1138                      LAWS OF MARYLAND.                  [CH. 448

to file information to the Criminal Court of Baltimore City
after such investigation; and to empower the Court before
whom such information shall have been made, to pass an
order if trial be not demanded by the accused, directing the
person complained against to comply with said order over
a space of three years, and to release the person complained
against on such conditions as the Court may impose in
writing.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of
Maryland, That Section 87 of Article 27 of the Annotated
Code of Public General Laws of Maryland (1924 Edition),
title "Crimes and Punishments, " sub-title "Desertion of "Wife
or Child, " be and it is hereby repealed and re-enacted, with
amendments, and that five additional sections be and they are
hereby added to said Article, to follow immediately after Sec-
tion 87 and to be known as Sections 87A, 87B, 87C, 87D
and 87E, and all to read as follows:

87. Any person who shall without just cause desert or
wilfully neglect to provide for the support and maintenance
of his wife or minor child shall be deemed guilty of a mis-
demeanor, and upon conviction in any Court of the State hav-
ing criminal jurisdiction shall be punished by a fine not ex-
ceeding one hundred dollars, or imprisonment in the Mary-
land House of Correction for not more than three years, or
both, in the discretion of the Court. The fine may be di-
rected by the Court to be paid in whole or in part to the
wife; provided, that before the trial with the consent of the
defendant, or after conviction, instead of imposing the punish-
ment hereinbefore provided, or in addition thereto, the Court
in its discretion, having regard to the circumstances and
financial ability of the defendant, 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, directing the defendant
to pay a certain sum weekly for the space of three years to
the wife, and to release defendant from custody on probation
for the space of three years upon his entering into a recog-
nizance in such sum as the Court shall direct, with or without
sureties. The condition of the recognizance shall be such that
if the defendant shall make his personal appearance at the
Court whenever ordered so to do within the three years, and
shall further comply with the terms of the order, or of any subse-
quent modification thereof, then the recognizance shall be void,,