thereof shall receive a compensation of five
dollars per diem, for every day he shall at-
tend the sessions unless absent on account of
sickness; provided, however that no member
shall receive any other or larger sum than
four hundred dollars. When the general as-
sembly shall be convened by proclamation of
the. governor, the session shall not continue
longer than thirty days, and in such case, the
compensation shall be at the rate of five dol-
lars per diem.
Sec. 15. No book or other printed matter
not appertaining to the business of the ses-
sion shall be purchased or subscribed for for
the use of the members of the general assem-
bly, or be distributed among them at the
public expense.
Sec. 16. No senator or delegate, after quali-
fying as such, notwithstanding he may there-
after resign, shall during the whole period of
time for which he was elected, be eligible to
any office which shall have been created, or
the salary or profits of which shall have been
increased during such term, or shall, during
said whole period of time, be appointed to
any civil office by the executive or general
assembly.
Sec. 17. No senator or delegate shall be
liable in any civil action or criminal prosecu-
tion whatever for words spoken in debate.
Sec. 18. Each house shall be judge of the
qualifications and elections of its members,
subject to the laws of the State; shall ap-
point its own officers, determine the rules of
its own proceedings, punish amember for dis-
orderly or disrespectful behavior, and with
the consent of two-thirds of its whole num-
ber of members elected, expel a member; but
no members shall be expelled a second time
for the same offence.
Sec. 19. A majority of the whole number
of members elected to each house shall con-
stitute a quorum for the transaction of busi-
ness; but a smaller number may adjourn
from day to day, and compel the attendance
of absent members insuch manner and under
such penalties as each house may prescribe.
Sec. 20. The doors of each house and of
the committees of the whole shall he open,
except when the business is such as ought to
be kept secret.
Sec. 21. 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. 22. Each house may punish by im-
prisonment, during the session of the general
assembly, any person not a member for disre-
spectful or disorderly behavior in its pres-
ence, or for obstructing any of its proceed-
ings or any of its officers in the execution
of their duties; provided such imprisonment
shall not, at any one time, exceed ten days.
Sec. 23. The house of delegates may in- |
quire, on the oath of witnesses, into all com-
plaints, grievance and offences, as the Grand
Inquest of the State, and may commit 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 to the collection
or expenditure of the revenue, and appoint
auditors to state and adjust the same; they
may call for all public or official papers and
records and send for persons whom they may
judge necessary in the course of their inqui-
ries concerning affail's relating to the public
interest and may direct all office bonds
which shall be made payable to the State, to
be sued for any breach thereof.
Sec. 24. Neither house shall, without the
consent of the other, adjourn for more than
three days at any one time, 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. 25. The house of delegates shall have
the sole power of impeachment in all cases,
but a majority of all the members elected
must concur in an impeachment; all im-
peachments shall be tried by the senate, and
when sitting for that purpose, the senators
shall be on oath or affirmation to do justice
according to the law and evidence, but no
person shall beconvicted without the concur-
rence of two-thirds of all the senators
elected.
Sec. 26. Any bill may originate in either
house of the general assembly, and be al-
tered, amended, or rejected by the other; but
no bill shall originate in either house during
the last ten days of the session, nor 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. 27. 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 re-
corded.
Sec. 28. 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 general assembly shall embrace lout one
subject and that shall be described in the
title; and no law nor section of a law shall
be revised or amended byreference 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 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 |
