Gray v. State

Despite the urgings of the appellant, Lawrence Samuel Gray, to the contrary, the common law is still alive and well in Maryland. More particularly, that portion of the common law which we today hold still prospers upon these shores is the common law misdemeanor of criminal attempt.

A word, first, as to it. The notion that an attempt to commit a crime — any crime, felony or misdemeanor, statutory or common law, preexisting or of later origin — is itself a crime came relatively late into Anglo-American jurisprudence. It had its origins in the Court of Star Chamber, during Tudor and early Stuart…