LAWS OF MARYLAND

Ch. 21

REVISOR'S NOTE: Ch. ____, Acts of 1982, which enacted

the Health - General Article, also repealed
former Article 62, § 18 and enacted this section,
to incorporate former Article 43, § 14(b)(4).

Throughout this section, references to the
"Secretary of Health and Mental Hygiene" are
substituted for references to the former State
Board of Health.

Subsection (a)(1) of this section is revised to
reflect that, in practice, clerks of court send a
copy of the marriage record, rather than a report
of the marriage. This practice conforms to the
requirements of former Article 43, § 14(b)(4)(i),
which referred to safeguarding "duplicate
permanent records of marriages". Therefore,
subsection (b) of this section is revised to
exclude marriage records from the forms that the
Secretary provides, since the copy to be sent to
the Secretary is included in the blank marriage
licenses that the State Comptroller provides
under Article 19, § 23 of the Code.

In subsection (a)(4) of this section, the
requirement that the clerk of court certify the
change is new language added to reflect the
provision of former Article 43, § 14(b)(4)(ii)
that prevented a change in the Secretary's
records except "upon certification ... that the
proposed change is correct and that the
corresponding record of the clerk of the court is
being changed in like manner." Since this former
provision appeared to be a duty that the clerk of
court should perform before sending a report to
the Secretary, it is incorporated into this
section, which sets forth the other duties of
these clerks.. See also HG § 4-206.

The provision of former Article 62, § 18 that
gave legal effect to copies of marriage records
"certified under the seal of the said Board {of
Health}" is deleted as unnecessary in light of
CJ § 10-204, which generally provides for use in
evidence of certified public records. See also
HG § 4-217, which enables the Secretary to provide
certified copies of marriage records made after
June 1, 1951.

Article 96 1/2 - Veterans

(A) "ARMED FORCES" DEFINED.

47.

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