MARVIN MANDEL, Governor

3461

county, municipal corporation, or other political
subdivision thereof.

SECTION 3. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That Section
5 of Article 45 — Husband and Wife, of the Annotated Code
of Maryland (1971 Replacement Volume and 1974 Supplement)
be and it is hereby repealed and re—enacted, with
amendments, to read as follows:

Article 45 - Husband and Wife

5.

Married women shall have power to engage in any
business, and to contract, whether engaged in business or
not, and to sue upon their contracts, and also to sue for
the recovery, security or protection of their property,
and for torts committed against them, as fully as if they
were unmarried; contracts may also be made with them, and
they may also be sued separately upon their contracts,
whether made before or during marriage, and for wrongs
independent of contract committed by them before or
during their marriage, as fully as if they were
unmarried; and upon judgments recovered against them,
execution may be issued as if they were unmarried; nor
shall any husband be liable upon any contract made by his
wife in her own name and upon her own responsibility, nor
for any tort committed separately by her out of his
presence, without his participation or sanction.

The provisions of this section apply to all
contractual relations entered into by married or
unmarried women, including RETAIL CREDIT ACCOUNTS OF
retail installment sales [or retail credit accounts] as
defined, RESPECTIVELY, in [Article 83 of this Code] TITLE
12, SUBTITLES 5 AND 6 OF THE COMMERCIAL LAN ARTICLE OF
THE CODE.

SECTION 4. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That Section
240E(b) of Article 48A — Insurance Code, of the Annotated
Code of Maryland (1972 Replacement Volume and 1974
Supplement) be and it is hereby repealed and re—enacted,
with amendments, to read as follows:

Article 48A — Insurance Code

240E.

(b) The computation of a [service] FINANCE charge
in a retail credit account shall not be based in any part
upon the premiums due under a policy of credit life or
disability insurance. For the purposes of this