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to any civil office created by the constitution or laws of
the State.
Sec. 14. No Senator or Delegate shall be liable in any
civil action or criminal prosecution whatever for words
spoken in debate.
Sec. 15. Each house shall be judge of the qualifica-
tions and elections of its members as prescribed by the
constitution and laws of the State; shall appoint its own
officers, determine the rule of its own proceedings, pun-
ish 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 member shall
be expelled a second time for the same offence.
Sec. 16. A majority of the whole number of members
elected to each house shall constitute a quorum for the
transaction of business, but a smaller number may ad-
journ from day to day, and compel the attendance of ab-
sent members in such manner and under such penalties
as each house may prescribe.
Sec. 17. 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.
Sec. 18. Each house shall keep a journal of its pro-
ceedings 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 upon the journal.
Sec. 19. Each house may punish by imprisonment dur-
ing the session of the General Assembly any person not a
member for disorderly or disrespectful behavior in its
presence, or for obstructing any of its proceedings, or
any of its officers in the execution of their duties; pro-
vided such imprisonment shall not at any time exceed ten
days.
Sec. 20. 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 com-
mit 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
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