348                               LAWS OF MARYLAND                        [CH. 184

In Cecil County, notwithstanding any other provisions of this
section, a fee of $5.00 shall be paid upon the filing of any civil suit in
the magistrate's court, which said fee shall constitute the entire costs
in the proceedings for both the Sheriff and the magistrate, provided
that poundage fees as now allowed shall be continued; and for each
defendant named in any suit in excess of two, an additional fee of
$1.50 shall be added to the costs, and further, in executing a warrant
of restitution upon a landlord's complaint, the plaintiff landlord shall
be required to pay to the Sheriff the costs of executing the same. The
entire amount of such filing fees shall be paid over monthly to the
County Commissioners by the magistrate or justice of the peace to
whom said filing fees were paid.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That this Act shall take effect
June 1, 1963.

Approved March 29, 1963.

CHAPTER 184
(Senate Bill 368)

AN ACT to repeal and re-enact, with amendments, Section 140 of
Article 27 of the Annotated Code of Maryland (1962 Supplement),
title "Crimes and Punishments", sub-title "False Pretenses, Bad
Checks, Etc.", providing that trial magistrates in St. Mary's Coun-
ty shall have jurisdiction to try and determine certain charges of
false pretenses, and correcting a reference therein to the manner
of charging persons with such offenses.

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland,
That Section 140 of Article 27 of the Annotated Code of Maryland
(1962 Supplement), 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Pretenses, Bad Checks, Etc.", be and it is hereby repealed and re-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.

Any person who shall by any false pretense obtain from any
other person any chattel, money or valuable security, with intent to
defraud 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] charged with 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 entitled 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 performed, shall not be sufficient to authorize a
conviction under this section. In Wicomico County and in St. Mary's
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