wo or more persons, except in cases in, which it has been heretofore otherrise used and practiced, [and except in cases in which the value in controersy does not exceed one hundred dollars and title of real estate is not conerned,] the parties have a right to trial by jury; and this method of proedure shall be held sacred, unless, in cases arising on the high seas and uch as relate to mariners' wages, the legislature shall think it necessary ereafter to alter it. ART. 21. In order to reap the fullest advantage of the inestimable privege of trial by jury, great care ought to be taken that none but qualified ersons should be appointed to serve; and such ought to [be] fully comensated for their travel, time, and attendance. ART. 22. The liberty of the press is essential to the security of freedom a state; it ought, therefore, to be inviolably preserved, ART. 23. Retrospective laws are highly injurious, oppressive, and unjust. o such laws, therefore, should be made, either for the decision of civil causes the punishment of offenses. ART. 24. A well-regulated militia is the proper, natural, and sure defense a state. ART. 25. Standing armies are dangerous to liberty, and ought not to be ised or kept up without the consent of the legislature. ART. 26. In all cases and at all times, the military ought to be under rict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power. ART. 27. No soldier, in time of peace, shall be quartered in any house ithout the consent of the owner; and, in time of war, such quarters ought t to be made but by the civil magistrate, in a manner ordained by the gislature. ART. 28. No subsidy, charge, tax, impost, or duty shall be established, ed, laid, or levied, under any pretext whatsoever, without the consent of e people or their representatives in the legislature, or authority derived from at body. ART. 29. The power of suspending the laws or the execution of them ght never to be exercised but by the legislature, or by authority derived erefrom, to be exercised in such particular cases only as the legislature all expressly provide for. ART. 30. The freedom of deliberation, speech, and debate in either house the legislature is so essential to the rights of the people, that it cannot be e foundation of any action, complaint, or prosecution in any other court or ce whatsoever. ART. 31. The legislature shall assemble for the redress of public grievces and for making such laws as the public good may require.10 ART. 32. The people have a right, in an orderly and peaceable manner, assemble and consult upon the common good, give instructions to their presentatives, and to request of the legislative body, by way of petition or monstrance, redress of the wrongs done them, and of the grievances they ffer. ABT. 33. No magistrate or court of law shall demand excessive bail or reties, impose excessive fines or inflict cruel or unusual punishments. ART. 34. No person can in any case be subjected to law martial or to y pains or penalties by virtue of that law, except those employed in the my or navy, aml except the militia in actual service, but by authority of e legislature. ABT. 35. It is essential to the preservation of the rights of every indiual, his life, liberty, property, and character, that there be an impartial terpretation of the laws and administration of justice. It is the right of ery citizen to be tried by judges as impartial as the lot of humanity will mit. It is, therefore, not only the best policy, but for the security of the chts of the people, that the judges of the supreme judicial court should hold • Inserted in 1877. ⚫ Not in engrossed copy of 1793. 19 Article 31 was substituted for the original article 31 in 1793. their offices so long as they behave well, subject, however, to such limitations on account of age as may be provided by the constitution of the state; and that they should have honorable salaries, ascertained and established by standing laws.11 ART. 36. Economy being a most essential virtue in all states, especially! in a young one, no pension should be granted but in consideration of actuall services; and such pensions ought to be granted with great caution by the legislature, and never for more than one year at a time. ART. 37. In the government of this state, the three essential powers thereof to wit, the legislative, executive, and judicial-ought to be kept as separate from, and independent of, each other as the nature of a free govern ment will admit or as is consistent with that chain of connection that binds the whole fabric of the constitution in one indissoluble bond of union an amity. ART. 38. A frequent recurrence to the fundamental principles of the co stitution and a constant adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, indus try, frugality, and all the social virtues, are indispensably necessary to pre serve the blessings of liberty and good government. The people ought, there fore, to have a particular regard to all those principles in the choice their officers and representatives; and they have a right to require of the lawgivers and magistrates an exact and constant observance of them in th formation and execution of the laws necessary for the good administratio of government. PART SECOND. FORM OF GOVERNMENT. ARTICLE 1.12 The people inhabiting the territory formerly called T Province of New Hampshire do hereby solemnly and mutually agree wit each other to form themselves into a free, sovereign, and independent bo politic, or state, by the name of THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, GENERAL COURT. ART. 2. The supreme legislative power within this state shall be vesta in the senate and house of representatives, each of which shall have a nea tive on the other. ART. 3. The senate and house shall assemble [biennially,]18 on the fi Wednesday of [January]14 and at such other times as they may judge nece sary, and shall dissolve and be dissolved seven days next preceding the ai first Wednesday of [January]14 [biennially.]15 and shall be styled THE G ERAL COURT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, ART. 4. The general court shall forever have full power and authori to erect and constitute judicatories and courts of record or other courts be holden in the name of the state, for the hearing, trying, and determinin all manner of crimes, offenses, pleas, processes, plaints, actions, causes, mat ters, and things whatsoever, arising or happening within this state, or tween or concerning persons inhabiting, or residing, or brought within the same, or whether the same be criminal or civil, or whether the crimes capital or not capital, and whether the said pleas be real, personal, or mixed and for the awarding and issuing execution thereon; to which courts and judicatories are hereby given and granted full power and authority, from time to time, to administer oaths or affirmations for the better discovery o truth in any matter in controversy or depending before them. ART. 5. And, further, full power and authority are hereby given and granted to the said general court, from time to time to make, ordain, and 11 Article 35 was substituted for the original article 35 in 1793. 12 The word or abbreviation "Art." in this and the following articles was first inserted in the revised statutes of 1842. 13 Substituted for "every year" in 1879. 14 Substituted for "June" in 1889. 15 Substituted for "annually" in 1879. stablish all manner of wholesome and reasonable orders, laws, statutes, ordiLances, directions, and instructions, either with penalties or without, so as he same be not repugnant or contrary to this constitution, as they may judge or the benefit and welfare of this state and for the governing and ordering hereof and of the subjects of the same, for the necessary support and deense of the government thereof; and to name and settle [biennially,]16 or rovide by fixed laws for the naming and settling all civil officers within this tate, such officers excepted the election and appointment of whom are herefter in this form of government otherwise provided for; and to set forth e several duties, powers, and limits of the several civil and military officers this state, and the forms of such oaths or affirmations as shall be reectively administered unto them for the execution of their several offices d places, so as the same be not repugnant or contrary to this constitution; d, also, to impose fines, mulets, imprisonments, and other punishments; and impose and levy proportional and reasonable assessments, rates, and taxes on all the inhabitants of, and residents within, the said state, and upon I estates within the same, to be issued and disposed of by warrant, under e hand of the governor]17 of this state for the time being, with the advice d consent of the council, for the public service, in the necessary defense d support of the government of this state and the protection and preservan of the subjects thereof, according to such acts as are or shall be in force thin the same. [Provided, that the general court shall not authorize any vn to loan or give its money or credit, directly or indirectly, for the benof any corporation having for its object a dividend of profits, or in any y aid the same by taking its stock or bonds.]18 ART. 6. The public charges of government or any part thereof may be sed by taxation upon polls, estates, and other classes of property, including nchises and property when passing by will or inheritance; and there shall a valuation of the estates within the state taken auew once in every five rs, at least, and as much oftener as the general court shall order.19 ART. 7. No member of the general court shall take fees, be of counsel act as advocate in any cause before either branch of the legislature; and. on due proof thereof, such member shall forfeit his seat in the legislature.20 ART. 8. The doors of the galleries of each house of the legislature shall kept open to all persons who behave decently, except when the welfare the state, in the opinion of either branch, shall require secrecy.21 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.22 ABT. 9. There shall be, in the legislature of this state, a representation the people, biennially elected, and founded upon principles of equality, 1, in order that such representation may be as equal as circumstances will nit. every town, or place entitled to town privileges, and wards of cities sing six hundred inhabitants by the last general census of the state, taken authority of the United States, or of this state, may elect one representae; if eighteen hundred such inhabitants, may elect two representatives; 1 so proceeding in that proportion, making twelve hundred such inhabiits the mean increasing number for any additional representative: proed, that no town shall be divided or the boundaries of the wards of any y so altered as to increase the number of representatives to which such vn or city may be entitled by the next preceding census; and provided, ther, that. to those towns and cities which since the last census have been ided or had their boundaries or ward lines changed, the general court. session next before these amendments shall take effect. shall equitably 19 First inserted in the copy of the constitution in the general laws of 1878, apntly without authority. Substituted for "president" in 1793. "The proviso was added in 1879. "The whole of article 6 was re-written in 1902. » Inserted in 1793. Inserted in 1793. Provisions under this head followed those under head "Senate" prior to 1793. apportion representation in such manner that the number shall not be greater than it would have been had no such division or alteration been made.23 ART. 10. Whenever any town, place, or city ward shall have less th six hundred such inhabitants, 24 the general court [shall]25 authorize such town, place or ward to elect and send to the general court la representative]" such proportionate part of the time as the number of its inhabitants shall bear to six hundred; but the general court shall not authorize any [such]* town, place or ward to elect and send such representative, except as herein provided.27 ART. 11. The members of the house of representatives shall be chosen [biennially, 128 in the month of November.]29 and shall be the second bran of the legislature. ART. 12. All persons qualified to vote in the election of senators sha be entitled to vote, within the30 district31 where they dwell, in the choice d representatives, ART. 13. Every member of the house of representatives shall be chose by ballot, and, for two years, at least, next preceding his election, shall ha been an inhabitant of this state:"2 shall be, at the time of his election, inhabitant of the town, parish, or place he may be chosen to represent? and shall cease to represent such town, parish, or place immediately on ceasing to be qualified as aforesaid. ART. 14. The presiding officers of both houses of the legislature sha severally receive out of the state treasury as compensation in full for the services, for the term elected, the sum of two hundred and fifty dollars, an all other members thereof seasonably attending and not departing with license, the sum of two hundred dollars, exclusive of mileage: provided, how ever, that when a special session shall be called by the governor, such offices and members shall receive for attendance an additional compensation three dollars per day for a period not exceeding fifteen days, and the usu mileage.34 ART. 15. All intermediate vacancies in the house of representatives ma be filled up from time to time in the same manner as [biennial]35 elections made. ᎪᎡᎢ, 16, The house of representatives shall be the grand inquest of state, and all impeachments made by them shall be heard and tried by senate. ART. 17. All money bills shall originate in the house of representative but the senate may propose or concur with amendments, as on other bills ᎪᏒᎢ, 18, The house of representatives shall have power to adjourn the selves, but no longer than two days at a time. ART. 19. A majority of the members of the house of representatives sha be a quorum for doing business, but, when less than two-thirds of the ret sentatives elected shall be present, the assent of two-thirds of those member shall be necessary to render their acts and proceedings valid. Substituted for the original article 9 in 1878. 24 The clause "and be so situated that it cannot conveniently be classed with other town, place, or ward" was stricken out in 1889. Substituted for "may" in 1889. 26 Inserted in 1889. 27 The original article 10 was stricken out in 1889, and from this article onwar the articles were renumbered. 28 Substituted for "annually" in 1878. 20 Substituted for "March" in 1878. 30 The word "town" left out in the engrossed copy of 1793, apparently witho authority. 31 The words "parish or place" left out in the engrossed copy in 1793, apparently without authority. The words "shall have an estate within the town, parish or place which he may be chosen to represent of the value of one hundred pounds, one-half of which to be 4 freehold whereof he is seized in his own right" was stricken out in 1852. The words "shall be of the Protestant religion" stricken out in 1897. 34 Section 1 of Amendment 26 of 1793, which was substituted for the original Article 6 under "House of Representatives," was stricken out and the above artice inserted in 1889. Substituted for "annual" in 1878. ART. 20. No member of the house of representatives or senate shall be rrested or held to bail on mesne process during his going to, returning from, attendance upon, the court. ABT. 21. The house of representatives shall choose their own speaker, point their own officers, and settle the rules of proceedings in their own use, [and shall be judge of the returns, elections, and qualifications of its embers, as pointed out in this constitution.]36 They shall have authority punish by imprisonment every person who shall be guilty of disrespect to e house, in its presence, by any disorderly and contemptuous behavior, or threatening or ill treating any of its members, or by obstructing its delibitions; every person guilty of a breach of its privileges in making arrests ' debt, or by assaulting any member during his attendance at any session; assaulting or disturbing any one of its officers in the execution of any er or procedure of the house; in assaulting any witness or other person ered to attend by, and during his attendance of, the house, or in rescuing person arrested by order of the house, knowing them to be such. ART. 22. The senate, [governor,]37 and council shall have the same ers in like cases, provided, that no imprisonment by either for any offense eed ten days. ART. 23. The journals of the proceedings and all public acts of both ses of the legislature shall be printed and published immediately after y adjournment or prorogation, and, upon motion made by any one memthe yeas and nays upon any question shall be entered on the journal, any member of the senate or house of representatives shall have a right, motion made at the time for that purpose, to have his protest or dissent, the reasons, against any vote, resolve, or bill passed, entered on the nal. SENATE.38 ART. 24. The senate shall consist of [twenty-four]39 members, who shall their office for [two years]40 from the first Wednesday of [January]41 ensuing their election. ABT. 25. And, that the state may be equally represented in the senate. legislature shall, from time to time, divide the state into [twenty-four]+2 fiets, as nearly equal as may be without dividing towns and unincorpo1 places; and, in making this division, they shall govern themselves by proportion of direct taxes paid by the said districts, and timely make n to the inhabitants of the state the limits of each district. ART. 26. The free holders and other inhabitants of each district qualias in this constitution is provided. shall, [biennially]43 give in their s for a senator at some meeting holden in the month of [November.]44 ART. 27. The senate shall be the first branch of the legislature, and the tors shall be chosen in the following manner, viz.: every male inhabitant ach town, and parish with town privileges, and places unincorporated, in state, of twenty-one years of age and upward, excepting paupers and ons excused from paying taxes at their own request, shall have a right. he [biennial]45 or other meetings of the inhabitants of said towns and shes, to be duly warned and holden [biennially,146 forever, in the month November, 147 to vote, in the town or parish wherein he dwells, for the tor in the district whereof he is a member. * Inserted in 1793. Substituted for "president" in 1793. All of the provisions relating to the senate were stricken out in 1793 and the nt provisions inserted. Substituted for "twelve" in 1878. * Substituted for "one year" in 1878. |