verbal and statement shall be recorded in full in the Minutes of the Board and shall be published once in the official journal of the State. The provisions of this section shall also apply to the bonds and coupons to be retired by the issue herein authorized and by the credit to the Free School Fund herein directed and likewise to the Interim Certificates mentioned in Section Two of this article. SEC. 10. The provisions of this article shall be self-operative. [ART. 324a]. The Board of Control of the State Penitentiary or its successor or successors in office is hereby authorized and empowered to incur debt, issue interest bearing notes in serials or other form for a term of not to exceed fifteen years, to the amount of Four Hundred Thousand Dollars at a rate of interest not exceeding five per cent per annum, payable semi-annually, for the purpose of funding and retiring its floating and other outstanding indebtedness, and is authorized to secure same by mortgage on any or all of its real estate, and the faith and credit of the State of Louisiana is hereby pledged to guaran tee the payment of said obligations and the interest thereon, but the Board of Control or its successor shall be required to pay same out of its own revenues and earnings and only when the same are exhausted shall the State make good the residue. The General Assembly shall pass the necessary enabling act to carry this amendment into effect and Act No. 137 of the Acts of 1916 on this subject matter is hereby approved for this purpose.30 AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION. ART. 325. Propositions for the amendment to this Constitution may be made by the General Assembly at any session thereof, and if two-thirds of all the members elected to each house shall concur therein, after such proposed amend ments have been read in such respective houses on three separate days, such proposed amendment or amendments, together with the yeas and nays thereon, shall be entered on the Journal, and the Secretary of State shall cause the same to be published in two newspapers published in the Parish of Orleans and in one paper in each other parish of the State in which a newspaper is published for two months preceding an election for Representative in the General Assembly or in Congress, to be designated by the General Assembly, at which time the said amendment or amendments shall be submitted to the electors for their approval or rejection; and if a majority voting on said amendment or amendments shall approve and ratify the same, then such amendment or amendments so approved and ratified shall become a part of the Constitution. When more than one amendment shall be submitted at the same time, they shall be so submitted as to enable the electors to vote on each amendment separately. The result of said election shall be made known by proclamation of the Governor. SCHEDULE. ART. 326. That no inconvenience may arise from the adoption of this Constitution, and in order to carry this Constitution into complete operation, it is hereby declared: First-That all laws in force in this State, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, not inconsistent therewith, and constitutional when enacted, shall remain in full force and effect until altered or repealed by the General Assembly or until they expire by their own limitation. Second-All writs, actions, causes of action, proceedings, prosecutions and rights of individuals, or bodies corporate, and of the State, when not inconsistent with this Constitution, shall continue as valid and in full force and effect. Third The provisions of all laws, which are inconsistent with this Constitution, shall cease upon its adoption, except that all laws which are inconsistent with such provisions of this Constitution as require legislation to enforce them, shall remain in full force until such legislation is had. Fourth-All recognizances, obligations and all other instruments entered into 30[Article 324a] is a new article; it was proposed by the general assembly of 1916 and was ratified at the election of November 7, 1916. No article or section number was assigned to this amendment and it has for convenience been inserted here. or executed before the adoption of this Constitution, to the State, or to any parish, city, municipality, board, or other public corporation therein, and all tines, taxes, penalties, forfeitures and rights, due, owing or accruing to the State of Louisiana, or to any parish, city, municipality, board, or other public corporation therein under the Constitution and laws heretofore in force, and all writs, prosecutions, actions and proceedings, except as herein otherwise provided, shall continue and remain unaffected by the adoption of this Constitution. All indictments and informations which shall have been found or filed, or may hereafter be found or filed for any crime or offense committed before the adoption of this Constitution, may be prosecuted as if no change had been made, except as herein otherwise provided. Fifth-All officers, executive, legislative and judicial, State, parish or municipal, who may be in office at the adoption of this Constitution, or who may be elected or appointed before the election or appointment of their successors as herein provided, shall hold their respective offices until their terms shall have expired, and until their successors are duly qualified, as provided in this Constitution, unless sooner removed, as may be provided by law; and shall receive the compensation now fixed by the Constitution and laws in force at the adoption of this Constitution, except as herein otherwise provided. Sixth-The Constitution of this State, adopted in 1898, and all amendments thereto, are declared to be superseded by this Constitution. But the omission from this Constitution of any Article of the Constitution of 1898 and the amendBients thereto or of any other existing Constitutional provision shall not amount to the repeal thereof, unless the same be inconsistent with this Constitution. Seventh-The Supreme Court, Courts of Appeal, District Courts, City Courts and all other courts, provided for by this Constitution, are declared to be, and shall be construed to be the same courts as those of the same name, created by the Constitution of 1898, and all amendments thereto and all writs, orders and process issued from said courts, which shall be pending, or in course of execution at the date when this Constitution goes into effect, together with all the records and archives of said courts, shall at once, by virtue of this article. be transferred to, and held to be cases pending in, and writs, orders and process issued from, and in course of execution, under the authority of, and records and archives of said courts respectively, as organized under this Constitution. Eighth-This Convention, adopted by the people of the State of Louisiana, in convention assembled, shall be in full force and effect from and after this the twenty-second day of November, 1913, save and except as otherwise provided in and by this Constitution. Ninth-There shall be printed in pamphlet form 500 copies of the Journal of the Convention and 5,000 copies of this Constitution, and each member of this Convention shall be entitled to two copies of the Journal and 25 copies of the Constitution, including one copy of both bound together in leather. The remaining copies shall be delivered to the Secretary of State, to be disposed of as may now or hereafter be ordered by the General Assembly. Done in Convention, in the City of Baton Rogue, on this the twenty-second day of November, in the year of our Lord, one thousand nine hundred and thirteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America, the one hundred and thirty-eighth. [ORIGINAL SIGNED] NEWTON C. BLANCHARD, President of the Convention, Member from Caddo. First Vice-President of the Convention. CHAS. J. THEARD, Second Vice-President of the Convention, ATTEST: ROBT. S. LANDRY, Secretary of the Convention. CONSTITUTION OF MAINE-1819.* PREAMBLE. We, the people of Maine, in order to establish justice, insure` tranquility, provide for our mutual defense, promote our common welfare, and secure to ourselves and our posterity the blessings of liberty, acknowledging with grateful hearts the goodness of the Sovereign Ruler of the Universe in affording us an opportunity, so favorable to the design; and, imploring His aid and direction in its accomplishment, do agree to form ourselves into a free and independent State, by the style and title of The State of Maine, and do ordain and estab lish the following Constitution for the government of the same. ARTICLE I. DECLARATION OF RIGHTS, SECTION 1. All men are born equally free and independent, and have certain natural, inherent and unalienable rights, among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and of pursuing and obtaining safety and happiness. SEC. 2. All power is inherent in the people; all free governments are founded in their authority and instituted for their benefit; they have therefore an unalienable and undefeasible right to institute government and to alter, reform, or totally change the same, when their safety and happiness require it. SEC. 3. All men have a natural and unalienable right to worship AlmightyGod according to the dictates of their own consciences, and no one shall be hurt, molested or restrained in his person, liberty or estate for worshipping God in the manner and season most agreeable to the dictates of his conscience, nor for his religious professions or sentiments, provided he does not disturb the public peace, nor obstruct others in their religious worship;—and all persons demeaning themselves peaceably, as good members of the State, shall be equally under the protection of the laws, and no subordination nor perference of any one sect or denomination to another shall ever be established by law, nor shall any religious test be required as a qualification for any office or trust. under this State; and all religious societies in this State, whether incorporate or unincorporate, shall at all times have the exclusive right of electing their public teachers, and contracting with them for their support and maintenance. SECTION 4. Every citizen may freely speak, write and publish his sentiments on any subject. being responsible for the abuse of this liberty; no laws shall be passed regulating or restraining the freedom of the press; and in prosecutions for any publication respecting the official conduct of men in public capacity, or the qualifications of those who are candidates for the suffrages of the people, or where the matter published is proper for public information. the truth thereof may be given in evidence, and in all indictments for libels. The constitution of the state of Maine was framed by a convention which assembled at Portland, on October 11, and adjourned on October 29, 1819. The constitution was ratified by the people in town meetings, on December 6, 1819. The constitution was modified by the adoption of amendments proposed in 1834, 1837, 1839, 1841, 1844. 1847, 1850, 1855, 1864, 1868, 1869 and 1875. In pursuance of a resolution adopted February 24, 1875, the amendments made to the constitution to that date were incorporated in the original instrument and this draft and arrangement was formally approved and adopted by the legislature by a resolution of February 23, 1876, and ordered to be enrolled on parchment and deposited in the office of the secretary of state. Since the redraft of the constitution in 1876, amendments were added in 1877, 1880, 1885, 1889, 1893, 1899, 1909, 1913 and 1915. These amendments are numbered from XXII to XXXVII, inclusive, but they have never been formally incorporated in the constitution, although they are a vital part of it. The basis of the present constitution of Maine, then, is the draft of 1819; the declaration of rights has been amended only once; the amendments adopted to the rest of the constitution between 1819 and 1876 have been written into the text of the instrument; the amendments adopted between 1876 and 1916 are indicated as “Amendments" but have never been written into the constitution. the Jury, after having received the direction of the Court, shall have a right to determine, at their discretion, the law and the fact. SEC. 5. The people shall be secure in their persons, houses, papers and possessions from all unreasonable searches and seizures; and no warrant to search any place, or seize any person or thing, shall issue without a special designation of the place to be searched, and the person or thing to be seized, nor without probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation. SEC. 6. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall have a right to be heard by himself and his counsel, or either, at his election; To demand the nature and cause of the accusation, and have a copy thereof; To be confronted by the witnesses against him; To have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor; To have a speedy, public and impartial trial, and, except in trials by martial law or impeachment, by a jury of the vicinity. He shall not be compelled to furnish or give evidence against himself, nor be deprived of his life, liberty, property or privileges, but by judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land. SEC. 7. No person shall be held to answer for a capital or infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases of impeachment, or in such cases of offenses as are usually cognizable by a justice of the peace, or in cases arising in the army or navy, or in the militia when in actual service in time of war or public danger. The legislature shall provide by law a suitable and impartial mode of selecting juries and their usual number and unanimity, in indictments and convictions, shall be held indispensable. SEC. 8. No person, for the same offense, shall be twice put in jeopardy of fe or limb. SEC. 9. Sanguinary laws shall not be passed; all penalties and punishments shall be proportioned to the offense; excessive bail shall not be required, for excessive fines imposed, nor cruel nor unusual punishments inflicted. SEC. 10. No person before conviction shall be bailable for any of the crimes, which now are, or have been dominated capital offenses since the adoption of the Constitution, where the proof is evident or the presumption great, whatever the punishment of the crimes may be. And the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.1 SEC. 11. The Legislature shall pass no bill of attainder, ex post facto law, nor law impairing the obligation of contracts, and no attainder shall work corruption of blood nor forfeiture of estate. SEC. 12. Treason against this State shall consist only in levying war against it, adhering to its enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or confession in open court. SEC. 13. The laws shall not be suspended but by the Legislature or its authority. SEC. 14. No person shall be subject to corporal punishment under military law, except such as are employed in the army or navy, or in the militia when in actual service in time of war or public danger. SEC. 15. The people have a right at all times in an orderly and peaceable manner to assemble to consult upon the common good, to give instructions to their representatives, and to request, of either department of the government by petition or remonstrance, redress of their wrongs and grievances. SEC. 16. Every citizen has a right to keep and bear arms for the common defense; and this right shall never be questioned. SEC. 17. No standing army shall be kept up in time of peace without the consent of the Legislature, and the military shall, in all cases, and at all times, be in strict subordination to the civil power. SEC. 18. No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house 1 Amendment proposed by the legislature on March 30, 1837, ratified on the second Monday of September, 1837, and declared adopted by the senate on March 20, and the house on March 21, 1838. without the consent of the owner or occupant, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law. SEC. 19. Every person, for an injury done him in his person,-reputation, property or immunities, shall have remedy by due course of law; and right and justice shall be administered freely and without sale, completely and without denial, promptly and without delay.. SEC. 20. In all civil suits, and in all controversies concerning property, thể parties shall have a right to a trial by jury, except in cases where it has here tofore been otherwise practiced; the party claiming the right may be heard by himself and his counsel, or either, at his election. SEC. 21. Private property shall not be taken for public uses without just compensation; nor unless the public exigencies require it. SEC. 22. No tax or duty shall be imposed without the consent of the peopie or of their representatives in the Legislature. SEC. 23. No title of nobility or hereditary distinction, privilege, honor of emolument, shall ever be granted or confirmed, nor shall any office be created, the appointment to which shall be for a longer time than during good behaviorSEC. 24. The enumeration of certain rights shall not impair nor deny others retained by the people. ARTICLE II. SECTION 1. Every male citizen of the United States of the age of twenty one years and upwards, excepting paupers, persons under guardianship, and Indians not taxed, having his residence established in this State for the term of three months next preceding any election, shall be an elector for Governor Senators and Representatives, in the town or plantation where his residence i so established; and the elections shall be by written ballot. But persons it the military, naval or marine service of the United States, or this State, shal not be considered as having obtained such established residence by being sta tioned in any garrison, barrack, or military place, in any town or plantation nor shall the residence of a student at any seminary of learning entitle him t the right of suffrage in the town or plantation where such seminary is estab lished. No person, however, shall be deemed to have lost his residence by reason of his absence from the State in the military service of the United States, of of this State.2 SEC. 2. Electors shall, in all cases, except treason, felony or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest on the days of election, during their attendance at, going to, and returning therefrom. SEC. 3. No elector shall be obliged to do duty in the militia on any day. of election, except in time of war or public danger, SEC. 4. The election of Governor, Senators and Representatives shall be on the second Monday of September annually forever. But citizens of the State absent therefrom in the military service of the United States or of this State. and not in the regular army of the United States, being otherwise qualified electors, shall be allowed to vote on Tuesday next after the first Monday of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, for governor and senators, and their votes shall be counted and allowed in the same manner, and with the same effect, as if given on the second Monday of September in that year. And they shall be allowed to vote for governor, senators and representatives on the second Monday of September annually there after forever, in the manner herein provided. On the day of election a poll shall be opened at every place without this State where a regiment, battalion. battery, company, or detachment of not less than twenty soldiers from the State of Maine, may be found or stationed, and every citizen of said State of the age of twenty-one years, in such military service, shall be entitled to vote as aforesaid; and he shall be considered as voting in the city, town, plantation and county in this State where he resided when he entered the service. » 2 Amended by the addition of the last sentence by a resolution of March 24. 1864, ratified at the September town meetings of 1864. See Amendments, Article |