liberties, of acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and of seeking and obtaining their safety and happiness in all lawful ways.

Sec. 4. The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination, shall forever hereafter be guaranteed, and no person shall be denied any civil or political right or privilege on account of his opinions concerning relig ion, but the liberty of conscience hereby secured shall not be construed to dispense with oaths or affirmations, excuse acts of licentiousness, by bigamous or polygamous marriage, or otherwise, or justify practices inconsistent with the good order, peace or safety of the State, or opposed to the civil authority thereof, or of the United States. No person shall be required to attend any place of worship or support any ministry, religious sect or denomination, against his consent; nor shall any preference be given by law to any religious denomination or mode of worship.

Sec. 5. All elections shall be free and open, and no power, civil or military, shall at any time interfere to prevent the free exercise of the right of suffrage.

Sec. 6. Courts of justice shall be open to every person, and a speedy remedy afforded for every injury of person, property or character; and that right and justice shall be administered without sale, denial or delay.

Sec. 7. The people shall be secure in their persons, papers, homes and effects, from unreasonable searches and seizures, and no warrant to search any place or seize any person or thing, shall issue without describing the place to be searched, or the person or thing to be seized, nor without probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, reduced to writing.

Sec. 8. Criminal offenses of which Justices Courts and municipal and other courts, inferior to the district courts, have jurisdiction, shall, in all courts inferior to the district court be prosecuted by complaint. All criminal actions in the district. court, except those on appeal, shall be prosecuted by information, after examination and commitment, by a magistrate, or after leave granted by the court, or shall be prosecuted by indictment without such examination or commitment, or without such leave of the court. A grand jury shall consist of seven persons, of whom five must concur to find an indictment.

A grand jury shall only be drawn and summoned when the district judge shall in his discretion consider it necessary, and shall so order.

Sec. 9. Treason against the State shall consist only in levying war against it, or in adhering to its enemies, giving them aid and comfort; no person shall be convicted of treason except on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on his confession in open court; no person shall be attainted of treason or felony by the Legislative Assembly; no conviction shall work corruption of blood or forfeiture of estate; the estates of persons who may destroy their own lives shall descend or vest as in cases of natural death.

Sec. 10. No law shall be passed impairing the freedom of speech; every person shall be free to speak, write or publish whatever he will on any subject, being responsible for all abuse of that liberty; and that in all suits and prosecutions for libel, the truth thereof may be given in evidence; and the jury, under the direction of the court, shall determine the law and the facts.

Sec. 11. No ex post facto law, nor law impairing the obligations of contracts, or making any irrevocable grant of special privileges, franchises or immunities shall be passed by the Legislative Assembly.

Sec. 12. No person shall be imprisoned for debt except in the manner prescribed by law, upon refusal to deliver up his estate for the benefit of his creditors, or in cases of tort, where there is strong presumption of fraud.

Sec. 13. The right of any person to keep or bear arms in defense of his own home, person and property, or in aid of the civil power when thereto legally summoned, shall not be called in question, but nothing herein contained shall be held to permit the carrying of concealed weapons.

Sec. 14. Private property shall not be taken or damaged for public use without just compensation having been first made to, or paid into the court for the owner.

Sec. 15. The use of all water now appropriated, or that may hereafter be appropriated for sale, rental, distribution or other beneficial use and the right of way over the lands of others, for all ditches, drains, flumes, canals and aqueducts, necessarily used in connection therewith, as well as the sites for reservoirs necessary for collecting and storing the same, shall be held to be a public use. Private roads may be opened in the manner to be pre

scribed by law, but in every case the necessity of the road, and the amount of all damage to be sustained by the opening thereof, shall be first determined by a jury, and such amount together with the expenses of the proceeding shall be paid by the person to be benefited.

Sec. 16. In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall have the right to appear and defend in person and by counsel; to demand the nature and cause of the accusation; to meet the witnesses against him face to face; to have process to compel the attendance of witnesses in his behalf, and a speedy public trial by an impartial jury of the county or district in which the offense is alleged to have been committed, subject to the right of the State to have a change of venue for any of the causes for which the defendant may obtain the same.

Sec. 17. No person shall be imprisoned for the purpose of securing his testimony in any criminal proceeding longer than may be necessary in order to take his deposition. If he can give security for his appearance at the time of trial he shall be dis charged upon giving the same; if he cannot give security, his deposition shall be taken in the manner prescribed by law, and in the presence of the accused and his counsel, or without their presence, if they shall fail to attend the examination after reasonable notice of the time and place thereof. Any deposition authorized by this section may be received as evidence on the trial, if the witness shall be dead or absent from the State.

Sec. 18. No person shall be compelled to testify against himself, in a criminal proceeding, nor shall any person be twice put in jeopardy for the same offense.

Sec. 19. All persons shall be bailable by sufficient sureties, except for capital offenses, when the proof is evident or the presumption great.

Sec. 20. Excessive bail shall not be required, or excessive fines imposed, or cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Sec. 21. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall never be suspended, unless, in case of rebellion, or invasion, the public safety require it.

Sec. 22. The military shall always be in strict subordination to the civil power; no soldier shall in time of peace be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, except in the manner prescribed by law.

Sec. 23. The right of trial by jury shall be secured to all, and remain inviolate, but in all civil cases and in all criminal cases not amounting to felony, upon default of appearance or by consent of the parties expressed in such manner as the law may prescribe, a trial by jury may be waived, or a trial had by any less number of jurors than the number provided by law. A jury in a justices court, both in civil cases and in cases of criminal misdemeanor, shall consist of not more than six persons. In all civil actions and in all criminal cases not amounting to felony, twothirds in number of the jury may render a verdict, and such ver dict so rendered shall have the same force and effect as if all of such jury concurred therein.

Sec. 24. Laws for the punishment of crime shall be founded on the principles of reformation and prevention, but this shall not affect the power of the Legislative Assembly to provide for punishing offenses by death.

Sec. 25. Aliens and denizens shall have the same right as citizens to acquire, purchase, possess, enjoy, convey, transmit and inherit mines and mining property, and milling, reduction, concentrating and other works, and real property necessary for or connected with the business of mining and treating ores and minerals; Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to infringe upon the authority of the United States to provide for the sale or disposition of its mineral and other public lands.

Sec. 26. The people shall have the right peaceably to assemble for the common good, and to apply to those invested with the powers of government for redress of grievances by petition or remonstrance.

Sec. 27. No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law.

Sec. 28. There shall never be in this State either slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.

Sec. 29. The provisions of this Constitution are mandatory and prohibitory, unless by express words they are declared to be otherwise.

Sec. 30. The enumeration in this Constitution of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny, impair or disparage others retained by the people.

Sec 31. No armed person or persons or armed body of men shall be brought into this State for the preservation of the peace or the suppression of domestic violence, except upon the application of the Legislative Assembly or of the Governor when the Legislative Assembly cannot be convened.

ARTICLE IV.

Distribution of Powers.

Section 1. The powers of the government of this State are divided into three distinct departments: The legislative, execu tive and judicial, and no person or collection of persons charged with the exercise of powers properly belonging to one of these departments shall exercise any powers properly belonging to either of the others, except as in this Constitution expressly directed or permitted.

ARTICLE V.

Legislative Department.

Section 1. The legislative power shall be vested in a Senate and House of Representatives, which shall be designated "The Legislative Assembly of the State of Montana."

Sec. 2. Senators shall be elected for the term of four years, and Representatives for the term of two years, except as otherwise provided in this Constitution.

Sec. 3. No person shall be a Representative who shall not have obtained the age of twenty-one years, or a Senator who shall not have obtained the age of twenty-four years, and who shall not be a citizen of the United States, and who shall not (for at least twelve months next preceding his election) have resided within the county or district in which he shall be elected.

Sec. 4. The Legislative Assembly of this State, until otherwise provided by law, shall consist of sixteen members of the Senate, and fifty-five members of the House of Representatives.

It shall be the duty of the first Legislative Assembly to divide the State into senatorial and representative districts, but there shall be no more than one Senator from each county. The Senators shall be divided into two classes. Those elected from odd numbered districts shall constitute one class, and those elected from even numbered districts shall constitute the other class; and when any additional Senator shall be provided for by law his class shall be determined by lot.