1712                               Laws of Maryland                         Ch. 596

conviction to the Court of Appeals or Court of Special Appeals, it
shall not be necessary to appoint counsel or conduct a hearing or take
any action whatsoever on the petition, until the judgment of convic-
tion becomes final in the court to which the appeal was taken. No
appeals to the Court of Appeals of Maryland or the Court of Special
Appeals in habeas corpus or coram nobis cases, or from other
common-law or statutory remedies which have heretofore been avail-
able for challenging the validity of incarceration under sentence of
death or imprisonment shall be permitted or entertained, except
appeals in such cases pending in the Court of Appeals on June 1, 1958,
shall be processed in due course. Provided, however, that nothing in
this subtitle shall operate to bar an appeal to the Court of Appeals
(1) in a habeas corpus proceeding instituted under Section 25 of
Article 41 of this Code or (2) in any other proceeding in which a
writ of habeas corpus is sought for any purpose other than to chal-
lenge the legality of a conviction of a crime or sentence of death or
imprisonment therefor, including confinement as a result of a pro-
ceeding under Article 31B of this Code.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That this Act shall take effect
July 1, 1970.

Approved May 5, 1970

CHAPTER 596
(House Bill 532)

AN ACT to repeal and re-enact, with amendments, Section 31 of
Article 52 of the Annotated Code of Maryland (1968 Replace-
ment Volume), title "Justices of the Peace," subtitle "Docket,"
providing variously for the destruction of certain records now
required to be permanently maintained, and relating generally to
the authority and conditions under which such records may be
destroyed.

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland,
That Section 31 of Article 52 of the Annotated Code of Maryland
(1968 Replacement Volume), title "Justices of the Peace," subtitle
"Docket," be and it is hereby repealed and re-enacted, with amend-
ments and to read as follows:

31. Same—Duty of Clerks.

(a) Whenever a justice of the peace, trial magistrate, or judge of
the people's court shall vacate his office by resignation, removal from
office, the expiration of his official term, or by reason of reorganiza-
tion of the lower court system in which he has held office, his dockets,
together with all the notes, bonds, accounts and papers appertaining
to judgments or whereupon suits have been entered, shall be retained
by the court over which the judge presided or any successor court.

The clerks having custody of such dockets and papers shall keep
the same as other records and shall deliver transcripts from the
dockets or papers to any person applying for same, except that motor