ALBERT C. RITCHIE, GOVERNOR. 877

CHAPTER 458.

AN ACT to repeal and re-enact, with amendments, Sections 5?
10 and 12 of Article 12 of the Annotated Code of Maryland,
Edition of 1924, title "Bastardy and Fornication, " to pre-
scribe alternative penalties or punishments in bastardy pro-
ceedings.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Mary-
land, that Sections 5, 10 and 12 of Article 12 of the Annotated
Code of Maryland, Edition of 1924, title "Bastardy and Forni-
cation", be, and the same are hereby repealed and re-enacted,
with amendments, so as to read as follows:

5. Immediately upon the passage of said order, said justice
of the peace shall transmit the original papers and a transcript
of the proceedings had before him to said Circuit Court or
the Criminal Court of the City of Baltimore, as the case may
be, and thereupon, but not before the said woman shall have
been delivered, the same proceedings shall be had as in other
criminal cases, and if the accused person shall be found guilty
by the verdict of the jury, or by the Court, if the case be tried
before the Court, the Court shall immediately order such per-
son to give bond to the State of Maryland in a penalty not
exceeding $500, with good and sufficient securities, conditioned
to pay for the maintenance and support of said child, to the
mother, or to the person having said child in custody, or to
the county or to the City of Baltimore, as the case may be, if
said child be a public charge, until said child reaches the
age of fourteen years, or during the life of such child if said
child shall die before reaching the age of fourteen years, such
sum, accounting, in the discretion of the Court, from the date
of birth of the child, not exceeding $15 per month, as the Court
shall by order direct, due regard being had to the circum-
stances of such accused person, and further to pay the whole
or such part of the expenses incurred by the said mother dur-
her confinement as the Court may direct, and to pay the reason-
able funeral expenses of said child if he or she shall die under
the age of fourteen years, and in default of such bond he shall
be committed to jail or the House of Correction until said bond
be given, but not exceeding two years; provided, how-
ever, that instead of imposing the punishment hereinbefore pro-
vided, the Court, in its discretion, having regard to the circum-
stances and financial ability of the accused person, shall have
the power to pass an order which shall be subject to change
by it from time to time, as the circumstances may require, direct-
ing the accused person to pay to the mother, or to the person
having said child in custody, or to the County or to the City