State v. Beach

Bond, C. J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The question presented is whether a person convicted before a justice of the peace of hunting game without a license, and fined, under the section which makes that a misdemeano'r punishable by a fine (article 99, section 102, first enacted Act 1918, ch. 468, sec. 11), has a right of appeal from the ⁶¹⁹ conviction and sentence to the circuit court for the county in which the case originated. The appellee here; after having been so convicted and fined before a justice of the peace in Wicomico County, appealed to the circuit court for that county. The State moved that the appeal be dismissed, but its motion was overruled by the court and the appeal entertained; the State then declined to offer testimony on the issue of fact, and the accused was acquitted.

The State brings the question before this Court on appeal. Seetioh 102 of article 99 of the Code provides for trial before a justice of the peace of any person accused of hunting game without a license, but it contains in itself no provision for an appeal from conviction and sentence under it, and, upon a well established principle, if this were the only section of the law to be considered, no appeal having been given by it, none would lie. State v. Ward, 95 Md. 118 . The accused based his appeal, however, upon the general provision for appeals from justices, given in article 52, section 12, of the Code, and the question in controversy is, finally, whether this latter section gives the right of appeal from convictions under article 99, section 102, for hunting without a license.

Section 12 of article 52, on the criminal jurisdiction of justices generally, gives a, right of appeal without any express qualification, but within the limits of the jurisdiction with which that whole section is concerned. The section as it now stands, however, does not contain any specification or description of particular offenses; it is general in its description of cases included, making its provisions applicable td the jurisdiction of justices generally over offenses punishable under other sections of the law. It provides that the justices, in all but four counties with which we are not concerned, and Baltimore City, “shall have hereafter jurisdiction to hear, try and determine all cases involving the charge of any offense, crime or misdemeanor, not punishable by confinement in the penitentiary or involving a felonious intent, which may he committed in their respective counties,” and “all prosecutions or proceedings for the recovery of any penalty for doing or omitting to' do' any act within their re ⁶²⁰ spective counties, the doing of which or the omission to do which is made punishable under the laws of this State by any pecuniary fine or penalty, or by imprisonment in jail or in the Maryland House of Correction, all of which acts or omissions are hereby declared to be criminal