Sec. 9. No person shall be eligible as a Sen-
ator or Delegate who, at the time of his election,
is not a citizen of the United States, and who
has not resided at least three years next preced-
ing the day of his election in this State, and the
last year thereof in the county or city which he
may be chosen to represent, if such county or
city shall have been so long established, and if
not then in tie county from which, in whole or
in part, the same may have been formed; nor
shall any person be eligible as a Senator, unless
he shall have attained the age of twenty-five
years, nor as a Delegate, unless he shall have
attained the age of twenty-one years at the time
of his election.
Sec. 10. No member of Congress, or persons
holding any civil or military office under the
United States, shall be eligible as a Senator or
Delegate, and if any person shall, after his elec-
tion as a Senator or Delegate, be elected to Con-
gress, or be appointed to any office, civil or mil-
itary, under the government of the United States,
his acceptance thereof shall vacate his seat.
See. 11. No Minister or Preacher of the gos-
pel, of any denomination, and, no person holding
any civil office of profit or trust under this State,
except justices of the peace, shall be eligible as
Senator or Delegate.
Sec, 12. Each House shall be judge of the
qualifications and elections of its members, sub-
ject to the laws of the State, appoint its own
officers, determine the rules of its own proceed-
ings, punish a member for disorderly or disres-
pectful behaviour, and with the consent of two-
thirds expel a member; hut no member shall be
expelled a second time for the same offence.
Sec. 13. A majority of each House shall con-
stitute a quorum fur the transaction of business,
but a smaller number may adjourn from day to
day, and compel the attendance of absent mem-
bers in such manner and undersuch penalties as
each House may prescribe.
Sec. 14. The doors of each House and of com-
mittees of the whole shall be open, except when
the business is such as ought to be kept secret.
Sec. 15. Each House shall keep a journal of
its proceedings, and cause the same to be pub-
lished. 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.
Sec. 16. Neither House shall, without the
consent of the other, adjourn for more than three
days; nor to any other place than that in which
the House shall be silting, without the concur-
rent vote of two-thirds of the members present.
Sec. 17. The style of all laws of this State,
shall be, "Be it enacted by the General Assem-
bly of Maryland," and all laws shall be passed
by original bill, and every law enacted by the
legislature shall embrace but one subject, and
that shall be described in the title, and no law |
or section of law shall be revived, amended or
repealed by reference to its title or section only;
and it shall be the duty of the legislature at the
first session after the adoption of this constitu-
tion, to appoint two commissioners learned in the
law, to revise and codify the laws of this State;
and the said commissioners shall report the said
code, so formed, to the legislature, within a time
to be by it determined, for its approval, amend-
ment or rejection, and if adopted after the re-
vision and codification of the said laws, it shall
be the duly of the legislature in amending any
article or section thereof to enact the same as the
said article or section would read when amended.
And whenever the legislature shall enact any
public general law, not amendatory of any sec-
tion or article in the said code, it shall be the
duty of the legislature to enact the same in Ar-
ticles and Sections, in the same manner as the
said code may be arranged; and to provide for the
publication of all additions and alterations which
may be made to the said code, and it shall also
be the duty of the legislature to appoint one or
more commissioners learned in the law, whose
duty it shall be to revise, simplify and abridge
the rules of practice, pleadings, forms of convey-
ancing, and proceedings of the Courts of Record
in this State.
Sec. 18. Any bill may originate in either
House of the General Assembly, and he altered,
amended or rejected by the other; but no bill
shall originate in either House dining the last
three days of the session, or become a law,
until it be read on three different days of the
session in each House, unless three-fourths of
the members of the House, where such bill is
pending, shall so determine.
Sec. 19. 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 the ayes and noes be recorded.
Sec. 20. No money shall be drawn from the
Treasury of the State, except in accordance
with an appropriation made by law, and every
such law shall distinctly specify the sum ap-
propriated and the object to which it shall be
applied, provided that nothing herein contained
shall prevent the Legislature from placing a
contingent fund at the disposal of the Execu-
tive, who shall report to the Legislature 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 Gen-
eral Assembly.
Sec. 21. No divorce shall be granted by the
General Assembly.
Sec. 22. No debt shall hereafter be contracted
by the Legislature, unless such debt shall be
authorized by a law providing for the collec-
tion of an annual tax or taxes sufficient to pay |
