their commencement, unless the same shall
be closed at an earlier day by the agreement
of the two houses.
SEC. 9. No person shall be eligible as a sen-
ator or delegate who, at the time of his elec-
tion, is not a citizen of the United States,
and who has not resided at least three years
next preceding 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 the county
from which, in whole or in part, the same
may have been formed; nor shall any person
be eligible as a senator unless be shall have
attained the age of twenty-five years, nor as
a delegate unless be shall have attained the
age of twenty-one years at the time of his
election.
SEC. 10. No member of Congress, or per-
sons 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
election as a senator or delegate, be elected to
Congress, or be appointed to any office^ civil
or military, under the government of the
United States, his acceptance thereof shall
vacate his seat.
SEC. 11. No minister or preacher of the
gospel, 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. Bach house shall be judge of the
qualifications and elections of its members,
subject to the laws of the State—appoint its
own officers, determine the rules of its own
proceedings, punish a member for disorderly
or disrespectful behavior, and with the con-
sent of two-thirds, expel a member; but no
member shall be expelled a second time fur the
same offence.
SEC. 13. A majority of each house shall
constitute a quorum for the transaction of
business, but a smaller number may adjourn
from day to day, and compel the attendance
of absent members in such manner and under
such penalties as each house may prescribe.
SEC. 14, The doors of each house and of
committees 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
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 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 sitting, without
the concurrent 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 aball 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 legisla-
ture, at the first session after the adoption of
this constitution, 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, 80 formed, to the
legislature, within a time to be by it deter-
mined for its approval, amendment, or rejec-
tion; and, if adopted after the revision and
codification of the said laws, it shall he the
duty of the legislature, in amending any arti-
cle 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 section or article in the said code, it
shall be the duty of the legislature to enact
the same in articles and sections, in the same
manner as the said code may be arranged;
and to provide for the publication of all addi-
tions 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 commis-
sioners learned in the law, whose duty it shall
be to revise, simplify, and abridge the rules
of practice, pleadings, forms of conveyancing,
and proceedings of the courts of record, in
this State.
SEC. 18, Any bill may originate in either
house of the general assembly, and be altered,
amended or rejected by the other, but no bill
shall originate in either house during the last
three days of the session, or become a law,
until it be rend 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 unlegs
it tie 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 ev-
ery such law shall distinctly specify the sum
appropriated, and the object to which it shall
be applied, provided that nothing herein con-
tained shall prevent the legislature from plac-
ing a contingent fund at the disposal of the
executive, 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 general assembly.
SEC. 21. No divorce shall be granted by
the general assembly.
SEC. 22. No debt shall hereafter be con- |
