described in the title; and no law nor section of a law shall be revised or amended by reference to its title or section only, 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 said code is arranged, and to provide for the publication of all additions and alterations which may be made to the code. SEC. 29. Every bill, when passed by the general assembly and sealed with the great seal, shall be presented to the governor, who 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 certified under the great seal to the several courts, in the same manner as has been heretofore usual in this State.

SEC. 30. 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; and in case any public law is made to take effect before the said first day of June, the general assembly shall provide for the immediate publication of the same.

SEC. 31. No money shall be drawn from the treasury of the State, except in accordance with an appropriation by law, and every such law shall distinctly specify the sum appropriated, and the object to which it shall be applied: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall prevent 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.

SEC. 32. The general assembly shall not pass local or special laws in any of the following-enumerated cases, viz: For the assessment and collection of taxes for State or county purposes, or extending the time for the collection of taxes; providing for the support of public schools; the preservation of school-funds; the location or the regulation of school-houses; granting divorces; relating to fees or salaries; relating to the interest on money; providing for regulating the election or compensation of State or county officers; or designating the places of voting; or the boundaries of election-districts; 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 department; or establishing, locating, or affecting the construction of roads, and the repairing or building of bridges. 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, and for all other cases where a general law can be made applicable.

SEC. 33. No debt shall be hereafter contracted by the general assembly unless such debts 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 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 any enterprise which shall involve the faith or credit of the State, nor make any appropriations therefor; and they shall not use or appropriate the proceeds of the internal-improve ment companies, or of the State tax now levied, or which may hereafter be levied,

to pay off the public debt, to any other purpose until the interest and debt are fully paid, or the sinking-fund shall be equal to the amount of the outstanding 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 defence of the State.

SEC. 34. No extra compensation shall be granted or allowed by the general assembly to any public officer, agent, servant, or contractor, after the services 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.

SEC. 35. No lottery-grant shall ever hereafter be authorized by the general assembly.

SEC. 36. The general assembly shall pass no law nor make any appropriation to compensate the masters or claimants of slaves emancipated from servitude by the adoption of this constitution.

SEC. 37. No person shall be imprisoned for debt.

SEC. 38. The general assembly shall grant no charter for banking purposes, 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 liabilities, upon note, bill, or otherwise, and upon the further condition, that no director or other officer of said corporation shall borrow any money from said corporation, and if any director or other officer shall be convicted, upon indictment, of directly or indirectly violating this section, he shall be punished, by fine or imprisonment, at the discretion of the court. The books, papers, and accounts of all banks shall be open to inspection, under such regulations as may be prescribed by law.

SEC. 39. 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.

SEC. 40. 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 knowingly aid or assist in any manner those thus offending, and any citizen who has thus offended or so aided or assisted those thus offending, since the first Wednesday of June, eighteen hundred and fifty-one, shall ever thereafter be incapable of holding any office of trust or profit under this State.

SEC. 41. The general assembly shall pass laws for the preservation of the purity of elections by the registration of voters, and by such other means as may be deemed expedient; and to make effective the provisions of the constitution disfranchising certain persons, or disqualifying them from holding office.

SEC. 42. The general assembly shall pass laws necessary to protect the property of the wife from the debts of the husband during her life, and for securing the same to her issue after her death.

SEC. 43. Laws shall be passed by the general assembly to protect from execution a reasonable amount of property of a debtor, not exceeding in value the sum of five hundred dollars.

SEC. 44. 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: Frovided, The amount of compensation to any of said officers shall not exceed the sum of twenty-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.

SEC. 45. The general assembly shall have power to receive from the United States any grant or donation of land, money, or securities, for any purpose designated by the United States, and shall administer or distribute the same according to the conditions of said grant.

SEC. 46. The general assembly shall make provision for all cases of contested elections of any of the officers not herein provided for.

SEC. 47. The general assembly shall pass laws requiring the president, directors, trustees, or agents of corporations, created or authorized by the laws of this State, teachers or superintendents of the public schools, colleges, or other institutions of learning; attorneys at law, jurors, and such other persons as the general assembly shall from time to time prescribe, to take the oath of allegiance to the United States set forth in the first article of this constitution.

SEC. 48. The general assembly shall have power to accept the cession of any territory, contiguous to this State, from the States of Virginia and West Virginia, or from the United States, with the consent of Congress and of the inhabitants of such ceded territory, and in case of such cessions the general assembly may divide such territory into counties, and shall provide for the representation of the same in the general assembly, on the basis fixed by this constitution, and may, for that purpose, increase the number of senators and delegates, and the general assembly shall enact such laws as may be required to extend the constitution and laws of this State over such territory, and may create courts, conformably to the constitution, for such territory, and may for that purpose increase the number of judges of the court of appeals.

SEC. 49. The general assembly shall provide by law for the registration of births, marriages, and deaths, and shall pass laws providing for the celebration of marriage between any persons legally competent to contract marriage, and shall provide that any persons prevented by conscientious scruples from being married by any of the existing provisions of law, may be married by any judge or clerk of any court of record, or any mayor of any incorporated city in this State.

SEC. 50. The rate of interest in this State shall not exceed 6 per centum per annum, and no higher rate shall be taken or demanded; and the general assembly shall provide by law all necessary forfeitures and penalties against usury.

SEC. 51. Corporations may be formed under general laws, but shall not be created by special act, except for municipal purposes, and in cases where, in the judgment of the general assembly, the object of the corporation cannot be attained under general laws. All laws and special acts, pursuant to this section, may be altered from time to time, or repealed: Frovided, Nothing herein contained shall be construed to alter, change, or amend in any manner the section in relation to banks.

SEC. 52. The governor, comptroller, and treasurer of the State are hereby authorized, conjointly, or any two of them, to exchange the State's interest as stockholder and creditor in the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company for an equal amount of the bonds or registered debt now owing by the State; and, 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; also, the State's interest in any banking corporation, and to receive 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.

SEC. 53. The general assembly before authorizing the sale of the State's interest in the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, and before prescribing regulations and conditions for said sale, shall pass all laws that may be necessary to authorize the counties of Alleghany, Washington, Frederick, and Montgomery, or any one of them, to create a debt by the issue of bonds or otherwise, so as to enable them, or any of them, to become the purchasers of said interest.

SEC. 54. 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.

SEC. 55. 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.

ARTICLE IV.-JUDICIARY DEPARTMENT.

PART I.-General Provisions.

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 may be hereinafter prescribed or 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 authentication of all process issuing from them. The process and official character of justices of the peace shall be authenticated as hath heretofore been practised in this State, or may hereafter be prescribed by law.

SEC. 2. The judges of the several courts, except the judges of the orphans' courts, shall be citizens of the United States, and residents of this State, not less than five years next preceding their election, or appointment by the executive in case of a vacancy; and not less than one year next preceding their election or appointment, residents in the judicial district or circuit, as the case may be, for which they may be elected or appointed; they shall not be less than thirty years of age at the time of their election, and selected from those who have been admitted to practise law in this State, and who are most distinguished for integrity, wisdom, and sound legal knowledge.

SEC. 3. The judges of the court of appeals shall be elected by the qualified voters of the State; and the governor, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, shall designate the chief justice; and the judges of the judicial circuits shall be elected by the qualified voters of their respective circuits; each judge of the court of appeals and of each judicial circuit shall hold his office for the term of fifteen years from the time of his election, or until he shall have attained the age of seventy years, whichever may first happen, and be reëligible thereto until he shall have attained the age of seventy years, and not after.

SEC. 4. Any judge shall be removed from office by the governor on conviction, in a court of law, of incompetency, of wilful neglect of duty, of misbehavior in office, or any other crime; or on impeachment according to this constitution, or the laws of the State; or on the address of the general assembly, two-thirds of each house concurring in such address, and the accused having been notified of the charges against him, and had opportunity of making his defence.

SEC. 5. In case of the death, resignation, removal, or other disqualification of a judge of any court of this State, except of the orphans' courts, the governor, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, shall thereupon appoint a person duly qualified to fill said office until the next general election thereafter, whether for members of general assembly or county officers, whichever shall first occur, at which time an election shall be held as herein prescribed for a judge, who shall hold said office for the term of fifteen years, and until the election and qualification of his suc

cessor.

SEC. 6. All judges shall, by virtue of their offices, be conservatives of the peace throughout the State, and no fees or perquisites, commission or reward of any kind, shall be allowed to any judge in this State, besides his annual salary or fixed per diem, for the discharge of an official duty.

SEC. 7. No judge shall sit in any case wherein he may be interested, or where either of the parties may be connected with him by affinity or consanguinity within such degrees as now are or may hereafter be prescribed by law, or where he shall have been of counsel in the case.

SEC. 8. The general assembly shall provide for the trial of causes in case of the disqualification of the judge of the superior court of Baltimore City, the court of common pleas, the circuit court of Baltimore City, and the criminal court of Baltimore, and also in case of a disqualification of any judge of other circuit courts of this State, to hear and determine the same, but in case of such disqualification, the

parties thereto may, by consent, appoint a person to try the same; and the parties to any cause may submit the same to the court for determination without the aid of a jury.

SEC. 9. The judge or judges of any court of this State, except the court of appeals, shall order and direct the record of proceedings in any suit of action, issue, or petition, presentment or indictment, pending in such court, to be transmitted to some other court in the same or any adjoining circuit having jurisdiction in such cases, whenever any party to such cause, or the counsel of any party, shall make it satisfactorily appear to the court that such party cannot have a fair and impartial trial in the court in which such suit or action, issue or petition, presentment or indictment, is pending; and the general assembly shall make such modifications of existing law as may be necessary to regulate and give force to this provision.

SEC. 10. The judge or judges of any court may appoint such officers for their respective courts as may be found necessary, and it shall be the duty of the general assembly to prescribe by law a fixed compensation for all such officers.

SEC. 11. Every person being a citizen of the United States shall be permitted to appear to and try his own case in all the courts of this State.

SEC. 12. Any person who shall, after this constitution shall have gone into effect, detain in slavery any person emancipated by the provisions of this constitution, shall, on conviction, be fined not less than five hundred dollars nor more than five thousand dollars, or be imprisoned not more than five years; and any of the judges of this State shall discharge, on habeas corpus, any person so detained in slavery.

SEC. 13. The clerks of the several courts created or continued by this constitution shall have charge and custody of the records and other papers, shall perform all the duties and be allowed the fees which appertain to their several offices, as the same now are or may hereafter be regulated by law.

SEC. 14. All election of judges and other officers provided for by this constitution, State's attorneys excepted, shall be certified and the returns made by the clerks of the respective counties to the governor, who shall issue commissions to the different persons for the offices to which they shall have been respectively elected; and in all such elections, the person having the greatest number of votes shall be declared to be elected.

SEC. 15. If in any case of election for judges, clerks of the courts of law, and registers of wills, the opposing candidates shall have an equal number of votes, it shall be the duty of the governor to order a new election; and in case of any contested election the governor shall send the returns to the house of delegates, who shall judge of the election and qualification of the candidates at such election.

SEC. 16. All public commissions and grants shall run thus, "The State of Maryland," &c., and shall be signed by the governor, with the seal of the State annexed; all writs and process shall run to the same style, and be tested, sealed, and signed as usual; and all indictments shall conclude "against the peace, government, and dignity of the State."

PART II.-Court of Appeals.

SEC. 17. The court of appeals shall consist of a chief justice and four associate justices, and for their selection the State shall be divided into five judicial districts, as follows, viz: Worcester, Somerset, Dorchester, Talbot, Caroline, Queen Anne, Kent, and Cecil Counties shall compose the first district; Harford and Baltimore Counties, and the first seven wards of Baltimore City, shall compose the second district; Baltimore City, except the first seven wards, shall compose the third district; Alleghany, Washington, Frederick, Howard, and Carroll Counties shall compose the fourth district; Saint Mary's, Charles, Anne Arundel, Calvert, Prince George's, and Montgomery Counties shall compose the fifth district, and one of the justices of the court of appeals shall be elected from each of said districts, by the qualified voters of the whole State. The present chief justice and associate justices of the court of appeals shall continue to act as such until the expiration of the term for which they were respectively elected, and until their successors are elected and qualified; and an election for a justice of the court of appeals, to be taken from the fourth judicial