Renz v. Bonfield Holding Co.

Bruñe, C. J., concurring in part and dissenting in part as to the imposition of costs: I concur in the holding of the majority opinion that our general rule relating to costs (Maryland Rules, Rule 882 a) did not supersede the provisions of Ch. 634 of the Acts of 1953 (now codified as Sec. 34-7 of the Baltimore County •Code) relating to costs on appeal to this Court. I do not agree, however, as to the effect of the Baltimore County ⁴⁹ Charter. The new provisions which it introduced with regard to appeals in zoning cases (Sec. 604), which apply both to appeals to the Circuit Court and to appeals to this Court, seem to me to have superseded fully the provisions of Ch. 634 relating to appeals, including those pertaining to costs. Sec. 604 concludes with the sentence: “The review proceedings provided by this section shall be exclusive.” That, I should think, would cover the matter entirely.

It seems quite evident both from the text and from the Reporter’s Notes to the Charter that it was intended to bring Sec. 604 into full accord with Code (1951), Art. 25A, § 5V, as amended by Ch. 199 of the Acts of 1953. This amendment substituted appeals to the Court of Appeals in zoning cases for possible review on certiorari in certain cases theretofore available. It made no specific provision as to costs, thereby, I think, placing them on the same basis as costs on other appeals generally. Sec. 5V as amended in 1953 (Sec. 5U of Art. 25A of the 1957 Code) concludes exactly as does Sec. 604 of the Baltimore County Charter with regard to the exclusiveness of the review thereby afforded, except that it uses the word “subsection” instead of “section.”