section to be
known as Section 48-A, to follow immediately after Section 48 of
said Article and to read as follows:

48-A. In any action hereafter brought in the Circuit Court
of Charles County arising ex contractu, if the plaintiff or his
agent shall file at the time of bringing his action an affidavit set-
ting out distinctly his cause of action and the sum he claims to
be due, exclusive of all set-offs and just grounds of defense, and
shall serve the defendant with copies of his declaration and of
said affidavit, he shall be entitled to a judgment for the amount
so claimed, with interest and costs, forty days after such service
unless the defendant shall file a plea which if in bar is accom-
panied by an affidavit of defense denying the right of the plain-
tiff as to the whole or some specified part of his claim specially
stating also, in precise and distinct terms, the ground of Ms
defense, which must be such, as would, if true, be sufficient to
defeat the plaintiff's claim in whole or in part; and where the
defendant shall have acknowledged in his affidavit of defense his
liability for a part of the plaintiff's claim as aforesaid, the plain-
tiff, if he so elect may have judgment entered in his favor for
the amount so confessed to be due. Any Judge of the Circuit
Court is hereby authorized, either in vacation or term time, to
enter judgment under this section where no affidavit of defense
is filed and to hear motion for judgment and to enter judgment
thereon where insufficient affidavits are filed.

Notice shall be given at the bottom of the declaration and in
the summons in such cases where the plaintiff intends to claim
the benefits of this Section.