I didn't get any errors from the first method. The second did give an error, but both work fine when rewritten as follows:

sub meth1 {
   return 0 if $#_ == -1;
   return $_[0] if $#_ == 0 || $_[0] > $_[1];
   return $_[1];
}
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(no need to use named variables btw - just work with the contents of the input)