CONSTITUTION. 31

ART. 4. That the People of this State have the sole and
exclusive right of regulating the internal government and
police thereof, as a free, sovereign and independent State.

ART. 5. That the Inhabitants of Maryland are entitled
to the Common Law of England, and the trial by jury,
according to the course of that law, and to the benefit of
such of the English Statutes as existed on the Fourth day
of July, seventeen hundred and seventy-six; and which,
by experience, have been found applicable to their local and
other circumstances, and have been introduced, used and
practiced by the Courts of Law or Equity; and also of all
Acts of Assembly in force on the first day of June, eighteen
hundred and sixty-seven; except such as may have since
expired, or may be inconsistent with the provisions of this
Constitution, subject, nevertheless, to the revision of, and
amendment or repeal by, the Legislature of this State.
And the Inhabitants of Maryland are also entitled to all
property derived to them from, or under the Charter granted
by his Majesty Charles the First, to Caecilius Calvert, Baron
of Baltimore.

ART. 6. That all persons invested with the Legislative or
Executive powers of Government are Trustees of the Public,
and as such, accountable for their conduct: Wherefore,
whenever the ends of Government are perverted, and public
liberty manifestly endangered, and all other means are
ineffectual, the People may, and of right ought, to reform
the old or establish a new Government; the doctrine of
non-resistance against arbitrary power and oppression is
absurd, slavish and destructive of the good and happiness
of mankind.

ART. 7. That the right of the People to participate in
the Legislature is the beet security of liberty and the foun-
dation of all free Government; for this purpose, elections
ought to be free and frequent, and every* male citizen,
having the qualifications prescribed by the Constitution,
ought to have the right of suffrage.

ART. 8. That the Legislative, Executive and Judicial
powers of Government ought to be forever separate and
distinct from each other; and no person exercising the
functions of one of said Departments shall assume or dis-
charge the duties of any other.

*The word "white" omitted under the 15th Amendment to the Consti-
tution of the United States.