E. LOUIS LOWE, ESQUIRE, GOVERNOR.

1852.

CHAPTER 63.

CHAP. 63.

AN ACT entitled, an Act for the Amendment of
the Law in Criminal Cases.

Passed April
19, 1852.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly
of Maryland, That in any indictment for any felony
or misdemeanor, wherein it shall be requisite to state
the ownership or possession of any property whatsoever,
whether real or personal, which shall belong to, or be
in the possession of mote than one person, whether
such persons be partners in trade, joint tenants, parce-
ners, tenants in common, or trustees, it shall be suffi-
cient to name one of such persons, and to state such
properly to belong to, or be in the possession of the
person so named, and another, or others, as the case
may be, and whenever, in any indictment for any
felony or misdemeanor, it shall be necessary to men-
tion, for any purpose whatever, any partners, joint ten-
ants, parceners, tenants in common, or trustees, it shall
be sufficient to describe them in the manner aforesaid.

Sufficient to
name one per-
son in indict-
ment.

SEC. 2. And be it enacted, That no indictment or
presentment for felony or misdemeanor, shall be quash-
ed, nor shall any judgment upon any indictment for
any felony or misdemeanor, or upon any presentment,
whether after verdict, by confession, or otherwise, be
stayed or reversed for want of a. proper or perfect
venue, when the. court shall appear by the indict-
ment, inquisition or presentment, or by the statement
of the venue in the margin thereof, to have had juris-
diction over the offence, nor for the omission or misstate-
ment of the title, occupation or degree of the defendant,
or other person or persons, named in the said indictment,
inquisition or presentment, nor for the want of the aver-
ment of any matter unnecessary to be proved, nor for the
omission of the words "as appears by the record," or of

the words "with force and arms," nor for the insertion

of the words "against the form of the statute" instead

of "against the form of the statutes," or vice versa,
nor for omitting to state the time at which the offence
was committed, in any case where time is not of the
essence of the offence; nor for stating the time imper-
fectly, nor for stating the offence to have been com-
mitted on a day subsequent to the finding of the indic-
ment, or making the presentment; or on an impossible
day, or on a day that never happened, or by reason of
any mere defect, or imperfection in matters of form,
which shall not tend to the prejudice of the defendant,
nor for any matter or cause which might have been a

No indictment
for felony or
misdemeanor,
shall be quash-

ed on account
of omissions,
&c.