Marvin Mandel, Governor                         585

time judges of the People's Courts of Anne Arundel, Prince George's,
Montgomery, Wicomico and Baltimore City and the Municipal Court
of Baltimore City who retired prior to the effective date of this
subtitle.

145. Jurisdiction; venue; warrants; bail; writs; sentence,
(b) Criminal and traffic jurisdiction.

(1)    Traffic. The District Court shall have jurisdiction to hear,
try, and determine the case of any person who has attained his six-
teenth (16th) birthday, or of any corporation, charged with the
commission of an offense arising under Article 66-½ of the Anno-
tated Code of Maryland (1957 Edition, as amended), generally known
as the Motor Vehicle Code, except for any OFFENSE THEREIN
SPECIFICALLY DESIGNATED AS A FELONY AND EXCEPT
FOR THE offenses specifically enumerated in Article 26, Section
70-2, (d) (2) of the Annotated Code of Maryland, 1957 Edition as
amended.

(2)    Criminal. The District Court shall have jurisdiction to hear,
try, and determine the case of any person who has attained his
eighteenth (18th) birthday, or of any corporation, charged with the
commission of:

(i) Any common law or statutory misdemeanor,

(ii) A violation of any county, municipal or other ordinance if
the offense charged is not a felony.

(3)    Preliminary Hearings. The District Court shall also have
jurisdiction to conduct hearings in felony cases to determine if the
defendant shall be held for action of the grand jury.

(4)    Concurrent and Exclusive Jurisdiction. In any case described
in paragraphs (1) or (2) of subsection (b) hereof in which the
penalty may be confinement of three (3) years or more or a fine of
two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500.00) or more, the District
Court and the circuit court shall have concurrent jurisdiction, but in
all other cases the District Court shall have exclusive original juris-
diction. If any person is charged with an offense or offenses within
the jurisdiction of the District Court, and also an offense or offenses
not within the jurisdiction of the court arising out of the same cir-
cumstances, the person shall be originally proceeded against in the
circuit court in the county within which the offense or offenses are
alleged to have been committed, or in the Criminal Court of Baltimore
if the offense or offenses are alleged to have occurred within the city,
and such court shall have jurisdiction over each such offense.

(5)    Venue, (i) Each District Court shall have jurisdiction to
hear and determine cases involving violations described in paragraphs
(1), (2) and (3) of subsection (b) hereof committed within each
respective district provided that within each district the defendant
shall be tried within the county in which the crime or offense was
committed or the City of Baltimore, if the offense was committed
therein, and unless the case is lawfully removed.

(ii) In every case described in paragraphs (1) and (2) of sub-
section (b) hereof, the defendant shall have a right at any time prior
to trial to demand a trial by jury in which case the matter shall be