1558                               Laws of Maryland                         Ch. 534

§ 16-111. Appearance before magistrate having jurisdiction.

Whenever any person is taken before a magistrate or is given a
written traffic citation containing a notice to appear before a magis-
trate as hereinbefore provided, the magistrate shall be a magistrate
within the county in which the offense charged is alleged to have
been committed and who has jurisdiction of the offense and is near-
est or most accessible with reference to the place the alleged violation
occurred, except that when the offense is alleged to have been com-
mitted within an incorporated municipality wherein there is an
established court having jurisdiction of the offense, the person shall
be taken without unnecessary delay before that court. For the pur-
pose of this subtitle, the terms "magistrate" and "court" include
magistrates and courts having jurisdiction of offenses under this
article as committing magistrates and courts and those having juris-
diction of the trials of such offenses.

§ 16-112. Release of defendant when magistrate not available.

Whenever any person is taken into custody by an officer for the
purpose of taking him before a magistrate or court as authorized or
required in this subtitle, upon any charge other than a felony or the
offenses enumerated in paragraphs (1), (2), (3), and (4) of subsec-
tion (a) of section 16-105, and no magistrate is available at the time
of arrest, and there is no bail schedule established by any magistrate
or court and no lawfully designated court clerk or other public officer
who is available and authorized to accept bail upon behalf of the
magistrate or court, the person shall be released from custody upon
the issuance to him of a written traffic citation and his signing a
promise to appear, as provided in section 16-109.

§ 16-113. Failure to obey citation.

(a)    It shall be unlawful for any person to violate his written
promise to appear given to an officer upon the issuance of a traffic
citation regardless of the disposition of the charge for which the
citation was originally issued.

(b)    A written promise to appear in court may be complied with
by an appearance by counsel.

(c)    If any person fails to appear in accordance with his promise,
the magistrate shall issue a warrant for the arrest of the person
or in lieu of the warrant shall send, by registered mail with return
receipt requested, a summons to the person at his last known address
setting the case for trial on a date at least 2 weeks subsequent to the
original date of trial. All costs and expenses incurred by the sheriff
in the execution of the warrant shall be assessed against and col-
lected from the person so arrested by the magistrate to whom the
writ is returnable, and by him remitted to the sheriff who shall have
executed the warrant.

§ 16-114.    Omitted.

§ 16-115.    Omitted.

§ 16-116.    Omitted.

§ 16-117.    Forms used to prosecute traffic offenses.