USA > Maryland > Leading Events of Maryland History: With Topical Analyses, References, and questions for original thought and research, revised and enlarge > Part 24
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Disqualifications
Sec. 5. No person elected and qualified as Mayor, or as a member of the City Council, shall, during the term for which he was elected, hold any other office of profit or trust, created, or to be created by the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, or by any Law relating to the Corporation of Baltimore, or hold any employment or position, the compensation of which shall be paid, directly or indirectly, out of the City Treasury ; nor shall any such person be interested, directly or indirectly, in any contract to which the City is a party ; nor shall it be lawful for any person holding any office under the City, to be interested, while holding such office, in any contract to which the City is a party.
Removal of Mayor
Sec. 6. The Mayor shall, on conviction in a Court of Law, of willful neglect of duty, or misbehavior in office, be removed from office by the Governor of the State, and a successor shall thereafter be elected, as in a case of vacancy
Debts
Sec. 7. From and after the adoption of this Constitution, no debt (except as hereinafter excepted), shall be created by the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore ; nor shall the credit of the Mayor and City Council of Bal-
1 Thus amended by the Act of 1888, ch. 397.
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timore be given or loaned to, or in aid of any individual, association, or corporation ; nor shall the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore have the power to involve the City of Baltimore in the construction of works of internal improvement, nor in granting any aid thereto, which shall involve the faith and credit of the City, nor make any appropriation therefor, unless such debt or credit be authorized by an Act of the General Assembly of Maryland, and by an ordinance of the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, submitted to the legal voters of the City of Baltimore, at such time and place as may be fixed by said ordinance, and approved by a majority of the votes cast at such time and place ; but the Mayor and City Council may, temporarily, borrow any amount of money to meet any deficiency in the City Treasury, or to provide for any emergency arising from the necessity of maintaining the police, or pre- serving the safety and sanitary condition of the City, and may make due and proper arrangements and agreements for the removal and extension, in whole or in part, of any and all debts and obligations created according to Law before the adoption of this Constitution.
Laws in force
Sec. 8. All Laws and Ordinances now in force applicable to the City of Baltimore, not inconsistent with this Article, shall be, and they are hereby continued until changed in due course of Law.
Changes authorized
Sec. 9. The General Assembly may make such changes in this Article, except in Section 7th thereof, as it may deem best ; and this Article shall not be so construed or taken as to make the political corporation of Baltimore independent of, or free from the control which the General Assembly of Mary- land has over all such Corporations in this State.
ARTICLE XII PUBLIC WORKS
Board - Sessions - Powers
Section 1. The Governor, the Comptroller of the Treasury, and the Treas- urer shall constitute the Board of Public Works in this State. They shall keep a journal of their proceedings, and shall hold regular sessions in the City of Annapolis on the first Wednesday in January, April, July and October in each year, and oftener if necessary ; at which sessions they shall hear and
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determine such inatters as affect the Public Works of the State, and as the General Assembly may confer upon them the power to decide.
Duties
Sec. 2. They shall exercise a diligent and faithful supervision of all Public Works in which the State may be interested as Stockholder or Creditor, and shall represent and vote the stock of the State of Maryland in all meetings of the stockholders of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal; and shall appoint the Directors in every Railroad and Canal Company in which the State has the legal power to appoint Directors, which said Directors shall represent the State in all meetings of the Stockholders of the respective Companies for which they are appointed or elected. And the President and Directors of the said Chesa- peake and Ohio Canal Company shall so regulate the tolls of said Company from time to time as to produce the largest amount of revenue, and to avoid the injurious effect to said Company of rival competition by other Internal Improvement Companies. They shall require the Directors of all said Public Works to guard the public interest and prevent the establishment of tolls which shall discriminate against the interest of the citizens or products of this State, and from time to time, and as often as there shall be any change in the rates of toll on any of the said Works, to furnish the said Board of Public Works a schedule of such modified rates of toll, and so adjust them as to pro- mote the agricultural interests of the State; they shall report to the General Assembly at each regular session, and recommend such legislation as they may deem necessary and requisite to promote or protect the interests of the State in the said Public Works; they shall perform such other duties as may be hereafter prescribed by Law, and a majority of them shall be competent to act. The Governor, Comptroller and Treasurer shall receive no additional salary for services rendered by them as members of the Board of Public Works. The provisions of the Act of the General Assembly of Maryland of the year 1867, Chapter 359, are hereby declared null and void.
Sec. 3. The Board of Public Works is hereby authorized to exchange the State's interest as Stockholder and Creditor in the Baltimore and Ohio Rail- road Company for an equal amount of the bonds or registered debt now owing by the State, to the extent only of all the preferred stock of the State on which the State is entitled to only six per cent interest, provided such exchange shall not be made at less than par, nor less than the market value of said stock ; and the said Board is authorized, subject to such regulations and conditions as the General Assembly may from time to time prescribe, to sell the State's interest in the other Works of Internal Improvement, whether as a Stockholder or a Creditor, and also the State's interest in any banking corporation, receiv-
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ing in payment the bonds and registered debt now owing by the State, equal in amount to the price obtained for the State's said interest ; provided, that the interest of the State in the Washington Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad be reserved and excepted from sale; and provided further, that no sale or contract of sale of the State's interest in the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, and the Susquehanna and Tide- water Canal Companies shall go into effect until the same shall be ratified by the ensuing General Assembly.
Powers
[Sec. 3. The board of Public Works is hereby authorized, subject to such regulations and conditions as the General Assembly may from time to time prescribe, to sell the State's interest in all works of internal improvement, whether as a Stockholder or a Creditor, and also the State's interest in any banking corporation, receiving in payment the bonds and registered debt now owing by the State, equal in amount to the price obtained for the State's said interest.] 1
ARTICLE XIII NEW COUNTIES
County seats - Consent of voters - Area and population
Section 1. The General Assembly may provide, by Law, for organizing new Counties, locating and removing county seats, and changing county lines ; but no new county shall be organized without the consent of the majority of the legal voters residing within the limits proposed to be formed into said new county ; and whenever a new county shall be proposed to be formed out of portions of two or more counties, the consent of a majority of the legal voters of such part of each of said counties, respectively, shall be required ; nor shall the lines of any county be changed without the consent of a majority of the legal voters residing within the district, which, under said proposed change, would form a part of a county different from that to which it belonged prior to said change ; and no new county shall contain less than four hundred square miles nor less than ten thousand white inhabitants ; nor shall any change be made in the limits of any county, whereby the population of said county would be reduced to less than ten thousand white inhabitants, or its territory reduced to less than four hundred square miles.
1 Thus amended by Act 1890, ch. 362, and ratified by the people November 3, 1891.
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Wicomico county
Sec. 2. At the election to be held for the adoption or rejection of this Con- stitution, in each election district, in those parts of Worcester and Somerset Counties, comprised within the following limits, viz. : Beginning at the point where Mason and Dixon's line crosses the channel of Pocomoke River, thence following said line to the channel of the Nanticoke River, thence with the channel of said river to Tangier Sound, or the intersection of Nanticoke and Wicomico Rivers, thence up the channel of the Wicomico River to the mouth of Wicomico Creek, thence .with the channel of said creek and Passerdyke Creek to Dashield's or Disharoon's Mills, thence with the mill-pond of said mills and branch following the middle prong of said branch, to Meadow Bridge, on the road dividing the Counties of Somerset and Worcester, near the south- west corner of farm of William P. Morris, thence due east to the Pocomoke River, thence with the channel of said river to the beginning; the Judges of Election, in each of said districts, shall receive the ballots of each elector, voting at said election, who has resided for six months preceding said election within said limits, for or against a new County ; and the Return Judges of said election districts shall certify the result of such voting, in the manner now prescribed by Law, to the Governor, who shall by proclamation make known the same, and if a majority of the legal votes cast within that part of Worcester County, contained within said lines, and also a majority of the legal votes cast within that part of Somerset County, contained within said lines, shall be in favor of a new County, then said parts of Worcester and Somerset Counties shall become and constitute a new County, to be called Wicomico County ; and Salisbury shall be the County seat. And the inhab- itants thereof shall thenceforth have and enjoy all such rights and privileges as are held and enjoyed by the inhabitants of other Counties of this State.
Provisions
Sec. 3. When said new County shall have been so created, the inhabit- ants thereof shall cease to have any claim to, or interest in, the county build- ings and other public property of every description belonging to said Counties of Somerset and Worcester respectively, and shall be liable for their propor- tionate shares of the then existing debts and obligations of the said Counties, according to the last assessment in said Counties, to be ascertained and apportioned by the Circuit Court of Somerset County, as to the debts and obligations of said County, and by the Circuit Court of Worcester County as to the debts and obligations of Worcester County, on the petition of the County Commissioners of the said Counties, respectively; and the property in each part of the said Counties included in said new County shall be bound only for
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the share of the debts and obligations of the County from which it shall be separated ; and the inhabitants of said new County shall also pay the County taxes levied upon them at the time of the creation of such new County, as if such new County had not been created; and on the application of twelve citizens of the proposed County of Wicomico, the Surveyor of Worcester County shall run and locate the line from Meadow Bridge to the Pocomoke River, previous to the adoption or rejection of this Constitution, and at the expense of said petitioners.
Sec. 4. At the first general election held under this Constitution the quali- fied voters of said new County shall be entitled to elect a Senator and two Delegates to the General Assembly, and all such County or other officers as this Constitution may authorize, or require to be elected by other Counties of the State; a notice of such election shall be given by the sheriffs of Worcester and Somerset Counties in the manner now prescribed by Law ; and in case said new County shall be established, as aforesaid, then the Counties of Somerset and Worcester shall be entitled to elect but two Delegates each to the General Assembly.
Sec. 5. The County of Wicomico, if formed according to the provisions of this Constitution, shall be embraced in the First Judicial Circuit, and the times for holding the Courts therein shall be fixed and determined by the General Assembly.
Sec. 6. The General Assembly shall pass all such Laws as may be necessary more fully to carry into effect the provisions of this Article.
ARTICLE XIV
AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION
Proposal - Publication - Vote-Returns - Proclamation
Section 1. The General Assembly may propose Amendments to this Con- stitution ; provided that each Amendment shall be embraced in a separate Bill, embodying the Article or Section, as the same will stand when amended and passed by three-fifths of all the members elected to each of the two Houses, by yeas and nays, to be entered on the Journals with the proposed Amendment. The Bill or Bills proposing amendment or amendments shall be published by order of the Governor, in at least two newspapers in each County, where so many may be published, and where not more than one may be published, then in that newspaper, and in three newspapers published in the City of Baltimore, one of which shall be in the German language, once a week for at least three months preceding the next ensuing general election,
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at which the proposed amendment or amendments shall be submitted, in a form to be prescribed by the General Assembly, to the qualified voters of the State for adoption or rejection. The votes cast for and against said proposed amendment or amendments, severally, shall be returned to the Governor, in the manner prescribed in other cases, and if it shall appear to the Governor that a majority of the votes cast at said election on said amendment or amendments, severally, were cast in favor thereof, the Governor shall, by his proclamation, declare the said amendment or amendments having received said majority of votes, to have been adopted by the people of Maryland as part of the Constitution thereof, and thenceforth said amendment or amend- ments shall be part of the said Constitution. When two or more amendments shall be submitted in manner aforesaid, to the voters of this State at the same election, they shall be so submitted as that each amendment shall be voted on separately.
Convention every twenty years
Sec. 2. It shall be the duty of the General Assembly to provide by Law for taking, at the general election to be held in the year eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, and every twenty years thereafter, the sense of the people in regard to calling a convention for altering this Constitution ; and if a majority of voters at such election or elections shall vote for a convention, the General Assembly, at its next session, shall provide by Law for the assembling of such convention, and for the election of Delegates thereto. Each County and Legislative District of the City of Baltimore shall have in such convention a number of Delegates equal to its representation in both Houses at the time at which the convention is called. But any Constitution, or change, or amendment of the existing Constitution, which may be adopted by such con- vention, shall be submitted to the voters of this State, and shall have no effect unless the same shall have been adopted by a majority of the voters voting thereon.
ARTICLE XV MISCELLANEOUS
Returns of fees - Salary limit
Section 1. Every person holding any office created by, or existing under the Constitution, or Laws of the State (except Justices of the Peace, Consta- bles and Coroners), or holding any appointment under any Court of this State, whose pay or compensation is derived from fees or moneys coming into his hands for the discharge of his official duties, or in any way growing out of or connected with his office, shall keep a book in which shall be entered
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every sum or sums of money received by him, or on his account, as a pay- ment or compensation for his performance of official duties, a copy of which entries in said book, verified by the oath of the officer by whom it is directed to be kept, shall be returned yearly to the Comptroller of the State for his inspection, and that of the General Assembly of the State, to which the Comptroller shall, at each regular session thereof, make a report showing what officers have complied with this section; and each of the said officers, when the amount received by him for the year shall exceed the sum which he is by Law entitled to retain as his salary or compensation for the discharge of his duties, and for the expenses of his office, shall yearly pay over to the Treasurer of the State, the amount of such excess, subject to such disposition thereof as the General Assembly may direct ; if any of such officers shall fail to comply with the requisitions of this section for the period of thirty days after the expiration of each and every year of his office, such officer shall be deemed to have vacated his office, and the Governor shall declare the same vacant, and the vacancy therein shall be filled as in case of vacancy for any other cause, and such officer shall be subject to suit by the State for the amount that ought to be paid into the Treasury ; and no person holding any office created by or existing under this Constitution or Laws of the State, or holding any appointment under any Court in this State, shall receive more than three thousand dollars a year as a compensation for the discharge of his .official duties, except in cases specially provided in this Constitution.
Sec. 2. The several Courts existing in this State at the time of the adop- tion of this Constitution shall, until superseded under its provisions, continue with like powers and jurisdiction, and in the exercise thereof, both at Law and in Equity, in all respects, as if this Constitution had not been adopted ; and when said Courts shall be so superseded, all causes then depending in said Courts shall pass into the jurisdiction of the several Courts, by which they may be respectively superseded.
Sec. 3. The Governor and all officers, civil and military, now holding office under this State, whether by election or appointment, shall continue to hold, exercise and discharge the duties of their offices (unless inconsistent with or otherwise provided in this Constitution), until they shall be super- seded under its provisions, and until their successors shall be duly qualified.
Sec. 4. If at any election directed by this Constitution, any two or more candidates shall have the highest and an equal number of votes, a new elec- tion shall be ordered by the Governor, except in cases specially provided for by this Constitution.
Trial by jury
Sec. 5. In the trial of all criminal cases, the jury shall be the Judges of Law, as well as of fact.
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Sec. 6. The right of trial by Jury of all issues of fact in civil proceedings in the several Courts of Law in this State, where the amount in controversy exceeds the sum of five dollars, shall be inviolably preserved.
General election
Sec. 7. All general elections in this State shall be held on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in the month of November, in the year in which they shall occur ; and the first election of all officers, who, under this Consti- tution, are required to be elected by the people, shall, except in cases herein specially provided for, be held on the Tuesday next after the first Monday of November, in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-seven.
Notice
Sec. 8. The Sheriffs of the several Counties of this State, and of the City of Baltimore, shall give notice of the several elections authorized by this Constitution, in the manner prescribed by existing Laws for elections to be held in this State, until said Laws shall be changed.
Terms of office
Sec. 9. The term of office of all Judges and other officers, for whose elec- tion provision is made by this Constitution, shall, except in cases otherwise expressly provided herein, commence from the time of their election ; and all such officers shall qualify as soon after their election as practicable, and shall enter upon the duties of their respective offices immediately upon their quali- fication ; and the term of office of the State Librarian and of Commissioner of the Land Office shall commence from the time of their appointment.
Qualification of officers - Oath to be recorded
Sec. 10. Any officer elected or appointed in pursuance of the provisions of this Constitution, may qualify, either according to the existing provisions of Law, in relation to officers under the present Constitution, or before the Gov- ernor of the State, or before any Clerk of any Court of Record in any part of the State; but in case an officer shall qualify out of the County in which he resides, an official copy of his oath shall be filed and recorded in the Clerk's office of the Circuit Court of the County in which he may reside, or in the Clerk's office of the Superior Court of the City of Baltimore, if he shall reside therein.
VOTE ON THE CONSTITUTION
For the purpose of ascertaining the sense of the people of this State in regard to the adoption or rejection of this Constitution, the Governor shall
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issue his Proclamation within five days after the adjournment of this conven- tion, directed to the Sheriffs of the City of Baltimore and of the several Counties of this State, commanding them to give notice in the manner now prescribed by Law in reference to the election of members of the House of Delegates, that an election for the adoption or rejection of this Constitution will be held in the City of Baltimore, and in the several Counties of this State, on Wednesday, the eighteenth day of September, in the year eighteen hun- dred and sixty-seven, at the usual places of holding elections for members of the House of Delegates in said city and counties. At the said election the vote shall be by ballot, and upon each ballot there shall be written or printed the words, " For the Constitution," or " Against the Constitution," as the voter may elect ; and the provisions of the Laws of this State relating to the hold- ing of general elections for members of the House of Delegates, shall in all respects apply to and regulate the holding of the said election. It shall be the duty of the Judges of Election in said city and in the several counties of the State to receive, accurately count and duly return the number of ballots so cast for or against the adoption of this Constitution, as well as any blank ballots which may be cast, to the several Clerks of the Circuit Courts of this State, and to the Clerk of the Superior Court of Baltimore City, in the manner now prescribed by Law, in reference to the election of members of the House of Delegates, and duplicates thereof, directly to the Governor ; and the several clerks aforesaid shall return to the Governor, within ten days after said election, the number of ballots cast for or against the Constitution, and the number of blank ballots ; and the Governor, upon receiving the returns from the Judges of Election, or the clerks as aforesaid, and ascertaining the aggregate vote throughout the State, shall, by his proclamation, make known the same; and if a majority of the votes cast shall be for the adoption of this Constitution it shall go into effect on Saturday, the fifth day of October, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven.
Done in Convention, the seventeenth day of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, and of the Independence of the United States the ninety-second.
RICHARD B. CARMICHAEL, President of the Convention.
MILTON Y. KIDD, Secretary.
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CHARTER OF THE PROVINCE OF MARYLAND 1
CHARLES, by the Grace of GOD, of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, KING, Defender of the Faith, &c. TO ALL to whom these Presents shall come, GREETING.
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