In Re William G.

Mason, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. In this case we are asked to decide whether the Maryland Cruelty to Animals Statute is unconstitutionally vague. Article 27, sections 59 and 62 of the Maryland Code (1982 Repl. Vol.) in relevant part provide: Section 59.

Any person who (1) overdrives, overloads, deprives of necessary sustenance, tortures, torments, cruelly beats, mutilates or cruelly kills; or (2) causes, procures or authorizes these acts; or (3) having the charge or custody of an animal, either as owner or otherwise, inflicts unnecessary suffering or pain upon the animal, or unnecessarily fails to provide the animal with nutritious food in sufficient quantity, necessary veterinary care, proper drink, air, space, shelter or protection from the weather, is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punishable by a fine not exceeding $1,000 or by imprisonment not to exceed 90 days, or both. Section 62. The words 'torture, 'torment’, and 'cruelty’ mean every act, omission, or neglect whereby unnecessary or unjustifiable physical pain or suffering is caused or permitted, and the word 'animal’ means every living creature except man. Appellant, William G., was found delinquent by the Juvenile Judge of the Circuit Court of Baltimore City — Division for Juvenile Causes for violating the cruelty to animals statute and was placed in a residential treatment center.

The evidence adduced at the adjudicatory hearing disclosed that on 12 March 1981 a male dog belonging to appellant attempted to mate with a female dog owned by a neighbor. When the efforts of the male dog were apparently ¹³³ repulsed by the female dog, appellant kicked the female dog and threatened to kill her. Later, appellant poured turpentine on the female dog and lit the turpentine with a match causing the dog to catch fire. An officer called to the scene observed the dog in pain and "going around in circles.” Because of the burning, the dog had to be destroyed.

Appellant argues that the cruelty to animals statute is so vague and indefinite as to violate the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Federal Constitution. That "its terms are so vague that a person of ordinary intelligence would be forced to guess as to the scope of the proscribed activity, and it fails to provide even the barest standard for enforcement.” He asserts that the statute "on its face would appear to proscribe such common activities as the swatting of flies, the steaming of live crabs, using live minnows to bait hooks or shucking fresh oysters.” It is a basic principle of due process that a criminal statute must state with reasonable clarity the acts it proscribes. In Connally v. General Construction Co., 269 U.S. 385, 391 (1926) the Supreme Court observed: That the terms of a penal statute creating a new offense must be sufficiently explicit to inform those who are subject to it what conduct on their part will render them liable to its penalties is a well-recognized requirement, consonant alike with ordinary notions of fair play and the settled rules of law; and a statute which either forbids or requires the doing of an act in terms so vague that men of common intelligence must necessarily guess at its meaning and differ as to its application violates the first essential of due process of law. Accord Bowers v. State, 283 Md. 115 (1978), and In re: Leroy T., 285 Md. 508 (1979); see also Grayned v. City of Rockford, 408 U.S. 104, 109 (1972) where the standards for evaluating vagueness were enunciated.

Vague laws offend several important values. First, because we assume that man is free to steer ¹³⁴