AST. III] LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. 129

Sec. 16. No book, or other printed matter, not appertaining
to the business of the session, shall be purchased or sub-
scribed for, for the use of the members of the General Assem-
bly, or be distributed among them, at the public expense.

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 increased, during such term.

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

Sec. 19. Each House shall be judge of the qualifications
and elections of its members, as prescribed by the Constitution
and Laws of the State; shall appoint its own officers, deter-
mine the rules of its own proceedings, punish a member for
disorderly or disrespectful behavior, and with the consent of
two-thirds of its whole number of members elected, expel a
member; but no member shall be expelled a second time for
the same offence.

Covington v. Buffett, 90 Md 577

Sec. 20. A majority of the whole number of members elected
to 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. 21. The doors of each House and of the Committee of
the Whole shall be open, except when the business is such as
ought to be kept secret.

Sec. 22. Each House shall keep a Journal of its proceed-
ings, 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. 23. Each House may punish by imprisonment, during
the session of the General Assembly, any person not a member,
for disrespectful or disorderly behavior in its presence, or for
obstructing any of its proceedings, or any of its officers in the
execution of their duties; provided, such imprisonment shall
not at any one time exceed ten days.