J. MILLARD TAWES, GOVERNOR                            325

pursuant to Section 330 of this article and the cost of paying the
principal and interest on bonds issued to pay the cost of capital
improvements for the Department of Maryland State Police and the
Department of Motor Vehicles of Maryland when such capital im-
provements are authorized by the Board of Public Works of Mary-
land, shall hold the balance of said monies in a special fund hereby
created and known as the Motor Vehicle Revenue Fund, said fund to
be thereafter held and distributed in accordance with the provisions
applicable to said fund contained in Article 89B of the Annotated
Code of Maryland.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That this Act shall take effect
July 1, 1961.

Approved April 24, 1961.

CHAPTER 269
(Senate Bill 75)

AN ACT to add a new Section 551A to Article 27 of the Annotated
Code of Maryland (1957 Edition) AND 1961 1960 SUPPLE-
MENT), title "Crimes and Punishments", to follow immediately
after Section 551 thereof and to be under the new sub-title "Shop-
lifting", providing a criminal statute for offenses herein defined as
"shoplifting", and relating generally to the offense of shoplifting
and other penalties therefor in this State.

Whereas, Merchants in Maryland are now suffering great finan-
cial loss at the hands of shoplifters, and

Whereas, the retail and wholesale merchants have been handicap-
ped in the apprehension and prosecution of shoplifters, by the dif-
ficulty of identifying and prosecuting shoplifting under existing com-
mon law and statutory crimes, and also by the application of the
common-law rules relating to false arrest, false imprisonment, and
wrongful detention, and

Whereas, It is the sense of the Legislature that wholesale and re-
tail merchants should be allowed to detain persons whose actions
give rise to a reasonable belief that such persons are engaged in the
crime of shoplifting, as defined herein, for a reasonable time and in
a reasonable manner, in order to ascertain the facts involved; now,
therefore,

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland,
That a new Section 551A be and it is hereby added to Article 27 of
the Annotated Code of Maryland (1957 Edition), AND 1864 1960
SUPPLEMENT), title "Crimes and Punishments", to follow imme-
diately after Section 551 thereof, and to be under the new sub-title
"Shoplifting", and to read as follows:

Explanation: Italics indicate new matter added to existing law.

[Brackets] indicate matter stricken from existing law.
CAPITALS indicate amendments to bill.
Strike out indicates matter stricken out of bill.