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MARYLAND MANUAL. [ART. III

the session of the General Assembly; provided, however,
that unless a meeting of the General Assembly may
intervene, the election thus ordered to fill such vacancy
shall be held on the day of the ensuing election for
Delegates and Senators.
Covington v. Buffett, 90 Md. 576.

Time of meet-
ing: of legis-
lature.

Sec. 14. The General Assembly shall meet on the
first Wednesday of January, eighteen hundred and sixty-
eight, and on the same day in every second year there-
after, and at no other time, unless convened by
Proclamation of the Governor.

Limit of ses-
sions.

Sec. 15. The General Assembly may continue its
session so long as in its judgment the public interest
may require, for a period not longer than ninety days;

Compensation

and each member thereof shall receive a compensation
of five dollars per diem for every day he shall attend the
session, but not for such-days as he may be absent,
unless absent on account of sickness or by leave of the

Mileage.

House of which he is a member; and he shall also
receive such mileage as may be allowed by law, not
exceeding twenty cents per mile; and the presiding
officer of each House shall receive an additional com-

Extra sessions

pensation of three dollars per day. When the General
Assembly 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
the same as herein prescribed.

Books not to
be purchased.

Sec. 16. No book, or other printed matter, not apper-
taining to the business of the session, shall be purchased
or subscribed for, for the use of the members of the Gen-
eral Assembly, or be distributed among them, at the
public expense.

Disqualifica-
tions.

Sec. 17. No Senator or Delegate, after qualifying as
such, notwithstanding he may thereafter 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 in-
creased, during such term.

Freedom of
debate.

Sec, 18. No Senator or Delegate shall be liable in any
civil action or criminal prosecution whatever for words
spoken in debate.

Powers of each
House.

Sec. 19. Each House shall be judge of the quali-
fications and elections of its members, as prescribed by
the Constitution and Laws of the State; shall appoint
its own officers, determine the rules of its own proceed-