1818                                      VETOES

This Bill provides that a person who lingers or loiters in any
public place in Charles and Queen Anne's Counties and who fails to
obey a policeman's order "to cease such lingering or loitering" is,
upon conviction, guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to a fine or
imprisonment.

I am informed by the Attorney General that the Bill violates
Article 23 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights and violates the
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. For the
reasons given in the attached copy of his opinion, which is to be
considered a part of this message, I believe that the measure must
be vetoed.

Sincerely,

/s/ Marvin Mandel,

Governor.

Letter from State Law Department—H.B. 1435.

April 30, 1969.
Honorable Marvin Mandel
Governor of Maryland
State House
Annapolis, Maryland 21404

RE: House Bill 1435
Dear Governor Mandel:

As requested, we have reviewed House Bill 1435, which has been
passed by the General Assembly. We are unable to approve this bill
as to constitutionality.

The Bill, in essence, subjects a person who is in a public place
or place open to the public and who refuses a policeman's order to
stop "lingering" or "loitering" in Charles and Queen Anne's Coun-
ties, to a possible fine of $25.00 and/or six months imprisonment.

The pertinent language of House Bill 1435 is as follows:

"Any person who lingers or loiters in any public place or
place open to the public and who fails to obey a policeman's
order to cease such lingering or loitering, upon conviction,
shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and may be punished by
a fine or not more than twenty-five dollars ($25.00), nor
more than six (6) months in jail, or both. This section
shall apply only in Charles and Queen Anne's Counties."

As stated in Greenwald v. State, 221 Md. 235, app. dism., 363
U.S. 719, 4 L.ed. 2d 1521, 80 S. Ct. 1596, "..... [T]here is not the
slightest doubt that the Legislature had the power to define what acts
shall constitute criminal offenses and what penalties shall be inflicted
on offenders, the only limitation being that such enactments shall
not infringe on constitutional rights and privileges." The following
analysis of House Bill 1435 is made in light of this precept.

In spite of the broad scope of the fundamental right of liberty
and the jealous protection by the Constitution of the rights of the
individual, liberty is not a right which is uncontrollable or which
is absolute under all circumstances and conditions. Although con-
stitutional liberty implies the absence of arbitrary restraint, it does
not grant immunity from reasonable regulations and prohibitions