USA > New Hampshire > History of New Hampshire, Volume IV > Part 28
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Folder No. 18164 contains an early copy of the grant of the town of New Castle, signed by John Usher, the Lieutenant-Governor.
Folder No. 15454, dated about 1713, contains a deposition of Obediah Mors, senior, aged 66, that in the year 1670 he was often at the house of Mr. James Rawlins senior, "he being my wife's father," living at Long Reach, Portsmouth. Sept. 3, 1713 Rebecca Rawlins, aged 60, daughter of James Rawlins, deposed.
Folder No. 15405 contains evidence that "a tract of land known by the name of Swamscut being three miles square hath been possessed by Capt. Thomas Wiggin and his son Mr. Andrew Wiggin forty two years," dated Nov. 8, 1701. Then deposed Bradstreet Wiggin, aged 25, Jonathan Wiggin, aged 22, James Godfrey, aged 65, and Abraham Lewis, aged 42. The folder contains also depositions by William Furber, aged 54, and Thomas Lake, aged 53, made in 1669. Peter Coffin, aged 75, deposed Oct. 6, 1705, and at same date Leonard Weeks, aged 73.
The above notes are intended simply as samples of intelligence that can be gleaned from the court files of New Hampshire, in addition to the bound volumes that have been indexed by names.
Appendix B CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
Appendix B
CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
PART FIRST-BILL OF RIGHTS
I. Equality of men; origin and ob- ject of government.
2. Natural rights.
3. Society, its organization and purposes.
4. Rights of conscience unalien- able.
5. Religious freedom recognized.
6. Public worship of the Deity to be encouraged; right of elect- ing religious teachers; free toleration; existing contracts not affected.
7. State sovereignty.
8. Accountability of magistrates and officers to the people.
9. No hereditary office or place.
IO. Right of revolution.
II. Elections and elective franchise.
I2. Protection and taxation recip- rocal; private property for public use.
13. Conscientiously scrupulous not compellable to bear arms.
14. Legal remedies to be free, com- plete and prompt.
15. Accused entitled to full and substantial statement of charge; not obliged to furnish evidence against himself ; may produce proofs and be fully heard, etc.
16. No person to be again tried after an acquittal; trial by jury in capital cases.
17. Criminal trials in county, ex- cept in general insurrection.
18. Penalties to be proportioned to offenses; true design of pun- ishment.
19. Searches and seizures regu- lated.
20. Trial by jury in civil causes ; exceptions.
21. Only qualified persons to serve 345
as jurors, and to be fully compensated.
22. Liberty of the press.
23. Retrospective laws prohibited.
24. Militia.
25. Standing armies.
26. Military, subject to civil power.
27. Quartering of soldiers.
28. Taxes to be levied only by the people or legislature.
29. Suspension of laws by legisla- ture only.
30. Freedom of speech.
31. Meetings of legislature, for what purpose.
32. Rights of assembly, instruction and petition.
33. Excessive bail, fines and pun- ishments prohibited.
34. Martial law limited.
35. The judiciary; tenure of office. 36. Pensions.
37. The legislative, executive and judicial departments to be kept separate.
38. Social virtues inculcated.
PART SECOND-FORM OF GOV- ERNMENT
I. Name of body politic.
2. Legislature, how constituted.
3. General Court, when to meet and dissolve.
4. Power of general court to es- tablish courts.
5. To make laws, elect officers, de- fine their powers and duties, impose fines, and assess taxes.
6. Valuation of estates.
7. Members of legislature not to take fees or act as counsel.
8. Legislature to sit with open doors.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
9. Representatives elected bienni- ally; ratio of representation.
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IO. Small towns may elect a pro- portionate part of time.
II. Biennial election of represen- tatives in November.
12. Qualifications of electors.
13. Representatives, how elected, and qualifications of.
14. Compensation of legislature.
15. Vacancies in house, how filled.
16. House to impeach before the senate.
17. Money bills to originate in house.
18. Power of adjournment limited.
19. Quorum, what constitutes.
20. Privileges of members of the legislature.
21. House to elect speaker and offi- cers, settle rules of proceed- ing, and punish misconduct.
22. Senate and executive have like powers; imprisonment lim- ited.
23. Journal and laws to be pub- lished; yeas and nays and protests.
SENATE
24. Senate, how constituted; tenure of office.
25. Senatorial districts, how con- stituted.
26. Election of senators.
27. Senators, how and by whom chosen ; right of suffrage.
28. Qualifications of senators.
29. Inhabitants defined. 30. Inhabitants of incorporated places ; their rights, etc.
31. Biennial meetings, how warned, governed, and conducted; re- turn of votes.
32. Governor and council to count votes for senators and notify the persons elected.
33. Vacancies in senate, how filled. 34. Senate judges of their own elections.
35. Adjournments limited, except in impeachment cases.
36. Senate to elect their own offi- cers ; quorum.
37. Senate to try impeachments ; mode of proceeding.
38. Judgment on impeachments limited.
39. Chief justice to preside on im- peachment of governor.
EXECUTIVE POWER-GOV- ERNOR
40. Title of governor.
41. Election of governor; return of votes; electors; if no choice, legislature to elect one of two highest candidates ; qualifica- tions for governor.
42. In case of disagreement, gov- ernor to adjourn or prorogue legislature; if infectious dis- temper or other causes exist, may convene them elsewhere.
43. Veto of governor to bills, pro- visions as to.
44. Resolves to be treated like bills.
45. Governor and council to nomi- nate and appoint officers ; nomination three days before appointment.
46. Governor and council have neg- ative on each other.
47. Field officers to recommend, and governor to appoint, com- pany officers.
48. President of senate to act as governor when office vacant.
49. Governor to prorogue or ad- journ legislature and call ex- tra sessions.
50. Power and duties of governor as commander-in-chief ; lim- itation.
51. Pardoning power.
52. Militia officers, removal of.
53. Staff and non-commissioned of- ficers, by whom appointed.
54. Division of militia into bri- gades, regiments, and com- panies.
55. Money drawn from treasury only by warrant of governor pursuant to law.
56. Accounts of military stores, etc., to be rendered quarterly. 57. Compensation of governor and council.
58. Salary of judges. COUNCIL
59. Councilors, mode of election, etc.
60. Vacancies, how filled, if no choice.
61. Occurring afterward; new elec- tion; governor to convene; duties.
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62. Impeachment of councilors.
63. Secretary to record proceed- ings of council.
64. Councilor district provided for. 65. Elections by legislature may be adjourned from day to day; order thereof.
SECRETARY, TREASURER, COMMISSARY-GENERAL, ETC.
66. Election of secretary, treasurer, and commissary-general.
67. State records, where kept; duty of secretary.
68. Deputy secretary.
69. Secretary to give bond.
COUNTY TREASURERS, ETC.
70. County treasurers and regis- ters of probate, solicitors, sheriffs, and registers of deeds elected.
71. Counties may be divided into districts for registering deeds.
JUDICIARY POWER
72. Tenure of office to be expressed in commissions; judges to hold office during good be- havior, etc .; removable by ad- dress.
73. Judges to give opinions, when. 74. Justices of the peace commis- sioned for five years.
75. Divorces and appeals, where tried.
76. Jurisdiction of justices in civil causes.
77. Judges and sheriffs, when dis- qualified by age.
78. Judges and justices not to act as counsel.
79. Jurisdiction and terms of pro- bate courts.
80. Judges and registers of probate not to act as counsel.
CLERKS OF COURTS
81. Clerks of courts, by whom ap- pointed.
ENCOURAGEMENT OF LITERA- TURE, ETC.
82. Encouragement of literature, etc.
OATHS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS, EXCLUSION FROM OFFICE, ETC.
83. Oath of civil officers.
84. Before whom taken.
85. Form of commissions.
86. Form of writs.
87. Form of indictments, etc.
88. Suicides and deodands.
89. Existing laws to continue in force, if not repugnant to constitution.
90. Habeas corpus.
91. Enacting style of statutes.
92. Governor and judges prohib- ited from holding other of- fices.
93. Incompatibility of offices; only two offices of profit to be holden at same time.
94. Incompatibility of certain of- fices.
95. Bribery and corruption dis- qualify for office.
96. Value of money, how computed. 97. Constitution, when to take ef- fect.
98. Revision of constitution pro- vided for.
99. Question on revision to be tak- en every seven years.
100. Enrollment of constitution.
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE Part First BILL OF RIGHTS
ARTICLE I. All men are born equally free and independent; therefore all government of right originates from the people, is founded in consent, and instituted for the general good.
ART. 2. All men have certain natural, essential, and inherent rights,
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among which are the enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and, in a word, of seeking and obtaining happiness.
ART. 3. When men enter into a state of society they surrender up some of their natural rights to that society in order to insure the protection of others; and, without such an equivalent, the surrender is void.
ART. 4. Among the natural rights, some are in their very nature un- alienable, because no equivalent can be given or received for them. Of this kind are the rights of conscience.
ART. 5. Every individual has a natural and unalienable right to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience and reason; and no subject shall be hurt, molested or restrained, in his person, liberty or estate, for worshiping God in the manner and season most agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience, or for his religious profession, sentiments or per- suasion, provided he doth not disturb the public peace or disturb others in their religious worship.
ART. 6. As morality and piety, rightly grounded on evangelical prin- ciples, will give the best and greatest security to government, and will lay in the hearts of men the strongest obligations to due subjection, and as the knowledge of these is most likely to be propagated through a society by the institution of the public worship of the DIETY and of public instruction in morality and religion, therefore, to promote these important purposes, the people of this state have a right to empower, and do hereby fully empower, the legislature to authorize, from time to time, the several towns, parishes, bodies corporate, or religious societies within this state to make adequate provision, at their own expense, for the support and maintenance of public Protestant teachers of piety, religion, and morality. Provided, notwithstand- ing, that the several towns, parishes, bodies corporate or religious societies shall at all times have the exclusive right of electing their own public teachers, and of contracting with them for their support and maintenance. And no person of any one particular religious sect or denomination shall ever be compelled to pay towards the support of the teacher or teachers of another persuasion, sect or denomination. And every denomination of Christians, demeaning themselves quietly and as good subjects of the state, shall be equally under the protection of the law; and no subordination of any one sect or denomination to another shall ever be established by law. And nothing herein shall be understood to affect any former contracts made for the support of the ministry; but all such contracts shall remain and be in the same state as if this constitution had not been made.
ART. 7. The people of this state have the sole and exclusive right of governing themselves as a free, sovereign, and independent state, and do, and forever hereafter shall, exercise and enjoy every power, jurisdiction, and right pertaining thereto which is not or may not hereafter be by them expressly delegated to the United States of America in congress assembled.
ART. 8. All power residing originally in, and being derived from, the people, all the magistrates and officers of government are their substitutes and agents, and at all times accountable to them.
ART. 9. No office or place whatsoever in government shall be hereditary, the abilities and integrity requisite in all not being transmissible to posterity or relations.
ART. IO. Government being instituted for the common benefit, protec- tion, and security of the whole community, and not for the private interest or emolument of any one man, family, or class of men, therefore, whenever the ends of government are perverted and public liberty manifestly endan- gered, and all other means of redress are ineffectual, the people may, and of right ought to, reform the old or establish a new government. The doctrine of non-resistance against arbitrary power and oppression is absurd, slavish, and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind.
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ART. II. All elections ought to be free; and every inhabitant of the state, having the proper qualifications, has equal right to elect and be elected into office; but no person shall have the right to vote, or be eligible to office under the constitution of this state, who shall not be able to read the constitution in the English language, and to write, provided however, that this provision shall not apply to any person prevented by a physical disability from complying with its requisitions, nor to any person who now has the right to vote, nor to any person who shall be sixty years of age or upwards on the first day of January, A. D., 1904, and provided further, that no person shall have the right to vote, or be eligible to office under the constitution of this state who shall have been convicted of treason, bribery, or any willful violation of the election laws of this state or of the United States; but the Supreme Court may, on notice to the attorney general restore the privileges of an elector to any person who may have forfeited them by conviction of such offenses.
ART. 12. Every member of the community has a right to be protected by it in the enjoyment of his life, liberty and property. He is, therefore, bound to contribute his share in the expense of such protection, and to yield his personal service, when necessary, or an equivalent. But no part of a man's property shall be taken from him or applied to public uses without his own consent or that of the representative body of the people. Nor are the inhabitants of this state controllable by any other laws than those to which they or their representative body have given their consent.
ART. 13. No person who is conscientiously scrupulous about the law- fulness of bearing arms shall be compelled thereto, provided he will pay an equivalent.
ART. 14. Every subject of this state is entitled to a certain remedy, by having recourse to the laws, for all injuries he may receive in his person, property or character; to obtain right and justice freely, without being obliged to purchase it; completely and without any denial; promptly, and without delay; conformably to the laws.
ART. 15. No subject shall be held to answer for any crime or offense antil the same is fully and plainly, substantially and formally, described to him, or be compelled to accuse or furnish evidence against himself. And every subject shall have a right to produce all proofs that may be favorable to himself, to meet the witnesses against him face to face, and to be fully heard in his defense by himself and counsel. And no subject shall be arrested, imprisoned, despoiled, or deprived of his property, immunities, or privileges, put out of the protection of the law, exiled or deprived of his life, liberty, or estate, but by the judgment of his peers or the law of the land.
ART. 16. No subject shall be liable to be tried, after an acquittal, for the same crime or offense; nor shall the legislature make any law that shall subject any person to a capital punishment (excepting for the government of the army and navy, and the militia in actual service) without trial by jury.
ART. 17. In criminal prosecutions, the trial of facts in the vicinity where they happen is so essential to the security of the life, liberty, and estate of the citizen, that no crime or offense ought to be tried in any other county than that in which it is committed, except in cases of general insur- rection in any particular county, when it shall appear to the judges of the superior court that an impartial trial cannot be had in the county where the offense may be committed, and, upon their report, the legislature shall think proper to direct the trial in the nearest county in which an impartial trial can be obtained.
ART. 18. All penalties ought to be proportioned to the nature of the offense. No wise legislature will affix the same punishment to the crimes of theft, forgery, and the like, which they do to those of murder and treason.
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Where the same undistinguishing severity is exerted against all offenses, the people are led to forget the real distinction in the crimes themselvs and to commit the most flagrant with as little compunction as they do the lightest offenses. For the same reason, a multitude of sanguinary laws is both impolitic and unjust, the true design of all punishments being to reform, not to exterminate, mankind.
ART. 19. Every subject hath a right to be secure from all unreasonable searches and seizures of his person, his houses, his papers, and all his pos- sessions. Therefore, all warrants to search suspected places or arrest a person for examination or trial, in prosecutions for criminal matters, are contrary to this right, if the cause or foundation of them be not previously supported by oath or affirmation, and if the order, in a warrant to a civil officer, to make search in suspected places or to arrest one or more suspected persons or to seize their property, be not accompanied with a special desig- nation of the person or object of search, arrest, or seizure; and no warrant ought to be issued but in cases and with the formalities prescribed by law.
ART. 20. In all controversies concerning property and in all suits be- tween two or more persons, except in cases in which it has been heretofore otherwise used and practiced, and except in cases in which the value in controversy does not exceed one hundred dollars and title of real estate is not concerned, the parties have a right to trial by jury; and this method of procedure shall be held sacred, unless, in cases arising on the high seas and such as relate to mariners' wages, the legislature shall think it necessary hereafter to alter it.
ART. 21. In order to reap the fullest advantage of the inestimable privilege of trial by jury, great care ought to be taken that none but qualified persons should be appointed to serve; and such ought to be fully compen- sated for their travel, time, and attendance.
ART. 22. The liberty of the press is essential to the security of freedom in a state; it ought, therefore, to be inviolably preserved.
ART. 23. Retrospective laws are highly injurious, oppressive, and unjust. No such laws, therefore, should be made either for the decision of civil causes or the punishment of offenses.
ART. 24. A well-regulated militia is the proper, natural, and sure defense of a state.
ART. 25. Standing armies are dangerous to liberty, and ought not to be raised or kept up without the consent of the legislature.
ART. 26. In all cases and at all times, the military ought to be under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power.
ART. 27. No soldier, in time of peace, shall be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner; and, in time of war, such quarters ought not to be made but by the civil magistrate, in a manner ordained by the legislature.
ART. 28. No subsidy, charge, tax, impost, or duty shall be established, fixed, laid, or levied, under any pretext whatsoever, without the consent of the people or their representatives in the legislature, or authority derived from that body.
ART. 29. The power of suspending the laws or the execution of them ought never to be exercised but by the legislature, or by authority derived therefrom, to be exercised in such particular cases only as the legislature shall expressly provide for.
ART. 30. The freedom of deliberation, speeech, and debate in either house of the legislature is so essential to the rights of the people, that it cannot be the foundation of any action, complaint, or prosecution in any other court or place whatsoever.
ART. 31. The legislature shall assemble for the redress of public griev- ances and for making such laws as the public good may require.
ART. 32. The people have a right, in an orderly and peaceable manner,
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to assemble and consult upon the common good, give instructions to their representatives, and to request of the legislative body, by way of petition or remonstrance, redress of the wrongs done them, and of the grievances they suffer.
ART. 33. No magistrate or court of law shall demand excessive bail or sureties, impose excessive fines or inflict cruel or unusual punishments.
ART. 34. No person can in any case be subjected to law martial or to any pains or penalties by virtue of that law, except those employed in the army or navy, and except the militia in actual service, but by authority of the legislature.
ART. 35. It is essential to the preservation of the rights of every in- dividual, his life, liberty, property, and character, that there be an impartial interpretation of the laws and administration of justice. It is the right of every citizen to be tried by judges as impartial as the lot of humanity will admit. It is, therefore, not only the best policy, but for the security of the rights of the people, that the judges of the supreme judicial court should hold 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 estab- lished by standing laws.
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 actual 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 government 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 and amity.
ART. 38. A frequent recurrence to the fundamental principles of the constitution and a constant adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, in- dustry, frugality, and all the social virtues, are indispensably necessary to preserve the blessings of liberty and good government. The people, ought, therefore, to have a particular regard to all those principles in the choice of their officers and representatives; and they have a right to require of their lawgivers and magistrates an exact and constant observance of them in the formation and execution of the laws necessary for the good administration of government.
Part Second
FORM OF GOVERNMENT
ARTICLE I. The people inhabiting the territory formerly called The Province of New Hampshire do hereby solemnly and mutually agree with each other to form themselves into a free, sovereign, and independent body 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 vested in the senate and house of representatives, each of which shall have a negative on the other.
ART. 3. The senate and house shall assemble biennially, on the first Wednesday of January and at such other times as they may judge necessary, and shall dissolve and be dissolved seven days next preceding the said first Wednesday of January biennially, and shall be styled THE GENERAL COURT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.
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ART. 4. The general court shall forever have full power and authority to erect and constitute judicatories and courts of record or other courts, to be holden in the name of the state, for the hearing, trying, and determining all manner of crimes, offenses, pleas, processes, plaints, actions, causes, matters, and things whatsoever, arising or happening within this state, or between or concerning persons inhabiting, or residing, or brought within the same, or whether the same be criminal or civil, or whether the crimes be 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 of truth in any matter in controversy or depending before them.
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