USA > Maryland > Leading events of Maryland history; with topical analyses, references, and questions for original thought and research > Part 20
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Sec. 17. No Senator or Delegate, after qualifying as such, notwithstanding he may thereafter resign, shall during the whole period of time 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.
Freedom of debate
Sec. 18. No Senator or Delegate shall be liable in any civil action or crimi- nal prosecution whatever for words spoken in debate.
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Powers of each House
Sec. 19. Each House shall be judge of the qualifications and elections of its members, as prescribed by the Constitution and Laws of the State ; shall appoint its own officers, determine the rules of its own proceedings, punish a member for disorderly or disrespectful behavior, and with the consent of two- thirds of its whole number of members elected, expel a member ; but no mem- ber shall be expelled a second time for the same offense.
Quorum
Sec. 20. A majority of the whole number of members elected to each House shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business ; but a smaller num- ber may adjourn from day to day, and compel the attendance of absent mem- bers in such manner and under such penalties as each House may prescribe.
Sessions to be open
Sec. 21. The doors of each House and of the Committee of the Whole shall be open, except when the business is such as ought to be kept secret.
Journals to be published - Yeas and nays
Sec. 22. Each House shall keep a Journal of its proceedings, and cause the same to be published. The yeas and nays of members on any question shall at the call of any five of them in the House of Delegates, or one in the Senate, be entered on the Journal.
Disorderly persons
Sec. 23. Each House may punish by imprisonment during the session of the General Assembly, any person not a member, for disrespectful or disorderly behavior in its presence, or for obstructing any of the proceedings or any of its officers in the execution of their duties ; provided, such imprisonment shall not at any one time exceed ten days.
Powers of House - Grand inquest - May call for persons and papers - Contracts
Sec. 24. The House of Delegates may inquire, on the oath of witnesses, into all complaints, grievances and offenses, 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 to the collection or expenditure of the revenue, and appoint auditors to state and adjust the same. They may call for
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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 pay- able to the State to be sued for any breach thereof; and with the view to the more certain prevention or correction of the abuses in the expenditures of the money of the State, the General Assembly shall create, at every session thereof a Joint Standing Committee of the Senate and House of Delegates ; who shall have power to send for persons and examine them on oath and call for public and official papers and records; and whose duty it shall be to examine and report upon all contracts made for printing, stationery, and pur- chases for the public offices and the library, and all expenditures therein, and upon all matters of alleged abuse in expenditures, to which their attention may be called by resolution of either House of the General Assembly.
Adjournment
Sec. 25. Neither House shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days at any one time, nor adjourn to any other place than that in which the House shall be sitting, without the concurrent vote of two- thirds of the members present.
Impeachment
Sec. 26. The House of Delegates shall have the sole power of impeach- ment in all cases ; but a majority of all the members elected must concur in the impeachment. All impeachments shall be tried by the Senate, and when sitting for that purpose the Senators shall be on oath or affirmation to do justice according to the law and the evidence; but no person shall be con- victed without the concurrence of two-thirds of all the Senators elected.
Bills
Sec. 27. 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 ten days of the session, unless two-thirds of the members elected thereto shall so determine by yeas and nays; nor shall any bill become a law until it be read on three different days of the session in each House, unless two-thirds of the members elected to the House where such bill is pending shall so determine by yeas and nays; and no bill shall be read a third time until it shall have been actually engrossed for a third reading.
Passage of bills
Sec. 28. 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
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the yeas and nays be recorded ; nor shall any resolution requiring the action of both Houses be passed except in the same manner.
Style of laws - Mode of enactment - Limitations
Sec. 29. The style of all laws of this State shall be, "Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland," and all laws shall be passed by original bill ; and every law enacted by the General Assembly shall embrace but one sub- ject, and that shall be described in its title ; and no law, nor section of law, shall be revived or amended by reference to its title or section only, nor shall any law be construed by reason of its title to grant powers or confer rights which are not expressly contained in the body of the Act; and it shall be the duty of the General Assembly, in amending any article or section of the Code of Laws of this State, to enact the same as the said article or section would read when amended. And whenever the General Assembly shall enact any Public General Law, not amendatory of any section or article in the said Code, it shall be the duty of the General Assembly to enact the same, in articles and sections, in the same manner as the Code is arranged, and to provide for the publication of all additions and alterations which may be made to the said Code.
Bills to be signed by Governor - Laws to be recorded in the Court of Appeals
Sec. 30. Every bill, when passed by the General Assembly, and sealed with the Great Seal, shall be presented to the Governor, who, if he approves it, 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 certi- fied under the Great Seal, to the several courts, in the same manner as has been heretofore usual in this State.
When laws take effect
Sec. 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.
Appropriations - Contingent fund - Financial statement to be published with laws
Sec. 32. No money shall be drawn from the Treasury of the State by any order or resolution, nor except in accordance with an appropriation by law ; and every such law shall distinctly specify the sum appropriated and the object
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to which it shall be applied ; provided that nothing herein contained shall pre- vent the General Assembly from placing a contingent fund at the disposal of the Executive, who shall report to the General Assembly 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.
Special laws prohibited
Sec. 33. The General Assembly shall not pass local or special laws in any of the following enumerated cases, viz .: For extending the time for the collec- tion of taxes, granting divorces, changing the name of any person, providing for the sale of real estate belonging to minors or other persons laboring under legal disabilities, by executors, administrators, guardians or trustees, giving effect to informal or invalid deeds or wills, refunding money paid into the State Treasury, or releasing persons from their debts or obligations to the State, unless recommended by the Governor or officers of the Treasury Depart- ment. And the General Assembly shall pass no special law for any case for which provision has been made by an existing general law. The General Assembly at its first session after the adoption of this Constitution, shall pass general laws providing for the cases enumerated in this section which are not already adequately provided for, and for all other cases where a General Law can be made applicable.
Debts regulated - Credit of the State not to be given - Public debt - Temporary deficiencies
Sec. 34. No debt shall be hereafter contracted by the General Assembly 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 interest thereon shall be fully discharged. 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, nor in granting any aid thereto, which shall involve the faith or credit of the State ; nor make any appropriation therefor, except in aid of the construction of Works of Internal Improvement in the counties of St. Mary's, Charles and Calvert, which have had no direct advantage from such works as have been heretofore aided by the State ; and provided that such aid, advances or appropriations shall not
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exceed in the aggregate the sum of five hundred thousand dollars. And they shall not use or appropriate the proceeds of the Internal Improvement Com- panies, or of the State tax, now levied, or which may hereafter be levied, to pay off the public debt [or] to any other purpose until the interest and debt are fully paid or the sinking fund shall be equal to the amount of the outstand- ing debt ; but the General Assembly 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 defense of the State.
Extra compensation prohibited
Sec. 35. No extra compensation shall be granted or allowed by the General Assembly to any Public Officer, Agent, Servant or Contractor, after the service 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.
Lotteries prohibited
Sec. 36. No Lottery grant shall ever hereafter be authorized by the General Assembly.
Slaves
Sec. 37. The General Assembly shall pass no Law providing for payment by the State for Slaves emancipated from servitude in this State; but they shall adopt such measures as they may deem expedient to obtain from the United States compensation for such Slaves, and to receive and distribute the same equitably to the persons entitled.
Sec. 38. No person shall be imprisoned for debt.
Banks
Sec. 39. The General Assembly shall grant no charter for Banking pur- poses, nor renew any Banking Corporation now in existence, except upon the condition that the Stockholders shall be liable to the amount of their respective share or shares of stock in such Banking Institution, for all its debts and liabili- ties upon note, bill or otherwise ; the books, papers and accounts of all Banks shall be open to inspection under such regulations as may be prescribed by Law.
Compensation for property taken for public use
Sec. 40. The General Assembly shall enact no Law authorizing private property to be taken for public use, without just compensation as agreed upon between the parties, or awarded by a jury, being first paid or tendered to the party entitled to such compensation.
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Duellists
Sec. 41. 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 a second, or know- ingly aid or assist in any manner those offending, shall ever thereafter be incapable of holding any office of profit or trust under this State, unless relieved from the disability by an Act of the Legislature.
Elections
Sec. 42. The General Assembly shall pass Laws necessary for the pres- ervation of the purity of elections.
Wife's property protected
Sec. 43. The property of the wife shall be protected from the debts of her husband.
Exemption
Sec. 44. Laws shall be passed by the General Assembly to protect from execution a reasonable amount of the property of the debtor, not exceeding in value the sum of five hundred dollars.
Compensation of clerks and registers
Sec. 45. The General Assembly shall provide a 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 the said officers in the various Counties shall not exceed the sum of three thousand dollars a year, and in the City of Baltimore thirty-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.
Grants from United States
Sec. 46. The General Assembly shall have power to receive from the United States any grant or donation of land, money, or securities for any pur- pose designated by the United States, and shall administer or distribute the same according to the conditions of the said grant.
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Contested elections
Sec. 47. The General Assembly shall make provisions for all cases of con- tested elections of any of the officers, not herein provided for.
Corporations
Sec. 48. Corporations may be formed under general Laws ; but shall not be created by special act, except for municipal purposes, and except in cases where no general Laws exist, providing for the creation of Corporations of the same general character, as the corporation proposed to be created ; and any act of incorporation passed in violation of this section shall be void. And as soon as practicable, after the adoption of this Constitution, it shall be the duty of the Governor to appoint three persons learned in the Law, whose duty it shall be to prepare drafts of general Laws, providing for the creation of corpo- rations, in such cases as may be proper, and for all other cases, where a general Law can be made ; and for revising and amending, so far as may be necessary or expedient, the General Laws which may be in existence on the first day of June, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, providing for the creation of corpora- tions, and for other purposes ; and such drafts of Laws shall by said commis- sioners, be submitted to the General Assembly, at its first meeting, for its action thereon ; and each of said commissioners shall receive a compensation of five hundred dollars for his services, as such commissioner.
All Charters granted or adopted in pursuance of this section, and all Charters heretofore granted and created, subject to repeal or modification, may be altered, from time to time, or be repealed ; provided, nothing herein contained shall be construed to extend to Banks, or the incorporation thereof.
Corporations
[Sec. 48. Corporations may be formed under general laws, but shall not be created by special act, except for municipal purposes and except in cases where no general Laws exist, providing for the creation of corporations of the same general character as the corporation proposed to be created, and any act of incorporation passed in violation of this section shall be void; all. charters granted or adopted in pursuance of this section, and all charters heretofore granted and created subject to repeal or modification, may be altered from time to time, or be repealed ; provided, nothing herein contained shall be con- strued to extend to banks or the incorporation thereof; the General Assembly shall not alter or amend the charter of any corporation existing at the time of the adoption of this Article, or pass any other general or special Law for the benefit of such corporation except upon the condition that such corporation
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shall surrender all claim to exemption from taxation or from the repeal or modification of its charter, and that such corporation shall thereafter hold its charter subject to the provisions of this Constitution ; and any corporation chartered by this State which shall accept, use, enjoy or in any wise avail itself of any rights, privileges, or advantages that may hereafter be granted or conferred by any general or special Act, shall be conclusively presumed to have thereby surrendered any exemption from taxation to which it may be entitled under its charter, and shall be thereafter subject to taxation as if no such exemption has been granted by its charter.] 1
Elections
Sec. 49. The General Assembly shall have power to regulate by law, not inconsistent with this Constitution, all matters which relate to the Judges of Election, time, place and manner of holding elections in this State, and of making returns thereof.
Bribery - Punishment - Evidence - Disqualification
Sec. 50. It shall be the duty of the General Assembly at its first session, held after the adoption of this Constitution, to provide by Law for the punish- ment, by fine, or imprisonment in the Penitentiary or both, in the discretion of the Court, of any person who shall bribe or attempt to bribe any Executive, or Judicial officer of the State of Maryland, or any member, or officer of the General Assembly of the State of Maryland, or of any Municipal Corporation in the State of Maryland, or any Executive officer of such corporation, in order to influence him in the performance of any of his official duties ; and also, to provide by Law for the punishment, by fine, or imprisonment in the Penitentiary, or both, in the discretion of the Court, of any of said officers, or members, who shall demand or receive any bribe, fee, reward or testimonial for the performance of his official duties, or for neglecting or failing to perform the same, and also, to provide by Law for compelling any person so bribing. or attempting to bribe, or so demanding or receiving a bribe, fee, reward or testimonial, to testify against any person or persons who may have committed any of said offenses ; provided, that any person so compelled to testify shall be exempted from trial and punishment for the offense of which he may have been guilty; and any person convicted of such offense shall, as part of the punishment thereof, be forever disfranchised and disqualified from holding any office of trust or profit in this State.
1 As amended by Charter 195, Acts of 1890, ratified by the people November 3, 1891.
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Taxation of personal property
Sec. 51. The personal property of residents of this State shall be subject to taxation in the county or city where the resident bona fide resides for the greater part of the year, for which the tax may or shall be levied, and not else- where, except goods and chattels permanently located, which shall be taxed in the city or county where they are so located.
Taxation of personal property
[Sec. 51. The personal property of residents of this State shall be subject to taxation in the county or city where the resident bona fide resides for the greater part of the year for which the tax may or shall be levied, and not else- where, except goods and chattels permanently located, which shall be taxed in the city or county where they are so located, but the General Assembly may by law provide for the taxation or mortgages upon property in this State and the debts secured thereby in the county or city where such property is situated.] 1
Private claims
Sec. 52. The General Assembly shall appropriate no money out of the Treasury for payment of any private claim against the State exceeding three hundred dollars, unless said claim shall have been first presented to the Comp- troller of the Treasury, together with the proofs upon which the same is founded, and reported upon by him.
Witnesses
Sec. 53. No person shall be incompetent, as a witness, on account of race or color, unless hereafter so declared by Act of the General Assembly.
Counties forbidden to contract debts without authority
Sec. 54. No County of this State shall contract any debt, or obligation, in the construction of any Railroad, Canal, or other Work of Internal Improve- ment, nor give, or loan its credit to or in aid of any association, or corporation, unless authorized by an Act of the General Assembly, which shall be published for two months before the next election for members of the House of Dele- gates in the newspapers published in such County, and shall also be approved by a majority of all the members elected to each House of the General Assembly, at its next session after said election.
1 Thus amended by Chapter 426, Acts of 1890, ratified by the people November 3, 1891.
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Habeas Corpus
Sec. 55. The General Assembly shall pass no law suspending the privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus.
Powers of Assembly
Sec. 56. The General Assembly shall have power to pass all such Laws as may be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the powers vested by this Constitution, in any Department or office of the Government, and the duties imposed upon them thereby.
Interest
Sec. 57. The Legal rate of Interest shall be six per cent. per annum, unless otherwise provided by the General Assembly.
Foreign corporations
Sec. 58. The Legislature, at its first session after the ratification of this Constitution, shall provide by Law for State and municipal taxation upon the revenues accruing from business done in the State by all foreign corporations.
Pension system abolished
Sec. 59. The office of "State Pension Commissioner " is hereby abol- ished ; and the Legislature shall pass no law creating such office, or establish- ing any general pension system within this State.
ARTICLE IV
JUDICIARY DEPARTMENT
Part I. - General Provisions Courts -Justices of the Peace
Section 1. The Judicial power of this State shall be vested in a Court of Appeals, Circuit Courts, Orphans' Courts, such Courts for the City of Baltimore as are hereinafter provided for, and Justices of the Peace ; all said Courts shall be Courts of Record, and each shall have a seal to be used in the authentica- tion of all process issuing therefrom. The process and official character of Justices of the Peace shall be authenticated as hath heretofore been practiced in this State, or may hereafter be prescribed by Law.
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Qualifications of Judges
Sec. 2. The Judges of all of the said Courts shall be citizens of the State of Maryland, and qualified voters under this Constitution, and shall have resided therein not less than five years, and not less than six months next preceding their election or appointment in the judicial circuit, as the case may be, for which they may be respectively elected or appointed. They shall be not less than thirty years of age at the time of their election or appointment, and shall be selected from those who have been admitted to practice Law in this State, and who are most distinguished for integrity, wisdom and sound legal knowledge.
Election of Judges - Term of office - Retirement
Sec. 3. The Judges of the said several Courts shall be elected in the Coun- ties by the qualified voters in their respective Judicial Circuits as hereinafter provided, at the general election to be held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November next, and in the City of Baltimore, on the fourth Wednesday of October next. Each of the said Judges shall hold his office for the term of fifteen years from the time of his election. and until his suc- cessor is elected and qualified, or until he shall have attained the age of seventy years, whichever may first happen, and be re-eligible thereto until he shall have attained the age of seventy years, and not after; but in case of any Judge who shall attain the age of seventy years whilst in office, such Judge may be continued in office by the General Assembly for such further time as they may think fit, not to exceed the term for which he was elected, by a resolution to be passed at the session next preceding his attaining said age. In case of the inability of any of said Judges to discharge his duties with efficiency, by reason of continued sickness, or of physical or mental infirmity, it shall be in the power of the General Assembly, two-thirds of the members of each House concurring, with the approval of the Governor, to retire said Judge from office.
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