1050 LAWS OF MARYLAND. [CH. 500

SEC. 2. And be It further enacted, That this Act shall take
effect June 1, 1939.

Approved May 3, 1939.

CHAPTER 500.
(House Bill 311)

AN ACT to repeal and re-enact with amendments Section 183
of Article 27 of the Annotated Code of Maryland (1924 Edi-
tion), title "Crimes and Punishments", sub-title "Fraud—
Advertisements", relating to certain advertisements for the
sale of real estate.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Mary-
land, That Section 183 of Article 27 of the Annotated Code of
Maryland (1924 Edition), title "Crimes and Punishments",
sub-title "Fraud—Advertisements", be and it is hereby re-
pealed and re-enacted with amendments to read as follows:

183. Any person, firm, corporation or association, who with
intent to sell or in any wise dispose of merchandise, securi-
ties, real estate, service, or anything offered by such person,
firm, corporation, or association directly or indirectly, to the
public for sale or distribution, or with intent to increase the
consumption thereof, or to induce the public in any manner
to enter into any obligation relating thereto, or to acquire
title thereto, or any interest therein, makes, publishes, dis-
seminates, circulates, or places before the public, or causes
directly or indirectly to be made, published, disseminated, cir-
culated, or placed before the public in this State, in a newspa-
per or other publication or in the form of a book, notice,
handbill, poster, bill, circular, pamphlet, or letter, or in any
other way, an advertisement, of any sort regarding merchan-
dise, securities, real estate, service or anything so offered to the
public which advertisement contains any assertion, representa-
tion or statement of fact which is untrue, deceptive or mis-
leading, and which is known by such person, firm, corporation
or association or which by the exercise of reasonable care
should be known by such person, firm or corporation to be un-
true, deceptive or misleading, or any person, firm or corpora-
tion who causes to be published or distributed in any way
whatsoever any advertisement offering to sell leasehold prop-
erty at a stated price or on terms stating the amount of any
installment payments without also stating in such advertise-
ment the amount of the annual ground rent to which the
property offered is subject, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor