1969]                   OF THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES                       47

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 convic-
tion, 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.
Read and journalized.

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Baltimore, Md., 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 Counties, 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 misde-
meanor, and may be punished by a fine of 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 consti-
tutional 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 constitutional liberty implies
the absence of arbitrary restraint, it does not grant immunity from reason-