WM. PRESTON LANE,, JR., GOVERNOR. 1447

Department retired under the provisions of this section.
There shall be no provision in the law under which a member
of the paid Fire Department may apply for retirement or be
retired at a certain age limit.

SEC. 2. And he it further enacted, That this Act shall take
effect June 1, 1949.

Approved April 29, 1949.

CHAPTER 596
(House Bill 604)

AN ACT to add a new section to Article 27 of the Annotated
Code of Maryland (1939 Edition), title "Crimes and Punish-
ments", to be under a new sub-title to be known as "De-
murrer Prayers in Criminal Cases", said new section to be
known as Section 655A, to follow immediately after Section
655 thereof, providing for demurrers to the evidence in crim-
inal cases, and an appeal from rulings of the Court thereon
to the Court of Appeals of Maryland.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Mary-
land, That a new section be and it is hereby added to Article
27 of the Annotated Code of Maryland (1939 Edition), title
"Crimes and Punishments'', to be under a new sub-title to be
known as "Demurrer Prayers in Criminal Cases", said new
section to be known as Section 655A, to follow immediately
after Section 655 thereof and to read as follows:

655A. In the trial of all criminal cases, the Jury shall be
the Judges of Law, as well as of fact, except that at the
conclusion of the evidence for the State the accused may
request an instruction that the evidence is insufficient in law
to justify his conviction. If the instruction is refused, he
may offer evidence on his own behalf without having reserved
the right to do so, but by so doing, he withdraws his request
for such instruction. The request for such an instruction may
be renewed at the end of the whole case. If such an instruc-
tion is refused the defendant may appeal from such ruling
to the Court of Appeals of Maryland.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That this section shall
take effect upon the adoption by the legal and qualified voters
of this State of the amendment to Section 5 of Article 15 of