Opinion ID: 1908480
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Confessed Judgment for Rent Due

Text: Section 93A-26(g) provides that a lease shall contain no authorization for confession of judgment for rent due. The lower court found this provision in conflict with Article 52, § 52 of the Maryland Code; the matter is now controlled by Maryland District Rule (MDR) 645. [10] MDR 645 details the procedure by which the clerk of the District Court may enter a judgment by confession. That rule, pursuant to the authority vested in us by § 18A of Article IV of the Constitution, was duly approved and adopted by this Court on June 28, 1971; subsequent amendments to MDR 645 were approved and adopted on May 8, 1972. It is clearly a rule of procedure having the force of law until rescinded, changed or modified by the Court of Appeals or otherwise by law. Article IV, § 18A. See also, Maryland Code (1957, 1973 Repl. Vol.), Article 26, § 25. We need not decide whether MDR 645 is the equivalent of a general public law within the meaning of the Home Rule Amendment, for, assuming arguendo that it is, we do not perceive a conflict. That Rule merely details the procedure applicable when a confessed judgment is properly consented to by the defendant. We see nothing in the Rule to deprive home rule counties of the right to regulate the areas in which such consent can be validly given.