vide by fixed laws, for the naming and settling all civil officers within this State; such officers excepted, the election and appointment of whom are hereafter in this form of government otherwise provided for; and to set forth the several duties, powers and limits of the several civil and military officers of this State, and the forms of such oaths or affirmations, as shall be respectively administered unto them for the execution of their several offices and places, so as the same be not repugnant or contrary to this constitution; and also to impose fines, mulcts, imprisonments and other punishments; and to impose and levy proportional and reasonable assessments, rates and taxes upon all the inhabitants of and residents within the said State, and upon all estates within the same; to be issued and disposed of by warrant under the hand of the governor of this State for the time being, with the advice and consent of the council, for the public service, in the necessary defence and support of the government of this State, and the protection and preservation of the subjects thereof, according to such acts as are, or shall be in force within the same.

6. And while the public charges of government or any part thereof, shall be assessed on polls and estates in the manner that has heretofore been practised; in order that such assessments may be made with equality, there shall be a valuation of the estates within the State taken anew once in every five years at least, and as much oftener as the general court shall order.

7. No member of the general court shall take fees, be of counsel, or act as advocate in any cause before either branch of the legislature; and upon due proof thereof, such member shall forfeit his seat in the legislature.

8. The doors of the galleries of each house of the legislature shall be kept open to all persons who behave decently, except when the welfare of the State, in the opinion of either branch, shall require secrecy.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

9. There shall be in the legislature of this State, a representation of the people annually elected and founded upon principles of equality; and in order that such representation may be as equal as circumstances will admit, every town, parish or place entitled to town privileges, having one hundred and fifty ratable male polls of twenty-one years of age and upwards, may elect one representative; if four hundred and fifty ratable polls, may elect two representatives; and so proceeding in that proportion, making three hundred such ratable polls the mean increasing number for every additional representative.

10. Such towns, parishes or places as have less than one hundred and fifty ratable polls, shall be classed by the general court for the purpose of choosing a representative, and seasonably notified thereof. And in every class formed for the above mentioned purpose, the first annual meeting shall be held in the town, parish or place wherein most of the ratable polls reside; and afterwards in that which has the next highest number, and so on annually by rotation, through the several towns, parishes or places forming the district.

11. Whenever any town, parish or place entitled to town privileges as aforesaid, shall not have one hundred and fifty ratable polls, and be so situated as to render the classing thereof with any other town, parish or place very inconvenient, the general court may, upon application of a majority of the voters in such town, parish or place, issue a writ for their electing and sending a representative to the general court.

12. The members of the house of representatives shall be chosen annually, in the month of March, and shall be the second branch of the legislature.

13. All persons qualified to vote in the election of senators, shall be entitled to vote within the district where they dwell, in the choice of representatives.

14. Every member of the house of representatives shall be chosen by ballot; and for two years at least next preceding his election, shall have been an inhabitant of this State, [shall have an estate within the district which he may be chosen to represent, of the value of one hundred pounds, one half of which to be a freehold, whereof he is seized in his own right:] "shall be at the time of his election an inhabitant of the town, parish or place he may be chosen to represent; shall be of the protestant religion, and shall cease to represent such town, parish or place immediately on his ceasing to be qualified as aforesaid.

15. The members of both houses of the legislature shall be compensated for their services out of the treasury of the State, by a law made for that purpose; such members attending seasonably, and not departing without license.

16. All intermediate vacancies in the house of representatives may be filled up from time to time, in the same manner as annual elections are made.

17. The house of representatives shall be the grand inquest of the State, and all impeachments made by them shall be heard and tried by the senate.

See amendments.

18. All money bills shall originate in the house of representatives, but the senate may propose or concur with amendments as on other bills.

19. The house of representatives shall have power to adjourn themselves, but no longer than two days at a time.

20. A majority of the members of the house of representatives shall be a quorum for doing business: but when less than two thirds of the representatives elected shall be present, the assent of two thirds of those members shall be necessary to render their acts and proceedings valid.

21. No member of the house of representatives or senate shall be arrested or held to bail on mesne process, during his going to, returning from, or attendance upon the court.

22. The house of representatives shall choose their own speaker, appoint their own officers, and settle the rules of proceedings in their own house; and shall be judge of the returns, elections and qualifications of its members, as pointed out in this constitution. They shall have authority to punish by imprisonment, every person who shall be guilty of disrespect to the house in its presence, by any disorderly and contemptuous behavior, or by threatening or ill treating any of its members; or by obstructing its deliberations; every person guilty of a breach of its privileges in making arrests for debt, or by assaulting any member during his attendance at any session; in assaulting or disturbing any one of its officers in the execution of any order or procedure of the house; in assaulting any witness or other person, ordered to attend by and during his attendance of the house, or in rescuing any person arrested by order of the house, knowing them to be such.

23. The senate, governor and council shall have the same powers in like cases; provided that no imprisonment by either, for any offence, exceed ten days.

24. The journals of the proceedings, and all public acts of both houses of the legislature, shall be printed and published immediately after every adjournment or prorogation; and upon motion made by any one member, the yeas and nays upon any question shall be entered on the journal: and any member of the senate or house of representatives shall have a right, on motion made at the same time for that purpose, to have his protest or dissent, with the reasons, against any vote, resolve or bill passed, entered on the journal.

SENATE.

25. The senate shall consist of twelve members, who shall hold their office for one year from the first Wednesday of June next ensuing their election.

26. And that the State may be equally represented in the senate, the legislature shall, from time to time, divide the State into twelve districts, as nearly equal as may be, without dividing towns and unincorporated places; and in making this division they shall govern themselves by the proportion of direct taxes paid by the said districts, and timely make known to the inhabitants of the State the limits of each district.

27. The freeholders and other inhabitants of each district, qualified as in this constitution is provided, shall annually give in their votes for a senator, at some meeting holden in the month of March.

28. The senate shall be the first branch of the legislature: And the senators shall be chosen in the following manner, viz: every male inhabitant of each town and parish with town privileges, and places unincorporated, in this State, of twenty-one years of age and upwards, excepting paupers, and persons excused from paying taxes at their own request, shall have a right at the annual or other meetings of the inhabitants of said towns and parishes, to be duly warned and holden annually forever in the month of March, to vote in the town or parish wherein he dwells, for the senator in the district whereof he is a member :

29. Provided, nevertheless, That no person shall be capable of being elected a senator who is not of the protestant religion [and seized of a freehold estate in his own rights of the value of [a] two hundred pounds, lying within this State,] "who is not of the age of thirty years, and who shall not have been an inhabitant of this State for seven years immediately preceding his election, and at the time thereof he shall be an inhabitant of the district for which he shall be chosen.

30. And every person qualified as the constitution provides, shall be considered an inhabitant for the purpose of electing and being elected into any office or place within this State, in the town, parish and plantation where he dwelleth and hath his home.

And the inhabitants of plantations and places unincorporated, qualified as this constitution provides, who are or shall be required to assess taxes upon themselves towards the support of government, or shall be taxed therefor, shall have the same privi

* See amendments.

lege of voting for senators in the plantations and places wherein they reside, as the inhabitants of the respective towns and parishes aforesaid have. And the meetings of such plantations and places for that purpose, shall be holden annually in the month of March, at such places respectively therein as the assessors thereof shall direct; which assessors shall have like authority for notifying the electors, collecting and returning the votes, as the selectmen and town clerks have in their several towns by this constitution.

32. The meetings for the choice of governor, council and senators, shall be warned by warrant from the selectmen, and governed by a moderator, who shall, in the presence of the selectmen, (whose duty it shall be to attend) in open meeting, receive the votes of all the inhabitants of such towns and parishes present, and qualified to vote for senators; and shall, in said meetings, in presence of the said selectmen, and of the town clerk in said meetings, sort and count the said votes, and make a public declaration thereof, with the name of every person voted for, and the number of votes for each person; and the town clerk shall make a fair record of the same at large, in the town book, and shall make out a fair attested copy thereof, to be by him sealed up and directed to the secretary of the state, with a superscription expressing the purport thereof; and the said town clerk shall cause such attested copy to be delivered to the sheriff of the county in which said town or parish shall lie, thirty days at least before the first Wednesday of June, or to the secretary of the state at least twenty days before the said first Wednesday of June; and the sheriff of each county, or his deputy, shall deliver all such certificates by him received, into the secretary's office, at least twenty days before the first Wednesday of June.

33. And that there may be a due meeting of senators on the first Wednesday of June, annually, the governor and a majority of the council for the time being shall, as soon as may be, examine the returned copies of such records; and fourteen days before the first Wednesday of June, he shall issue his summons to such persons as appear to be chosen senators by a majority of votes, to attend and take their seats on that day: provided, nevertheless, that for the first year the said returned copies shall be examined by the president and a majority of the council then in office; and the said president shall in like manner notify the persons elected, to attend and take their seats accordingly.

34. And in case there shall not appear to be a senator elected by a majority of votes for any district, the deficiency shall be supplied in the following manner, viz: the members of the house of representatives, and such senators as shall be declared elected, shall take the names of the two persons having the highest number of votes in the district, and out of them shall elect by joint