State v. Greenberg

Henderson, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The State appeals from an order granting motions to dismiss and to quash warrants charging the appellees with maintaining a junk yard in Prince George’s County without having obtained a permit therefor from the county commissioners, in violation of Code (1957), Art. 27, sec. 469. The trial court held the statute, applicable now in some ten counties, to be unconstitutional. The State’s right to appeal is conceded.

The statute provides: “It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation, either to maintain or permit to be maintained outside of any incorporated municipality a junk yard, a public dump or a lot on which refuse, trash or junk is deposited or motor vehicles are dismantled or stored within five hundred (500) feet of a public highway or within five hundred (500) feet of the residence of another, or for any person, firm or corporation, to throw, dump or deposit any trash, junk or other refuse upon the same, or to dismantle any motor vehicle thereon, unless said person, firm or corporation shall have obtained a permit from the county commissioners of the county in which said property or lot is situated, or from any agency or department having zoning or planning powers over the particular area; and, in granting said permit, said county commissioners, zoning agency or department shall prescribe the conditions under which same shall be operated or maintained; and any applicant aggrieved by the refusal of said county commissioners, zoning agency or department to issue such permit shall have the right to appeal to the circuit court for the county, provided that such appeal is taken within ⁴⁷³ ten days from such refusal. The zoning agency or department of any county shall exercise the powers under this section only while designated to do so by the county commissioners of the particular county. Any person violating the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not exceeding twenty-five dollars ($25.00) for each such violation, and each day on which such violation continues shall be considered a separate offense.” (There follows a list of counties in which the provisions of the statute apply.) The trial court based its ruling that the statute was unconstitutional on the absence of any definite