Banks. Books to be SEC. 39. The General Assembly shall grant no charter for banking purposes, nor renew any banking corporation now in existence, except upon condition 1854, c. 152. that the stockholders shall be liable to the amount of their respective share or shares of stock in such banking institution for all its debts and liabilities upon note, bill, or otherwise; the books, papers, and accounts of all banks shall be open. open to inspection under such regulations as may be prescribed by law. SEC. 40. The General Assembly shall enact no law authorizing private prop- for property. Compensation erty to be taken for public use without just compensation as agreed upon be- taken for public tween the parties, or awarded by a jury, being first paid or tendered to the party 46 Md. 1; 37 Md. entitled to such compensation. & J. 479; 2 G. 20; 5 G. 383; 2 BI 99, 673; 3 Bl. 95, 386, 453; 1 Md. Ch. 107, 248; 1 Md. 553; 5 Md. 237, 314; 7 Md. 500; 10 Md. 544; 14 Md. 444; 15 Md. 199, 240; 22 Md. 229; 1853, c. 179. use. 537; 34 Md. 336; 4 G. & J. 1; 9 G. SEC. 41. Any citizen of this State who shall after the adoption of this Con- Duellists stitution, either in or out of the State, fight a duel with deadly weapons, or ineligible. send or accept a challenge so to do, or who shall act as a second, or knowingly aid or assist in any manner those offending, shall, ever thereafter, be incapable of holding any office of profit or trust under this State, unless relieved from the disability by an act of the legislature. SEC. 42. The General Assembly shall pass laws necessary for the preservation of the purity of elections. SEC. 43. The property of the wife shall be protected from the debts of the husband. elections. Purity of Wife's property protected. 12 Md. 294: 19 Md. 9; 1853, c. 245, 335. SEC. 44. Laws shall be passed by the General Assembly, to protect from execution a reasonable amount of the property of the debtor, not exceeding in Exemption value the sum of five hundred dollars. 1852, c. 308. SEC. 45. The General Assembly shall provide a simple and uniform system Compensation of charges in the offices of clerks of courts and registers of wills, in the counties to clerks and registers. of this State and the city of Baltimore, and for the collection thereof; provided the amount of compensation to any of the said officers in the various counties shall not exceed the sum of three thousand dollars a year, and in the city of Baltimore thirty-five hundred dollars a year, over and above office expenses and compensation to assistants; and provided further, that such compensation of clerks, registers, assistants, and office expenses shall always be paid out of the fees or receipts of the offices respectively. SEC. 46. The General Assembly shall have power to receive from the United States any grant or donation of land, money, or securities for any purpose designated by the United States, and shall administer or distribute the same according to the conditions of the said grant. Legislature may receive land from U. S. 37 Md. 125. SEC. 47. The General Assembly shall make provisions for all cases of con- Contested tested elections of any of the officers not herein provided for. elections. 17 Md. 309. be formed under general laws. 147; 1867, c. 379; Md. 164; 37 Md. SEC. 48. Corporations may be formed under general laws, but shall not be 1853, c. 244. created by special act, except for municipal purposes, and except in cases where 43 Md. 572. no general laws exist providing for the creation of corporations of the same Corporations to general character as the corporation proposed to be created; and any act of incorporation passed in violation of this section shall be void. And as soon as practicable, after the adoption of this Constitution, it shall be the duty of the governor to appoint three persons learned in the law, whose duty it shall be to prepare drafts of general laws providing for the creation of corporations in such cases as may be proper, and for all other cases where a general law can be made; and for revising and amending, so far as may be necessary or expedient, the general laws which may be in existence on the first day of June, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, providing for the creation of corporations and for other purposes; and such drafts of laws shall by said commissioners be sub- Commissioners mitted to the General Assembly at its first meeting for its action thereon; and to revise laws. each of said commissioners shall receive a compensation of five hundred dollars for his services as such commissioner. 537; 34 Md. 503. Charters may be repealed. 44 Md. 131. Regulation of elections. Bribery. Punishment. Evidence. Disqualification. Taxation of personal property. Appropriations for private claims. Witness. Race or color. No county to contract debt unless authorized. Habeas Corpus. Laws to execute vested powers. Rate of interest. 13 Md. 202; 45 Md. 541, 546. All charters granted or adopted in pursuance of this section, and all charters heretofore granted and created, subject to repeal or modification, may be altered from time to time or be repealed; provided, nothing herein contained shall be construed to extend to banks or the incorporation thereof. SEC. 49. The General Assembly shall have power to regulate by law, not inconsistent with this Constitution, all matters which relate to the judges of election, time, place, and manner of holding elections in this State, and of making returns thereof. SEC. 50. It shall be the duty of the General Assembly, at its first session, held after the adoption of this Constitution, to provide by law for the punishment, by fine or imprisonment in the Penitentiary, or both, in the discretion of the court, of any person who shall bribe, or attempt to bribe, any executive or judicial officer of the State of Maryland, or any member or officer of the General Assembly of the State of Maryland, or of any municipal corporation in the State of Maryland, or any executive officer of such corporation, in order to influence him in the performance of any of his official duties; and also to provide by law for the punishment, by fine or imprisonment in the Penitentiary, or both, in the discretion of the court, of any of said officers or members who shall demand or receive any bribe, fee, reward, or testimonial for the performance of his official duties, or for neglecting or failing to perform the same; and also to provide by law for compelling any person, so bribing or attempting to bribe, or so demanding or receiving a bribe, fee, reward, or testimonial, to testify against any person or persons who may have committed any of said offences; provided, that any person so compelled to testify, shall be exempted from trial and punishment for the offence of which he may have been guilty; and any person convicted of such offence, shall, as part of the punishment thereof, be forever disfranchised and disqualified from holding any office of trust or profit in this State. SEC. 51. The personal property of residents of this State shall be subject to taxation in the county or city where the resident bonâ fide resides for the greater part of the year, for which the tax may or shall be levied, and not elsewhere, except goods and chattels permanently located, which shall be taxed in the city or county where they are so located. SEC. 52. The General Assembly shall appropriate no money out of the treasury for payment of any private claim against the State exceeding three hundred dollars, unless said claim shall have been first presented to the comptroller of the treasury, together with the proofs upon which the same is founded, and reported upon by him. SEC. 53. No person shall be incompetent as a witness on account of race or color, unless hereafter so declared by act of the General Assembly. SEC. 54. No county of this State shall contract any debt or obligation in the construction of any railroad, canal, or other work of internal improvement, nor give or loan its credit to, or in aid of, any association or corporation, unless authorized by an act of the General Assembly, which shall be published for two months before the next election for members of the House of Delegates in the newspapers published in such county, and shall also be approved by a majority of all the members elected to each house of the General Assembly at its next session after said election. SEC. 55. The General Assembly shall pass no law suspending the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus. SEC. 56. The General Assembly shall have power to pass all such laws as may be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the powers vested by this Constitution in any department or office of the government, and the duties imposed upon them thereby. SEC. 57. The legal rate of interest shall be six per cent. per annum, unless otherwise provided by the General Assembly. SEC. 58. The legislature at its first session after the ratification of this Con- reign corporations to stitution shall provide by law for State and municipal taxation upon the reve- be taxed. nues accruing from business done in the State by all foreign corporations. SEC. 59. The office of State Pension Commissioner is hereby abolished, and Pension system the legislature shall pass no law creating such office, or establishing any general 1870, c. 477. pension system, within this State. abolished. CONSTITUTION-ARTICLE XIV. 1. General Assembly may propose amendments, to be passed by three-fifths of each house; publication in newspapers; submission to voters; returns to gover nor; proclamation by governor; each 2. Convention every twenty years; number General Assembly may propose amendments, to be passed by three-fifths of each house. SECTION 1. The General Assembly may propose amendments to this Constitution; provided, that each amendment shall be embraced in a separate bill, embodying the article or section, as the same will stand when amended and passed by three-fifths of all the members elected to each of the two houses, by yeas and nays, to be entered on the journals with the proposed amendment. The bill or bills, proposing amendment or amendments, shall be published by Publication in order of the governor, in at least two newspapers in each county, where so newspapers. many may be published, and where not more than one may be published, then in that newspaper, and in three newspapers published in the city of Baltimore, one of which shall be in the German language, once a week, for at least three months preceding the next ensuing general election, at which the said proposed amendment, or amendments, shall be submitted, in a form to be prescribed Submission to by the General Assembly, to the qualified voters of the State for adoption or voters. rejection. The votes cast for and against said proposed amendment or amendments, severally, shall be returned to the governor, in the manner prescribed Returns to in other cases, and if it shall appear to the governor that a majority of the governor. votes cast at said election on said amendment or amendments, severally, were cast in favor thereof, the governor shall, by his proclamation, declare the said Proclamation of amendment or amendments, having received said majority of votes, to have governor. been adopted by the people of Maryland as part of the Constitution thereof, and thenceforth said amendment or amendments, shall be part of the said Con- Each amendstitution. When two or more amendments shall be submitted, in manner aforesaid, to the voters of this State at the same election, they shall be so sub-rately. mitted, as that each amendment shall be voted on separately. ment to be voted on sepa every 20 years. SEC. 2. It shall be the duty of the General Assembly to provide by law for Convention taking, at the general election to be held in the year eighteen hundred and 1858, c. 255. eighty-seven, and every twenty years thereafter, the sense of the people in regard to calling a convention for altering this Constitution; and if a majority of voters at such election or elections shall vote for a convention, the General Assembly, at its next session, shall provide by law for the assembling of such convention, and for the election of delegates thereto. Each county and legislative district of the city of Baltimore, shall have in such convention a number of delegates equal to its representation in both houses at the time at which the Number of convention is called. But any constitution, or change, or amendment of the delegates. existing Constitution, which may be adopted by such convention, shall be sub- Submission to mitted to the voters of this State, and shall have no effect unless the same shall voters. have been adopted by a majority of the voters voting thereon. 1853, c. 36, s. 1. Senate and House of Delegates to provide for printing its proceedings and other docu ments. Id. s. 2. 1853, c. 36, s. 2. Number of copies. Distribution. Id. s. 3. Id. s. 4. 1853, c. 36, s. 3. Additional to State libra rian. PUBLIC PRINTER. 1. The Senate and House of Delegates shall provide for the printing of the journal of proceedings, bills, reports, and other documents of their respective houses as directed in the following sections. 2. Each house, in contracting for the printing of said documents, shall require that a sufficient number of copies of the journal of proceedings of each day be furnished on the next succeeding day to the secretary and chief clerks of the houses respectively, to supply each member and officer thereof with one copy, and that a like number of all bills and reports ordered to be printed be furnished and distributed to said members and officers; and that the offices of the executive, the comptroller, the treasurer, and the commissioner of the Land Office, and the State Library, be severally regularly supplied with one copy of the said journals and reports, and the library with six additional copies of the bills. 3. Nothing contained in the preceding section shall prevent either house from having printed extra copies of any report or other document for distribution among the people. 4. Each house shall provide for the printing, in addition to the copies required in the second section of this article, five hundred copies delivered copies of their journal of proceedings, and a like number of copies of the various reports and other documents which may be ordered to be printed, in compact form, which said copies shall be delivered in sheets to the State librarian within thirty days after the adjournment of the General Assembly. Id. s. 5. resolutions. 5. The two houses shall jointly contract for the printing of one thousand copies of the acts and resolutions of the General Assembly, Acts and with marginal notes and indexes, the work of printing the same to be prosecuted during the session, and to be completed within fifty days after the close thereof, and delivered in sheets to the State librarian. 1853, c. 36, s. 5. 6. Each person who shall be employed as printer to either house, Id. s. 6. or printer of the acts and resolutions, shall enter into bond in the Printer to give sum of one thousand dollars, to be approved by the treasurer of the State, for the faithful performance of his trust. bond. OFFICERS. Officers of be 1868, c. 61. 7. Whenever the General Assembly shall meet it shall not necessary for any officer of the preceding General Assembly to present except the chief clerk, reading clerk and doorkeepers of the House of Delegates; and the secretary, assistant secretary and doorkeeper of the Senate; and payment of any other officer of a preceding General Assembly than those herein enumerated is hereby forbidden. bly. MILEAGE. 1874, c. 73. members and 8. The mileage of members and officers of the House of Delegates 1868, c. 78. and Senate of Maryland shall be fixed and established as follows, Mileage of that is to say: the senators and delegates from Allegany county officers. shall each receive the sum of eighty dollars; those from Anne Arundel county, except from Annapolis city, the sum of fifteen dollars; those from Baltimore city, fifteen dollars; those from Baltimore county, the sum of nineteen dollars; those from Calvert county, the sum of fifty dollars; those from Caroline county, the sum of seventy-four dollars; those from Carroll county, the sum of thirty dollars; those from Cecil county, the sum of thirty-six dollars; those from Charles county, the sum of forty-eight dollars; those from Dorchester county, the sum of ninety dollars; those from Frederick county, the sum of thirty-three dollars; those from Garrett county, the sum of one hundred and ten dollars; those from Harford county, the sum of twenty-seven dollars; those from Howard county, the sum of eighteen dollars; those from Kent county, the sum of sixty-four dollars; those from Montgomery county, the sum of twenty-six dollars; those from Prince George's county, the sum of twenty-five dollars; those from Queen Anne's county, the sum of sixty-eight dollars; those from St. Mary's county, the sum of seventy-one dollars; those from Somerset county, the sum of ninety-two dollars; those from Talbot county, the sum of eighty-six dollars; those from Washington county, the sum of forty-nine dollars; those from Wicomico county, the sum of eightysix dollars, and those from Worcester county, the sum of ninetyfour dollars. |