HERBERT R. O'CONOR, GOVERNOR. 1431
CHAPTER 812.
(House Bill 796)

AN ACT to repeal and re-enact, with amendments, Section
69 of Article 5 of the Code of Public Local Laws of Mary-
land (1930 Edition), title "Calvert County", sub-title
"Circuit Court", Section 39 of Article 9 of said Code, title
"Charles County", sub-title "Circuit Court", Section 197
of Article 17 of said Code, title "Prince George's County",
sub-title "Circuit Court", and Section 42 of Article 19 of
said Code, title "St. Mary's County", sub-title "Circuit
Court", as said sections were amended by Chapter 53 of the
Laws of Maryland of 1937, relating to extending, by writ-
ten agreement of the parties, the time of filing any plea,
affidavit of defense or demurrer in cases arising under the
Speedy Judgment Act.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Mary-
land, That Section 69 of Article 5 of the Code of Public Local
Laws of Maryland (1930 Edition), title "Calvert County",
sub-title "Circuit Court", Section 39 of Article 9 of said Code,
title "Charles County", sub-title "Circuit Court", Section 197
of Article 17 of said Code, title "Prince George's County",
sub-title "Circuit Court", and Section 42 of Article 19 of said
Code, title "St. Mary's County", sub-title "Circuit Court", as
said sections were amended by Chapter 53 of the Laws of
Maryland of 1937, be and they are hereby repealed and re-
enacted, with amendments, to read as follows:

In any action hereafter brought in any Circuit Court in
the Seventh Judicial Circuit of Maryland arising ex contractu,
if the plaintiff or his agent shall file at the time of bringing
his action an affidavit setting 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 en-
titled 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 accompanied by an affidavit
of defense denying the right of plaintiff as to the whole or
some specified part of his claim specially stating also, in
precise and distinct terms, the ground of his 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 lia-
bility for a part of the plaintiff's claim as aforesaid, the
plaintiff, if he so elect may have judgment entered in his favor
for the amount so confessed to be due, such judgment to be a
bar to any further amount not so confessed. Any judge of the