THE 
HEDICAL LAW 
LAWS OF 1892 
jfc 1894 
1896 
Enacted by the Haryland Legislature. Practitioners 
of Medicine. 
CHAPTER 296, LAWS OF 1892. 
CHAPTER 296. 
AN ACT to repeal and re-enact with additions 
and amendments sections thirty-nine, forty, 
forty-one, forty-two, forty-three, forty-four, 
forty-five, forty-six and forty-seven of 
article forty-three, of the Code of Public 
General Laws, title “Health,” sub-title 
“ Practitioners of Medicine,” and to add ad- 
ditional sections thereto to be designated as 
sections forty-nine, fifty, fifty-one and 
fifty-two. 
Section i. Be it enacted by the General 
Assembly of Maryland, That sections 39, 40, 
41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46 and 47 of Art. 43, of the 
Code of Public General Laws, title, “Health,” 
sub-title “ Practitioners of Medicine,” be and 
the same are hereby repealed and re-enacted 
with amendments and additions, and that 
new sections be added to said article to be 
designated as sections 49, 50, 51 and 52, so that 
the said title shall read as follows : 
39. Every person not now practicing medi- 
cine, and surgery, who shall hereafter begin 
to practice medicine and surgery in any of 
its departments, except dentistry, in the State 
of Maryland, shall possess the qualifications 
required by this act. 4 
40. From and after the first Tuesday in June, 
Eighteen hundred and ninety-two, there shall 
be and continue to be two separate boards of 
medical examiners for the State of Maryland, 
one representing the Medical and Chirurgical 
Faculty of the State of Maryland, and one 
representing the Maryland State Homeopathic 
Medical Society of the State of Maryland. 
Each board shall consist of seven members, 
and each of said members shall serve for a 
term of four years, or until their successors 
are appointed and qualified, each board to 
have exclusive rights to examine, pass upon 
the qualifications of, and license its own appli- 
cants, said members of the first or old school 
board to be appointed by the Medical and Chi- 
rurgical Faculty of Maryland, of which two 
shall be from the countiesof the Eastern Shore, 
and five from the Western Shore, of which 
latter number two shall be from the counties 
west of the Blue Ridge Mountains ; and 
said second or Homeopathic Board to be 
composed of seven physicians appointed by 
the Maryland State Homeopathic Medical 
Society, of which three shall be residents of 
Baltimore, and four of the State at large ; the 
appointees shall be physicians actually en- 
gaged in the practice of medicine, and of rec- 
ognized ability and honor ; the term of office 
of each board shall commence on the first 
Tuesday in June, Eighteen hundred and nine- 
ty-two. No member of any college or univer- 
sity, and no physician having a pecuniary in- 
terest in the trade of pharmacy, shall be ap- pointed to serve as a member of either of said 
boards ; vacancies occurring in such for un- 
expired terms shall be filled by the board, in 
accordance with the foregoing provisions of 
this section, and for expired term in same 
manner as for first appointees. 
41. That each board of medical examiners 
shall meet within thirty days after receiving 
official notice of their appointment. At the 
first meeting of each of the boards respec- 
tively, an organization shall be effected by the 
election, from their own membership, of a 
president and secretar}', for the purpose of 
examining applicants for license ; each of 
said boards of medical examiners shall hold 
one or more stated or special meetings in each 
year, due notice of which shall be made pub- 
lic, at such times and places as may be de- 
termined by the members thereof respec- 
tively ; at said stated or special meetings a 
majority of the members of the board shall 
constitute a quorum thereof. Each of said 
boards of medical examiners shall keep an 
official register of all applicants for examina- 
tion for a license to practice medicine and 
surgery in this State, said register for license 
shall show the name, age and last place of 
residence of each candidate, the school from 
which he or she may have graduated, and 
whether such applicant was rejected or 
licensed under this act; but such matters shall 
not be written in said register or made public 
until after the examination. 
42. At the first meeting of an examining 
5 6 
board, or at a stated or special meeting held 
subsequently, suitable provisions shall be 
made by each of the examining boards to pre- 
pare a schedule of written examinations upon 
anatomy, physiology, chemistry, surgery, 
practice of medicine, materia medica and 
therapeutics, obstetrics, gynecology, pathol- 
ogy, medical jurisprudence, and hygiene, 
and shall require the same standard of excel- 
lence from all candidates. In the depart- 
ment of therapeutics and practice the questions 
shall be in harmony with the tenets of the 
school selected by the candidate ; the stand- 
ard of acquirements therein to be established 
by each board for itself. Whenever members 
of any board are necessarily absent from 
meetings held for the examination of appli- 
cants for license, suitable temporary provi- 
sions shall be made for thorough examination 
in each and all of the aforesaid subjects by 
the members present. The examination shall 
be fundamental in character and such as can 
be answered in common by all schools of 
practice. The votes of all the examiners 
present shall be “yes” or “no,” written 
with their signature upon the backs of the 
examination papers of each candidate for the 
respective branches. 
43. That all persons commencing the prac- 
tice of medicine or surgery in any of its 
branches after the passage of this act by the 
General Assembly shall make a written ap- 
plication for license to the president of either 
board of medical examiners which said ap- 7 
plicant may elect, together with satisfactory 
proof that the applicant is more than twenty- 
one years of age, is of good moral character, 
has obtained a competent common school ed- 
ucation, and has either received a diploma 
conferring the degree of Doctor of Medicine 
from some legally incorporated medical col- 
lege in the United States or a diploma or 
license conferring the full right to practice 
all the branches of medicine and surgery in 
some foreign country and has also both studied 
medicine three years and attended three 
courses of lectures, in different years in some 
legally incorporated medical college or col- 
leges prior to the granting of said diploma 
or foreign license ; provided, that two courses 
of medical lectures, both of which shall be 
either begun or completed within the same 
calendar year, shall not satisfy the above re- 
quirement, provided, that this condition shall 
not apply to students who shall be in their 
second year in a medical college, nor phy- 
sicians who shall be practicing medicine at 
the time of the passage of this act. Such 
proof shall be made, if required, upon affi- 
davit, upon the making of said application 
and proof and payment of fee as provided ; 
the president of the board to whom such ap- 
plication was made, if satisfied with the same, 
shall direct the secretary thereof to issue to 
said applicant an order for examination, and 
when said applicant shall have passed an ex- 
amination as to proficiency satisfactory to 
said board, the president shall grant to such 8 
applicant a license to practice medicine and 
surgery in the State of Maryland. 
44. That all examinations shall be con- 
ducted in such manner that the name, school 
of graduation and preparatory training of 
said applicant shall not be made known to the 
board of examiners until his examination 
papers have been graded. An applicant re- 
ceiving a majority of the votes of the board 
before whom the applicant appears shall be 
considered to have passed a satisfactory ex- 
amination and entitled to the license of said 
board. 
45. That a fee of ten dollara shall be paid to 
the secretary of the board before whom the 
applicant appears, before such examination 
is had, which said fee shall be applied by said 
board towards paying the expenses of said 
board. 
46. That the board shall refuse to grant a 
license to any applicant who may be radically 
deficient in his examination in any essential 
branch ; provided, that in case of failure of 
any such examination the candidate, after the 
expiration of one year from his rejection, 
shall have the privileges of another examina- 
tion by the board to which application was 
first made. CHAPTER 2J7, LAWS OF J894. 
CHAPTER 217. 
AN ACT to repeal and re-enact Sec. 47, of 
Art. 43, of the Code of Public General Laws, 
entitled “Health,” sub-title “Practitioners 
of Medicine,” and to add additional sec- 
tions thereto, to be designated as Sections 
53, 54, 55, 56> 57, 58, 59 and 60 of said 
article. 
Section i. Be it enacted by the General 
Assembly of Maryland, That Sec. 47, of Art. 
43, of the Code of Public General Laws, title 
“Health,” sub-title “ Practitioners of Medi- 
cine,” be, and the same is hereby repealed 
and re-enacted, that new sections be added to 
said article, to be designated as Sections 53, 54, 
55. 56, 57, 58, 59 and 60, so as to read as 
follows : 
47. That every license to practice medicine 
and surgery, issued pursuant to the provisions 
of this Act, shall be subscribed by the presi- 
dent and secretary of the board before whom 
the applicant has passed. It shall also have 
affixed to it by the person authorized to affix 
the same, the seal of said Medical and Chirur- 
gical Faculty of Maryland, or of the Maryland 
State Homeopathic Medical Society, as the 
license may require, every such license to be 
in the following form and to the following 
effect: 10 
To all whom it may concern, greeting: 
Be it known that on the day of , 
A. D. having offered as satisfactory proof 
that was more than twenty-one years of 
age, and had received a proper preliminary 
education; we, therefore, gave a written order 
for the examination of said before one of 
the board of medical examiners of the State 
of Maryland ; that the said was fully ex- 
amined before the said board and found pro- 
ficient and qualified to practice medicine and 
surgery in the State of Maryland as a physi- 
cian and surgeon, and have caused the names 
of the president and secretary of our board to 
be subscribed and the seal of our society to be 
affixed hereto. 
Witness our hand, and the seal of our so- 
ciety, this day of A. D. President, 
; Secretary. 
(Seal of Society). 
53. From and after the first day of July, 
1894, no person shall practice medicine ©r 
surgery in the State of Maryland unless he or 
she shall be duly registered as a physician or 
surgeon in accordance with the provision of 
this act. 
54. Evey person who was practicing medi- 
cine in the State of Maryland on or before the 
first day of June, 1892, shall be entitled to be 
registered as a physician or surgeon, or both, 
upon application to the Clerk of the Circuit 
Court of the county in which he or she may 
reside, or to the Clerk of the Circuit Court of 
Baltimore City, if the applicant shall reside in 11 
Baltimore City, and such application shall be 
in writing, signed by the applicant, who shall 
state, under oath, that he or she was, in fact, 
a practitioner of medicine or surgery in the 
State of Maryland on or before the first day 
of June, 1892, and, thereupon, it shall be the 
duty of said clerk to register such application, 
and the name of such applicant, as physician 
or surgeon, or both, in a book to be kept for 
such purpose, and a certified copy of such 
entry of registration, under the seal of the 
court, shall be legal evidence of such regis- 
tration in all the courts of the State. 
55. All persons who have commenced to 
practice medicine or surgery in the State of 
Maryland since the first day of June, 1892 ; or 
who shall hereafter commence to practice 
medicine or surgery in the State, shall not be 
entitled to be registered in the Registry of 
Physicians and Surgeons, as required by law, 
except upon filing with the Clerk of the Circuit 
Court of the county or city in which he or she 
shall reside, a license from one of the duly 
constituted boards of examiners of this State, 
in accordance with the terms of sec’s 47 and 48 
of this article, except that physicians and sur- 
geons who have come into this State since the 
first day of June, 1892, or who shall hereafter 
come into the State to follow the practice of 
medicine and surgery, may receive a license, 
which shall entitle them to be registered as 
physicians and surgeons, in accordance with 
law, upon application to one of the duly con- 
stituted boards of medical examiners in ac- 12 
cordance with the provisions of sec. 56 of this 
Act. 
56. Physicians and surgeons of good moral 
and professional standing, who have come 
into this State with intent to follow the prac- 
tice of medicine and surgery within this State, 
since the first day of June, 1892, or who shall 
hereafter come into the State, being graduates 
of a medical college or university of good 
standing, and who have been practitioners of 
medicine or surgery for more than ten years 
prior to the date of the application, may make 
application to the president of the board of 
medical examiners of this State, which appli- 
cation shall be under, and shall state where 
and how long said applicant has been engaged 
in the practice of medicine and surgery, and 
from what medical college, university or 
other institution of learning he or she has 
graduated ; and thereupon the said board of 
medical examiners shall have the authority 
and discretion to require said applicant to 
undergo an examination, in accordance with 
the provisions of secs. 41 to 47 inclusive of 
this Act, or may require said applicant to sub- 
mit to a special examination, the terms and 
methods of which shall be prescribed by the 
said Board of Medical Examiners ; and, upon 
paying the fee for examination, as set out in 
sec. 45, of this article, after the examination 
and the determination of said Board thereupon, 
that said applicant is qualified to practice 
medicine and surgery, and that he is entitled 
to a license, a license shall be issued to him to 13 
She same effect as the form of license set out 
in sec. 47, of this article, which license shall 
then be filed and recorded as provided by sec. 
47 of this article, and it shall then be the duty 
©f the clerk of the court to register the name 
of the person so licensed as a physician or 
surgeon, or both, in accordance with the 
provisions of this Act. 
57. All persons whose licenses have been 
heretofore filed and recorded in accordance 
with sec. 48 of this article shall be held to be 
duly registered phy siciansand surgeons within 
the provisions of sec. 53, of this article, and all 
persons who shall hereafter receive and file 
licenses to be recorded in accordance with said 
sec. 48, shall be registered as physicians and 
surgeons under said section and the fee to be 
paid for such registration and the registration 
of the application to the clerk, or the license 
therewith, as the case may require, shall be 
one dollar. 
58. If any person shall unlawfully obtain 
and procure himself to be registered as a 
physician or surgeon, either by false and un- 
true statement contained in his application to 
the clerk of the court, as required by this Act, 
©r by presenting to said clerk a false or un- 
true license, or are fraudulently obtained by 
false and fraudulent statements made to one 
of said Boards of Medical Examiners, he or 
she shall be declared guilty of a misdemeanor 
and shall be fined not less than fifty dollars( 
nor more than five hundred dollars, and shall 
forfeit all rights and immunities obtained or 14 
conferred upon him by virtue of such regis- 
tration, as physician or surgeon. 
59. Any person who, after the first day of 
July, 1894, shall practice, or attempt to prac- 
tice, medicine or surgery in this State, with- 
out being registered in accordance with the 
provisions of this Act, shall be guilty of a 
misdemeanor, and shall be fined not less than 
ten dollars nor more than two hundred dollars 
for each offence. 
60. The provisions of this Act shall not ap- 
ply to any midwife, or person who may render 
gratuitous services in case of emergency. 
Section 2. And be it enacted, That this Act 
shall take effect from the date of its passage. 
Approved April 6, 1894. 
48. Any person receiving a license from 
either of the said boards shall file the same, or 
a certified copy thereof, with the clerk of the 
Circuit Court of the county or city in which 
he or she may practice, and it shall be the 
duty of said clerk to register the name of such 
person, and the president of the board sign, 
ing the same in a book kept for the purpose, 
as a part of the records of his office ; and the 
number of the book and the page therein con- 
taining said recorded copy shall be noted in 
the body of the license. Said records shall be 
open to public inspection,, under proper re- 
strictions as to their safe keeping, and in all 
legal proceedings shall have the same weight 
as evidence that is given to the record of the 
conveyances of land ; the fee for each regis- 15 
tration shall be one dollar, to be paid by the 
person whose license is registered. 
49. This act shall not apply to commis- 
sioned surgeons of the United States Army, 
Navy or Marine Hospital service, to physi- 
cians or surgeons in actual consultations from 
other States, or to persons temporarily prac- 
ticing under the supervision of an actual 
medical preceptor. 
50. Any person to whom the provisions of 
this Act applies, practicing or attempting to 
practice medicine or surgery in this State, 
without first having obtained the license of 
one of said boards of medical examiners, shall 
be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall pay a 
fine of not less than fifty dollars, nor more 
than two hundred dollars for each offence, or 
in default of payment shall be confined in the 
city or county jail until the fines and costs 
arep.aid, and shall be debarred from recover- 
ingcompensation for services rendered as such 
physician or surgeon. 
51. The provisions of this Act shall not ap- 
ply to any midwife or person who may render 
gratuitous services in case of emergency. 
52. It is provided that said Board shall make 
a written report to the Medical and Chirurgi- 
cal Faculty of Maryland and to the Maryland 
State Homeopathic Medical Society every two 
years. 
Approved April 2nd, 1892. CHAPTER 194, LAWS OF 1896, 
AN ACT to repeal and re-enact with amend- 
ments, sections 54 and 56 of article 43 of the 
Code of Public General Laws, entitled 
** Health,” sub-title “ Practitioners of Med- 
idine ” and to add additional sections there- 
to, to be designated as sections 61, 62, 63 
and 64 of said article. 
CHAPTER 194. 
Section i. Be it enacted by tbe General 
Assembly of Maryland, that sections 54 and 
56 of article 43 of the Code of Public General 
Laws, title ” Health,” sub-title “ Practition- 
ers of Medicine,” be and the same are hereby 
repealed and re-enacted with amendments, 
and new sections, to be known as sections 61, 
62, 63 and 64, are hereby enacted and added 
to said article, to be designated as sections 61, 
62, 63 and 64, to read as follows: 
54. Every person who was practicing med- 
icine in the State of Maryland, on or before 
the first day of June, 1892, shall be entitled to 
be registered as a physician or surgeon, or 
both, upon making application to the presi- 
dent of either board of State medical examin- 
ers, which application shall be in writing, and 
verified by the oath of said applicant taken 
before any officer entitled to administer oaths 
under the laws of this State, and shall state 18 
that the applicant was a duly qualified lawful 
practitioner of medicine, in good standing, 
actually engaged in the practice of such pro- 
fession in said State, on or before said first 
day of June, 1892. And upon receiving said 
application, and being satisfied of the truth of 
said statement therein contained, said presi- 
dent of such board shall issue or endorse his 
permit for such applicant to be registered, 
upon a cop)' of such application, which per- 
mit shall also be countersigned by the secre- 
tary of said board ; and any president of such 
board, to whom such application is addressed, 
may in his discretion make inquiry, and ex- 
amine witnesses under oath, or receive other 
evidence as to the truth of the statements 
contained in such application, for a permit to 
be registered ; and if the president of either 
of such boards of medical examiners shall act 
upon such application, and shall refuse the 
same, then no president of the other of said 
boards shall entertain or act upon any appli- 
cation of such applicant for such permit. 
And upon the presentation of a permit to be 
registered, signed by the president, and coun- 
tersigned by the secretary of either of said 
boards of medical examiners, to the clerk of 
the county where the applicant may reside, 
or to the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Balti- 
more City, if said applicant shall reside in 
Baltimore City, it shall be the duty of the 
said clerk to register such application and 
permit, and the name of such applicant as 
physician or surgeon, or both, in a book to be 19 
kept for such purpose, and a certified copy of 
such entry of registration, under the seal of 
the court, shall be legal evidence of such reg- 
istration in all the courts of the State ; pro- 
vided, however, that the provisions of this 
act shall not apply to those practicing medi- 
cine in the State of Maryland prior to June, 
1892, and who registered as practitioners of 
medicine prior to July, 1894. 
56. Physicians and surgeons of good moral 
and professional standing who shall hereafter 
come into this State with intent to follow the 
practice of medicine and surgery within this 
State, being graduates of a medical college 
or university of good standing, or having a 
certificate or license from a board of medical 
examiners of any State where the require- 
ments for practice are equal to those required 
by the board named in this article, may make 
application to the president of either board 
of medical examiners of this State, which ap- 
plication shall be made under oath and shall 
state when and how long said applicant has 
been engaged in the practice of medicine and 
surgery and from what medical college, uni- 
versity or other institution of learning he or 
she graduated. And, thereupon, the board 
of medical examiners shall have the authority 
and discretion to require applicants to un- 
dergo an examination, in accordance with 
provisions of sections 41 to 47, inclusive, of 
this article, or may require said applicant to 
submit to a special examination, the terms 
and methods of which shall be prescribed by 20 
the board of medical examiners, and upon 
paying the fee for examination, as set out in 
section 45 of this article. After the examina- 
tion and determination of said board, there- 
upon, that said applicant is qualified to prac- 
tice medicine and surgery, and that he is 
entitled to a license, a license shall be issued 
to him to the same effect as the form of li- 
cense set out in section 47 of this article, 
which license shall be filed and recorded as 
provided by section 47 of this article, and it 
shall then be the duty of the clerk of the 
court to register the name of the person so 
licensed as physician or surgeon, or both, in 
accordance with the provisions of this Act. 
61. Any citizen of Maryland having infor- 
mation which causes him to believe that any 
person has been heretofore wrongfully and 
improperly registered as physician or sur- 
geon, or both, upon his application to the 
clerk of any court may apply, by petition, to 
the Circuit Court of the county wherein such 
registration was made, or to the City Court 
of Baltimore City, if such registration was in 
Baltimore City, which petition shall be under 
oath, and shall state that the petitioner 
is informed and believes that the person 
named therein has heretofore been improp- 
erly and wrongfully registered as physician 
or surgeon, or both, upon his own application 
and affidavit upon the register of physicians 
or book kept for such purpose in any court of 
this State, for the reason (as said petitioner is 
empowered) that such person was not law- 21 
fully practicing medicine in the State of 
Maryland, as a duly qualified practitioner of 
medicine in said State, entitled to be regis- 
tered as a physician or surgeon upon his own 
application to the clerk of said court ; and 
that said petitioner prays that the name of 
suah person shall be struck from the registry 
of physicians aforesaid. Upon the filing of 
such petition the court or one of the judges 
thereof shall pass an order requiring the per- 
son therein alleged to be wrongfully or im- 
properly registered to answer the same, under 
oath, on or before a date to be named within 
thirty days from the date of such order and 
to show cause, if any there be, why the prayer 
of such petition should not be granted, which 
order shall be served upon said last-named 
person ; and if said petition shall not be 
answered within the time named, as aforesaid, 
or if the answer thereto shall be adjudged in- 
sufficient by the court, then the court shall 
pass an order directing that the name of such 
person alleged to be wrongfully or improp- 
erly registered shall be stricken from the 
registry of physicians or surgeons where the 
same shall have been registered, but if said 
petition shall be answered by the defendant, 
beingthe person against whom it is exhibited, 
by an answer under oath, fairly and fully de- 
nying the allegations of said petition, the 
issue thus raised shall be heard and deter- 
mined by the court and either party may be 
entitled to a jury trial before a jury of the 
regular panel empmneled to try common 22 
law cases in said court ; and the defendant 
shall be competent and compellable to tes- 
tify at such hearing, and upon such hearing, 
the court shall render judgment with costs 
against the unsuccessful party. And if it 
shall determine that said defendant was not 
practicing medicine in the State of Maryland 
on or before the date of June 1st, 1892, not 
being a lawful practitioner of medicine in 
said State, on or before said date, it shall pass 
an order directing the name of said defendant 
to be stricken from the registry of physicians 
or surgeons, or both, which order shall be 
certified by the clerk of the court wherein 
said defendant was registered and he shall 
thereupon strike his name from said registry. 
But the decision upon such petition shall have 
no force and effect in any criminal prose- 
cution under this article. 
62. The term " Practicing Medicine or a 
Practitioner of Medicine,” when used with 
respect to the qualifications of a practitioner 
or applicant to be registered under this ar- 
ticle, shall be construed to mean the “ prac- 
tice of medicine” as a profession or means 
of livelihood and by one duly licensed or 
registered. If a license or register by law 
at the time when such practice is alleged 
or claimed, or by one otherwise duly quali- 
fied to practice medicine, if other qualifica- 
tions were required by law at such date. 
63. It shall be the duty of the secretary 
of either or both of said State Boards of Med- 
ical Examiners to inquire into all violations of 23 
law under this article and to institute all 
proceedings or prosecutions thereof, and all 
expenses incurred by any secretary of either 
of such boards hereunder shall be allowed 
and paid out of the funds acquired by or 
belonging to said boards respectively. 
64. The said board of medical examiners 
shall have full control over the expenditures 
and disposition of the funds collected from 
the fees and charges authorized to be made 
under the terms of this article, and shall fix 
and allow such compensation as they may 
deem proper for service rendered in the per- 
formance of the duties required by this ar- 
ticle by members of said board or others, 
with the full power ; also to allow and dis- 
charge all proper expenses of said board, 
and any surplus to dispose of as said board 
may deem for the advantage of the practice 
of medicine in this State. 
Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, 
this Act shall take effect from the date of its 
passage. 
Approved April 4, 1896. The Maryland Medical Journal 
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