670                             LAWS OF MARYLAND                       CH. 439

($1,000) FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS ($500.00) or less, whether
earned or to be earned. Such payment shall be deemed a loan and
the amount by which such assigned compensation exceeds such pay-
ment shall be deemed interest, charges, discount or other considera-
tion upon such loan from the date of such payment to the date such
compensation is payable.

22.

(a)  No loan made in this State in the amount of one thousand
dollars ($1,000) FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS ($500.00) or less
upon which a greater rate of interest, charges, discount or other con-
sideration, than authorized by the laws of this State, has been directly
or indirectly charged, contracted for or received, shall be enforceable.

(b)   This Article shall be so interpreted and construed as to
effectuate its general remedial purpose.

23.

(a) Any licensee and any officer or employee of a licensee who
shall knowingly violate the provisions of Sections 16, 16A 17 or 19 of
this Article, and any person, copartnership, association or corpora-
tion, which shall knowingly violate the provisions of Sections 1, 21
or 22(a) of this Article, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon
conviction thereof, shall be punishable FOR EACH OFFENSE by a
fine of not more than five hundred dollars ($500.00), or by imprison-
ment of not more than six (6) months, or by both such fine and im-
prisonment, in the discretion of the Court.

Article 11
Banks and Trust Companies

166.

This subtitle shall not apply to any person, copartnership, trust, or
corporation doing business under and as permitted by any law of this
State or of the United States relating to banks, savings banks,
trust companies, building and loan associations, credit unions, or
cooperative banks for personal credits, nor to any attorney engaged
in the practice of law, nor to any bona fide pawn-broking business
licensed under the laws of Maryland, nor to any person, firm or
corporation extending credit in connection with the sale of their
own merchandise, nor to any person, copartnership, trust, or cor-
poration licensed and doing business [in amounts of three hundred
dollars ($300) or less] under any Maryland lending provisions in
any other Article of the Code [the Uniform Small Loan Law of
Maryland (Article 58A)], and nothing in this article shall act as a
bar to prevent any of the aforesaid persons, copartnerships, trusts,
or corporations from applying, qualifying for and receiving a license
and operating hereunder.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That if any provision of this Act
or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held
invalid for any reason, such invalidity shall not affect the other
provisions or any other application of this Act which can be given
effect without the invalid provisions or application, and to this end,
all the provisions of this Act are hereby declared to be severable.