J. MILLARD TAWES, GOVERNOR 53

(S) Whenever any Judge of the Court shall, in his discretion, de-
termine in any case within the jurisdiction of the Court, that the
interests of justice would best be served by trying the charge against
the person appearing before him in the Criminal Court of Baltimore,
the said Judge may, before trial, waive jurisdiction in the matter.

(4) In cases in which the person charged is to be, or may be,
originally proceeded against in the Criminal Court of Baltimore,
under sub-section (1), (2) or (S) of this sub-section, the Court shall
sit as a committing magistrate.

115. Maximum Sentences.

(a) Notwithstanding that a greater imprisonment or fine may be
permitted by statutory or common law, for any offense within the
jurisdiction of said Court, the Court shall have no power to impose
any imprisonment in excess of three years, or any fine in excess of
One Thousand Dollars ($1, 000), or both fine and imprisonment in
excess of three years and One Thousand Dollars, for any one offense
before it.

(b) The foregoing limitation shall not be construed as preventing
the imposition of concurrent or consecutive sentences of imprison-
ment, or of separate fines for each offense, or both, where two or more
offenses are consolidated for trial, provided the sentence imposed for
every one of said offenses is within the limitation of sub-section (a)
of this Section.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That Section 140 of Article 27
of the Annotated Code of Maryland (1957 Ed. ), Title, "Crimes and
Punishments", sub-title, "False Pretenses, Bad Checks, etc. ", be and
it is hereby repealed and re-enacted, with amendments, to read as
follows:

§ 140. Obtaining money, etc., under false pretenses with intent to
defraud.

Any person who shall by any false pretense obtain from any other
person any chattel, money or valuable security, with intent to de-
fraud any person of the same, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and
being convicted thereof shall be liable, at the discretion of the court,
to be punished by fine and imprisonment, or by confinement in the
penitentiary for not less than two years nor more than ten years,
as the court shall award; provided always, that if upon the trial of
any person indicted for such misdemeanor it shall be proved that
he obtained the property in question in any such manner as to amount
in law to larceny or robbery, he shall not by reason thereof be en-
titled to be acquitted of such misdemeanor; and no person tried upon
such misdemeanor shall be afterwards liable to be prosecuted for
larceny or robbery upon the same facts; and provided also, that a
mere promise for future payment, though not intended to be per-
formed, shall not be sufficient to authorize a conviction under this
section. In Wicomico County where the amount of money or the
value of the thing received does not exceed three hundred dollars
($300. 00), the People's Court shall have concurrent jurisdiction with
the Circuit Court to try persons charged with violating this section
and §§ 142 and 144 of this article, provided that persons so convicted
in the People's Court shall not be sentenced to the penitentiary by