USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Chronicles of Lincoln County > Part 10
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Sec. 3. The resolutions and advice of Council, shall be recorded in a register, and signed by the members agreeing thereto, which may be called for by either house of the Legislature; and any Councillor may enter his dissent to the reso- lution of the majority.
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Sec. 4. No member of Congress, or of the Legislature of this State, nor any person holding any office under the United States (post-officers excepted), nor any civil officers under this State (justices of the peace and notaries public excepted), shall be Councillors. And no Councillor shall be appointed to any office during the time for which he shall have been elected.
ARTICLE V-PART THIRD
SECRETARY
Sec. 1. The Secretary of State shall be chosen annually at the first session of the Legislature, by joint ballot of the senators and representatives in convention. Sec. 2. The records of the State shall be kept in the office of the Secretary, who may appoint his deputies, for whose conduct he shall be accountable.
Sec. 3. He shall attend the Governor and Council, Senate and House of Rep- resentatives, in person or by his deputies, as they shall respectively require.
Sec. 4. He shall carefully keep and preserve the records of all the official acts and proceedings of the Governor and Council, Senate and House of Representa- tives, and when required, lay the same before either branch of the Legislature, and perform such other duties as are enjoined by this Constitution, or shall be required by law.
ARTICLE V-PART FOURTH
TREASURER
Sec. 1. The Treasurer shall be chosen annually, at the first session of the Legislature, by joint ballot of the senators and representatives in convention, but shall not be eligible more than five years successively.
Sec. 2. The Treasurer shall, before entering on the duties of his office, give bond to the State, with sureties, to the satisfaction of the Legislature, for the faithful discharge of his trust.
Sec. 3. The Treasurer shall not, during his continuance in office, engage in any business of trade or commerce, or as a broker, nor as an agent or factor for any merchant or trader.
Sec. 4. No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but by warrant from the Governor and Council, and in consequence of appropriations made by law; and
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a regular statement and account of the receipts and expenditures of all public money, shall be published at the commencement of the annual session of the Legislature.
ARTICLE VI
JUDICIAL POWER
Sec. 1. The judicial power of this State shall be vested in a Supreme Judicial Court, and such other courts as the Legislature shall from time to time establish.
Sec. 2. The justices of the Supreme Judicial Court shall, at stated times re- ceive a compensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office, but they shall receive no other fee or reward.
Sec. 3. They shall be obliged to give their opinion upon important questions of law, and upon solemn occasions, when required by the Governor, Council, Senate, or House of Representatives.
Sec. 4. All judicial officers now in office or who may be hereafter appointed shall, from and after the first day of March in the year eighteen hundred and forty, hold their offices for the term of seven years from the time of their respective appointments, (unless sooner removed by impeachment or by address of both branches of the Legislature to the Executive) and no longer unless re- appointed thereto.
Sec. 5. Justices of the peace and notaries public, shall hold their offices during seven years, if they so long behave themselves well, at the expiration of which term, they may be re-appointed or others appointed, as the public interest may require.
Sec. 6. The justices of the Supreme Judicial Court shall hold no office under the United States, nor any State, nor any other office under this State, except that of justice of the peace.
Sec. 7. Judges and registers of probate shall be elected by the people of their respective counties, by a plurality of the votes given in at the annual election, on the second Monday of September, and shall hold their offices for four years, commencing on the first day of January next after their election. Vacancies oc- curring in said offices by death, resignation or otherwise, shall be filled by election in manner aforesaid, at the September election next after their occurrence; and in the meantime, the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Council, may fill said vacancies by appointment, and the persons so appointed shall hold their offices until the first day of January thereafter.
Sec. 8. Judges of municipal and police courts shall be appointed by the execu- tive power, in the same manner as other judicial officers, and shall hold their offices for the term of four years; provided, however, that the present incumbents shall hold their offices for the term for which they were elected.
ARTICLE VII MILITARY
Sec. 1. The captains and subalterns of the militia shall be elected by the writ- ten votes of the members of their respective companies. The field officers or regiments by the written votes of the captains and subalterns of their respective regiments. The brigadier generals in like manner, by the field officers of their respective brigades.
Sec. 2. The Legislature shall, by law, direct the manner of notifying the electors, conducting the elections, and making returns to the Governor of the officers elected; and, if the electors shall neglect or refuse to make such elections, after being duly notified according to law, the Governor shall appoint suitable persons to fill such offices.
Sec. 3. The major generals shall be elected by the Senate and House of Rep- resentatives, each having a negative on the other. The adjutant general and
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quartermaster general shall be chosen annually by joint ballot of the senators and representatives in convention. But the adjutant general shall perform the duties of quartermaster general, until otherwise directed by law. The major generals and brigadier generals, and the commanding officers of regiments and battalions, shall appoint their respective staff officers; and all miliary officers shall be com- missioned by the Governor.
Sec. 4. The militia, as divided into divisions, brigades, regiments, battalions and companies pursuant to the laws now in force, shall remain so organized, until the same shall be altered by the Legislature.
Sec. 5. Persons of the denominations of Quakers and Shakers, justices of the Supreme Judicial Court and ministers of the gospel may be exempted from mili- tary duty, but no other person of the age of eighteen and under the age of forty- five years, excepting officers of the militia who have been honorably discharged, shall be so exempted, unless he shall pay an equivalent to be fixed by law.
ARTICLE VIII LITERATURE
A general diffusion of the advantages of literature being essential to the pres- ervation of the rights and liberties of the people; to promote this important ob- ject, the Legislature are authorized, and it shall be their duty to require, the sev- eral towns to make suitable provision, at their own expense, for the support and maintenance of public schools; and it shall further be their duty to encourage and suitably endow, from time to time, as the circumstances of the people may author- ize, all academies, colleges and seminaries of learning within the State; provided, that no donation, grant or endowment shall at any time be made by the Legis- lature to any literary institution now established, or which may hereafter be estab- lished, unless, at the time of making such endowment, the Legislature of the State shall have the right to grant any further powers to alter, limit or restrain any of the powers vested in, any such literary institution, as shall be judged necessary to promote the best interests thereof.
ARTICLE IX
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Sec. 1. Every person eleced or appointed to either of the places or offices provided in this Constitution, and every person elected, appointed or commissioned to any judicial, executive, military or other office under this State, shall, before he enter on the discharge of the duties of his place or office, take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation: "I do swear, that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and of this State, so long as I shall continue a citizen thereof. So help me God."
"I do swear, that I will faithfully discharge, to the best of my abili- ties, the duties incumbent on me as according to the Constitution and laws of the State. So help me God." Provided, that an affirmation in the above forms may be substituted, when the person shall be conscientiously scrupu- lous of taking and subscribing an oath.
The oaths or affirmations shall be taken and subscribed by the Governor and councillors before the presiding officer of the Senate, in the presence of both houses of the Legislature, and by the senators and representatives before the Governor and Council, and by the residue of said officers, before such persons as shall be prescribed by the Legislature; and whenever the Governor or any coun- cillor shall not be able to attend during the session of the Legislature to take and subscribe said oaths or affirmations, said oaths or affirmations may be taken and subscribed in the recess of the Legislature before any justice of the Supreme Judicial Court; provided, that the senators and representatives, first elected under this Constitution, shall take and subscribe such oaths or affirmations before the president of the convention.
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Sec. 2. No person holding the office of justice of the Supreme Judicial Court, or of any inferior court, attorney general, county attorney, treasurer of the State, adjutant general, judge of probate, register of probate, register of deeds, sheriffs or their deputies, clerks of the judicial courts, shall be a member of the Legis- lature; and any person holding either of the foregoing offices, elected to, and accepting a seat in the Congress of the United States, shall thereby vacate said office; and no person shall be capable of holding or exercising at the same time within this State, more than one of the offices before mentioned.
Sec. 3. All commissions shall be in the name of the State, signed by the Gov- ernor, attested by the secretary or his deputy, and have the seal of the State thereto affixed.
Sec. 4. And in case the elections required by this Constitution on the first Wednesday of January annually, by the two houses of the Legislature, shall not be completed on that day, the same may be adjourned from day to day, until completed, in the following order; the vacancies in the Senate shall first be filled ; the Governor shall then be elected, if there be no choice by the people; and afterwards the two houses shall elect the council.
Sec. 5. Every person holding any civil office under this State, may be removed by impeachment, for misdemeanor in office; and every person holding any office, may be removed by the Governor, with the advice of the Council, on the address of both branches of the Legislature. But before such address shall pass either house, the causes of removal shall be stated and entered on the journal of the house in which it originated, and a copy thereof served on the person in office, that he may be admitted to a hearing in his defence.
Sec. 6. The tenure of all offices, which are not or shall not be otherwise pro- vided for, shall be during the pleasure of the Governor and Council.
Sec. 7. While the public expenses shall be assessed on polls and estates, a general valuation shall be taken at least once in ten years.
Sec. 8. All taxes upon real and personal estate, assessed by authority of this State, shall be apportioned and assessed equally, according to the just value thereof. Sec. 9. The Legislature shall never, in any manner, suspend or surrender the power of taxation.
Sec. 10. Sheriffs shall be elected by the people of their respective counties, by a plurality of the votes given in on the second Monday of September, and shall hold their offices for two years from the first day of January next after their election. Vacancies shall be filled in the same manner as is provided in the case of judges and registers of probate.
Sec. 11. The attorney general shall be chosen annually by joint ballot of the senators and representatives in the convention. Vacancy in said office, occurring when the Legislature is not in session, may be filled by the appointment of the Governor with the advice and consent of the Council.
Sec. 12. But citizens of this 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 for judges and registers of probate, sheriffs, and all other county officers on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November, in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, 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 all such officers on the second Monday in September annually thereafter forever. And the votes shall be given at the same time and in the same manner, and the names of the several candidates shall be printed or written on the same ballots with those for Governor, senators and representatives, as provided in section four, article second of this Constitution.
Sec. 13. The Legislature may enact laws excluding from the right of suffrage, for a term not exceeding ten years, all persons convicted of bribery at any elec- tion, or of voting at any election, under the influence of a bribe.
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Sec. 14. The credit of the State shall not be directly or indirectly loaned in any case. The Legislature shall not create any debt or debts, liability or liabili- ties, on behalf of the State, which shall singly or in the aggregate, with previous debts and liabilities hereafter incurred at any one time, exceed three hundred thousand dollars, except to suppress insurrection, to repel invasion, or for pur- poses of war; but this amendment shall not be construed to refer to any money that has been, or may be deposited with this State by the government of the United States, or to any fund which the State shall hold in trust for any Indian tribe.
Sec. 15. The State is authorized to issue bonds payable within twenty-one years, at a rate of interest not exceeding six per cent. a year, payable semi- annually, which bonds or their proceeds shall be devoted solely towards the reim- bursement of the expenditures incurred by the cities, towns and plantations of the State for war purposes during the rebellion, upon the following basis: Each city, town and plantation shall receive from the State one hundred dollars for every man furnished for the military service of the United States under and after the call of July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, and accepted by the United States towards its quota for the term of three years, and in the same proportion for every man so furnished and accepted for any shorter period; and the same shall be in full payment for any claim upon the State on account of its war debts by any such municipality. A commission appointed by the Governor and Council shall determine the amount to which each city, town and plantation is entitled; to be devoted to such reimbursement, the surplus, if any, to be appro- priated to the soldiers who enlisted or were drafted and went at any time during the war, or if deceased, to their legal representatives. The issue of bonds hereby authorized shall not exceed in the aggregate three million five hundred thousand dollars, and this amendment shall not be construed to permit the credit of the State to be directly or indirectly loaned in any other case or for any other purpose.
Sec. 16. The Legislature may by law authorize the dividing of towns having not less than four thousand inhabitants, or having voters residing on any island within the limits thereof, into voting districts for the election of representatives to the Legislature, and prescribe the manner in which the votes shall be received, counted, and the result of the election declared.
[Section seventeen, as to bond issue for state highways, added by Amendment XXXV.]
ARTICLE X
SCHEDULE
Sec. 1. All laws now in force in this State, and not repugnant to this Con- stitution, shall remain, and be in force, until altered or repealed by the Legis- lature, or shall expire by their own limitation.
Sec. 2. The Legislature, whenever two-thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, may propose amendments to this Constitution; and when any amend- ments shall be so agreed upon, a resolution shall be passed and sent to the select- men of the several towns, and the assessors of the several plantations, empower- ing and directing them to notify the inhabitants of their respective towns and plantations, in the manner prescribed by law, at their next annual meetings in the month of September, to give in their votes on the question, whether such amend- ments shall be made; and if it shall appear that a majority of the inhabitants voting on the question are in favor of such amendment, it shall become a part of this Constitution.
Sec. 3. After the amendments proposed herewith shall have been submitted to popular vote, the chief justice of the Supreme Judicial Court shall arrange the Constitution, as amended, under appropriate titles, and in proper articles, parts and sections, omitting all sections, clauses and words not in force, and making no other changes in the provisions or language thereof, and shall submit
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the same to the Legislature at its next session. And the draft, and arrangement, when approved by the Legislature, shall be enrolled on parchment and deposited in the office of the Secretary of State; and printed copies thereof shall be prefixed to the books containing the laws of the State. And the Constitution, with the amendments made thereto, in accordance with the provisions thereof, shall be the supreme law of the State.
Sec. 4. Sections one, two and five, of article ten of the existing Constitution, shall hereafter be omitted in any printed copies thereof prefixed to the laws of the State; but this shall not impair the validity of acts under those sections; and section five shall remain in full force, as part of the Constitution, according to the stipulations of said section, with the same effect as if contained in said printed copies. (a)
(a) The omitted sections may be found in the text of the Constitution prefixed to the official publication of the laws passed by the first legislature of the State, which convened May 31, 1820, pages XXIV-XXVII, and pages XXVIII- XXXI; also in the text of the Constitution prefixed to the publication of the Laws of Maine, authorized by Resolve of March 8, 1821, Volume 1, pages 41-50.
AMENDMENTS
To the Amended Constitution of Maine, adopted in pursuance of the second section of the tenth article of the Amended Constitution.
ARTICLE XXII
LIMITATION OF MUNICIPAL INDEBTEDNESS
No city or town shall hereafter create any debt or liability, which singly, or in the aggregate with previous debts or liabilities, shall exceed five per centum of the last regular valuation of said city or town; provided, however, that the adop- tion of this article shall not be construed as applying to any fund received in trust by said city or town, nor to any loan for the purpose of renewing existing loans or for war, or to temporary loans to be paid out of money raised by tax- ation, during the year in which they are made.
[The twenty-second amendment proposed to the people by a resolve of the fifty- sixth legislature, approved February 9, 1877, and on December 20, 1877, pro- claimed by the Governor to have been adopted by the people at the annual election held September 10, 1877, took effect and became a part of the Constitution Jan- uary 2, 1878, in accordance with the provisions of the resolve.]
ARTICLE XXIII
BIENNIAL ELECTIONS AND BIENNIAL SESSIONS
The governor, senators and representatives in the legislature, shall be elected biennially, and hold office two years from the first Wednesday in January next succeeding their election; and the legislature, at the first session next after the adoption of this article, shall make all needful provisions by law concerning the tenure of office of all county officers, and concerning the annual or biennial re- ports of the state treasurer and other state officers and institutions; and shall make all such provisions by law as may be required in consequence of the change from annual to biennial elections, and from annual to biennial sessions of the legislature. The first election under this Article shall be in the year one thousand eight hundred and eighty; and the first meeting of the legislature under this article shall be on the first Wednesday of January, eighteen hundred and eighty- one.
Section four, article two; section five, part one, article four; section four, part two, article four; section one, part three, article four; section thirteen, part one, article five; section two, part two, article five; section one, part three, article five;
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section one, part four, article five; section four, part four, article five; section three, article seven; section four, article nine, and section eleven, article nine, are- amended, by substituting the word biennial' for the word "annual" wherever it occurs.
Section two, part one, article five, is amended, by striking out all after the word "office" and substituting therefor the following words: 'for two years from the first Wednesday of January next following the election.' Section seven, article six, and section two, article ten, are hereby amended by striking out the word "annual" and insert in place thereof the word 'biennial.'
[The twenty-third amendment proposed to the people by a resolve of the fifty- eighth legislature, approved March 4, 1879, and on March 18, 1880, declared by a resolve of the legislature to have been adopted by the people at the annual election September 8, 1879, took effect and became a part of the Constitution March 18, 1880, in accordance with the provisions of the resolve.]
ARTICLE XXIV
ELECTION OF GOVERNOR BY PLURALITY VOTE
The Constitution of this State shall be amended, in the third section of the first part of article five, by striking out the word "majority," wherever it occurs therein, and inserting in the place thereof the word 'plurality.'
[The twenty-fourth amendment proposed to the people by a resolve of the fifty- ninth legislature, approved January 27, 1880, and on November 9, 1880, pro- claimed by the Governor to have been adopted by the people at the annual elec- tion September 13, 1880, took effect and became a part of the Constitution No- vember 9, 1880, in accordance with the provisions of the resolve.]
ARTICLE BIENNIAL LEGISLATIVE TERMS
Section two, article four, part first, of the Constitution of this State, as amended under the "resolutions concerning an amendment of the Constitution of Maine," approved the fourth day of March, in the year eighteen hundred and seventy- nine, shall be further amended by striking out the words "first Wednesday in January next succeeding their election," and inserting in place thereof the words 'day next preceding the biennial meeting of the legislature, and the amendment herein proposed, if adopted, shall determine the term of office of senators and representatives to be elected at the annual meeting in September, in the year eighteen hundred and eighty, as well as the term of senators and representatives thereafter to be elected,' so that said section, as amended, shall read as follows:
'Sec. 2. The house of representatives shall consist of one hundred and fifty- one members, to be elected by the qualified electors, and hold their office for two years from the day next preceding the biennial meeting of the legislature, and the amendment herein proposed, if adopted, shall determine the term of office of senators and representatives to the elected at the annual meeting in September, in the year eighteen hundred and eighty, as well as the term of senators and representatives thereafter to be elected. The legislature, which shall first be con- vened under this Constitution, shall on or before the fifteenth day of August in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-one, and the legis- lature, within every subsequent period of at most ten years, and at least five, cause the number of the inhabitants of the state to be ascertained, exclusive of foreigners not naturalized and Indians not taxed. The number of representatives shall, at the several periods of making such enumeration, be fixed and appor- tioned among the several counties, as near as may be, according to the number of inhabitants, having regard to the relative increase of population. The number of representatives shall, on said first apportionment, be not less than one hundred and not more than one hundred and fifty.'
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