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when amended. And whenever the Legislature shall enact any public general law, not amendatory of any section or article in the said code, it shall be the duty of the Legislature to enact the same in articles and sections, in the same manner as the said code may be arranged; and to provide for the publication of all additions and alterations which may be made to the said code, and it shall also be the duty of the Legislature to appoint one or more commissioners learned in the law, whose duty it shall be to revise, simplify, and abridge the rules of practice, pleadings, forms of conveyancing, and proceedings of the courts of record, in this State.

18. Any bill may originate in either house of the General Assembly, and be altered, amended or rejected by the other, but no bill shall originate in either house during the last three days of the session, or become a law, until it be read on three different days of the session in each house, unless three-fourths of the members of the house, where such bill is pending, shall so determine.

19. No bill shall become a law unless it be passed in each house by a majority of the whole number of members elected, and on its final passage the ayes and noes be recorded.

20. No money shall be drawn from the treasury of the State, except in accordance with an appropriation made by law, and every such law shall distinctly specify the sum appropriated, and the object to which it shall be applied, provided that nothing herein contained shall prevent the Legislature from placing a contingent fund at the disposal of the Executive, who shall report to the Legislature at each session the amount expended and the purposes to which it was applied; an accurate statement of the receipts and expenditures of the public money shall be attached to and published with the laws after each regular session of the General Assembly.

21. No divorce shall be granted by the General Assembly.

22. No debt shall hereafter be contracted by the Legislature, unless such debt shall be authorized by a law providing for the collection of an annual tax or taxes sufficient to pay the interest on such debt as it falls due, and also to discharge the principal thereof within fifteen years from the time of contracting the same, and the taxes laid for this purpose shall not be repealed or applied to any other object until the said debt and the interest thereon shall be fully discharged, and the amount of debts so contracted and remaining unpaid shall never exceed one hundred thousand dollars. The credit of the State shall not, in any manner, be given or loaned to or in aid of any individual, association or corporation, nor shall the General Assembly have the power, in any mode, to involve the State in the construction of works of internal improvement, or in any enterprise which shall involve the faith or credit of the State, or make any appropriations therefor. And they shall not use or appropriate the proceeds of the internal improvement companies, or of the State tax now levied, or which may hereafter be levied, to pay off the public debt, to any other purpose, until the interest and debt

are fully paid, or the sinking fund shall be equal to the amount of the outstanding debt; but the Legislature may, without laying a tax, borrow an amount never to exceed fifty thousand dollars, to meet temporary deficiencies in the Treasury, and may contract debts to any amount that may be necessary for the defence of the State.

23. No extra compensation shall be granted or allowed by the General Assembly to any public officer, agent, servant or contractor, after the services shall have been rendered or the contract entered into. Nor shall the salary or compensation of any public officer be increased or diminished during his term of office.

24. No Senator or Delegate, after qualifying as such, shall, during the term for which he was elected, be eligible to any office which shall have been created, or the salary or profits of which shall have been increased during such term, or shall, during said term, hold any office or receive the salary or profits of any office, under the appointment of the Executive or Legislature.

25. Each house may punish by imprisonment, during the session of the General Assembly, any person not à member, for disrespectful or disorderly behavior in its presence, or for obstructing any of its proceedings or any of its officers in the execution of their duties; provided such imprisonment shall not, at any one time, exceed ten days.

26. The members of each house shall, in all cases, except treason, felony, or other criminal offence, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of the General Assembly, and in going to and returning from the same, allowing one day for every thirty miles such member may reside from the place at which the General Assembly is convened.

27. No Senator or Delegate shall be liable, in any civil action or criminal prosecution whatever, for words spoken in debate.

28. The House of Delegates may inquire, on the oath of witnesses, into all complaints, grievances and offences, as the Grand Inquest of the State, and may commit any person for any crime to the public jail, there to remain until discharged by due course of law-they may examine and pass all accounts of the State, relating either in the collection or expenditure of the revenue, and appoint auditors to state and adjust the same-they may call for all public or official papers, and records, and send for persons whom they may judge necessary in the course of their inquiries concerning affairs relating to the public interest, and may direct all office bonds which shall be made payable to the State, to be sued for any breach of duty.

29. In case of death, disqualification, resignation, refusal to act, expulsion or removal from the county or city for which he shall have been elected, of any person who shall have been chosen as a delegate or senator, or in case of a tie between two or more such qualified persons, a warrant of election shall be issued by the Speaker of the House of Delegates or President of the Senate, as the case may

be, for the election of another person in his place, of which election, not less than ten days notice shall be given, exclusive of the day of the publication of the notice and of the day of election; and in case of such resignation or refusal to act, being communicated in writing, to the Governor, by the person making it, or if such death occur during the legislative recess and more than ten days before its termination, it shall be the duty of the Governor to issue a warrant of election to supply the vacancy thus created in the same manner that the said Speaker or President might have done during the session of the Legislature; provided, however, that unless a meeting of the General Assembly may intervene, the election thus ordered to fill such vacancy shall be held on the day of the ensuing election for delegates and senators.

30. The Senators and delegates shall receive a per diem of four dollars, and such mileage as may be allowed by law, and the presiding officer of each house shall be allowed an addition of one dollar per day. No book or other printed matter not appertaining to the business of the session, shall be purchased or subscribed for, for the use of the members or be distributed among them, at the public expense.

31. No law passed by the General Assembly shall take effect until the first day of June next after the session at which it may be passed, unless it be otherwise expressly declared therein.

32. No law shall be passed creating the office of Attorney-General.

33. The General Assembly shall have full power to exclude from the privilege of voting at elections, or of holding any civil or military office in this State, any person who may thereafter be convicted of perjury, bribery, or other felony, unless such person shall have been pardoned by the Executive.

34. Every bill, when passed by the General Assembly, and sealed with the Great Seal, shall be presented to the Governor, who shall sign the same in the presence of the presiding officers and chief clerks of the Senate and House of Delegates. Every law shall be recorded in the office of the Court of Appeals, and in due time be printed, published and certified under the Great Seal to the several courts in the same manner as has been heretofore usual in this State. 35. No person who may hereafter be a collector, receiver or holder of public moneys, shall be eligible as Senator or Delegate, or to any office of profit or trust under this State, until he shall have accounted for and paid into the treasury all sums on the books thereof, charged to and due by him.

36. Any citizen of this State who shall, after the adoption of this Constitution, either in or out of this State, fight a duel with deadly weapons, or send or accept a challenge so to do, or who shall act as second, or knowingly aid or assist in any manner those thus offending, shall ever thereafter be incapable of holding any office of trust or profit under this State.

37. No lottery grant shall ever hereafter be authorized by the Legislature.

38. The General Assembly shall pass laws necessary to protect the property of the wife from the debts of the husband during her life, and for securing the same to her issue after her death.

39. Laws shall be passed by the Legislature to protect from execution a reasonable amount of the property of a debtor, not exceeding in value the sum of five hundred dollars.

40. The Legislature shall, at its first session after the adoption of this Constitution, adopt some simple and uniform system of charges in the offices of clerks of courts and registers of wills in the counties of this State and the city of Baltimore, and for the collection thereof; provided, the amount of compensation to any of said officers shall not exceed the sum of twenty-five hundred dollars a year, over and above office expenses, and compensation to assistants; and provided, further, that such compensation of clerks, registers, assistants, and office expenses, shall always be paid out of the fees or receipts of the offices respectively.

41. The House of Delegates shall have the sole power of impeachment in all cases, but a majority of all the members must concur in an impeachment; all impeachments shall be tried by the Senate, and when sitting for that purpose they shall be on oath or affirmation to do justice according to the law and evidence, but no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of all the senators.

42. That it shall be the duty of the Legislature so soon as the public debt shall have been fully paid off, to cause to be transferred to the several counties and the city of Baltimore, stock in the internal improvement companies, equal to the amount respectively paid by each towards the erection and completion of said works, at the then market value of said stock.

43. The Legislature shall not pass any law abolishing the relation of master or slave, as it now exists in this State.

44. No person shall be imprisoned for debt.

45. The Legislature hereafter shall grant no charter for banking purposes, or renew any banking corporation now in existence, except upon the condition that the stockholders and directors shall be liable to the amount of their respective share or shares of stock in such banking institution for all its debts and liabilities upon note, bill or otherwise; and upon the further condition that no director or other officer of said corporation shall borrow any money from said corporation; and if any director or other officer shall be convicted upon indictment of directly or indirectly violating this article, he shall be punished by fine or imprisonment at the discretion of the Court. All banks shall be open to inspection of their books, papers and accounts, under such regulations as may be prescribed by law.

46. The Legislature shall enact no law authorizing private property to be taken for public use without just compensation as agreed

237 upon between the parties or awarded by a jury, being first paid or tendered to the party entitled to such compensation.

47. Corporations may be formed under general laws, but shall not be created by special act, except for municipal purposes, and in cases where, in the judgment of the Legislature, the object of the corporation cannot be attained under general laws. special acts pursuant to this section may be altered from time to All laws and time, or repealed; provided nothing herein contained shall be construed to alter, change or amend in any manner the article in relation to Banks.

48. The Legislature shall make provision for all cases of contested elections of any of the officers not herein provided for.

49. That the rate of interest in this State shall not exceed six per cent. per annum, and no higher rate shall be taken or demanded, and the Legislature shall provide, by law, all necessary forfeitures and penalties against usury.

ARTICLE IV.-Judiciary Department.

SEC. 1. The Judicial power of this State shall be vested in a Court of Appeals, in Circuit Courts, in such Courts for the city of Baltimore as may be hereinafter prescribed, and in Justices of the Peace.

2. The Court of Appeals shall have appellate jurisdiction only, which shall be co-extensive with the limits of the State. It shall consist of a chief justice and three associate justices, any three of whom shall form a quorum, whose judgment shall be final and conclusive in all cases of appeals; and who shall have the jurisdiction which the present Court of Appeals of this State now has, and such other appellate jurisdiction as hereafter may be provided for by law. And in every case decided, an opinion, in writing, shall be filed, and provision shall be made, by law, for publishing reports of cases argued and determined in the said court. The Governor, for the time being, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall designate the chief justice, and the Court of Appeals shall hold its sessions at the city of Annapolis, on the first Monday of June, and the first Monday of December, in each and every year.

3. The Court of Appeals shall appoint its own clerk, who shall hold his office for six years, and may be re-appointed at the end thereof; he shall be subject to removal by the said court for incompetency, neglect of duty, misdemeanor in office, and for such other causes as may be prescribed by law.

4. The State shall be divided into four Judicial districts: Allegany, Washington, Frederick, Carroll, Baltimore, and Harford counties, shall compose the first; Montgomery, Howard, Anne Arundel, Calvert, St. Mary's, Charles and Prince George's, the second; Baltimore city, the third; and Cecil, Kent, Queen Anne's, Talbot, Caroline, Dorchester, Somerset, and Worcester, shall compose the fourth district. And one person from among those learned

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