Court should hold their offices so long as they behave well, subject, however, to such limitations on account of age as may be provided by the Constitution of the State; and that they should have honorable salaries, ascertained and established by standing laws.

Art. 36. Economy being a most essential virtue in all States, especially in a young one, no pension should be granted but in consideration of actual services; and such pensions ought to be granted with great caution by the Legislature, and never for more than one year at a time.

Art. 37. In the government of this State, the three essential powers thereof to wit, the legislative, executive, and judicialought to be kept as separate from, and independent of, each other as the nature of a free government will admit or as is consistent with that chain of connection that binds the whole fabric of the Constitution in one indissoluble bond of union and amity.

Art. 38. A frequent recurrence to the fundamental principles of the Constitution, and a constant adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, industry, frugality, and all the social virtues, are indispensably necessary to preserve the blessings of liberty and good government. The people ought, therefore, to have a particular regard to all those principles in the choice of their officers and representatives; and they have a right to require of their law-givers and magistrates an exact and constant observance of them in the formation and execution of the laws necessary for the good administration of government.

PART SECOND.

Form of Government.

Article 1. The people inhabiting the territory formerly called The Province of New Hampshire do hereby solemnly and mutually agree with each other to form themselves into a free, sovereign, and independent body politic, or State, by the name. of The State of New Hampshire.

General Court.

Art. 2. The supreme legislative power within this State shall be vested in the Senate and House of Representatives, each of which shall have a negative on the other.

Art. 3. The Senate and House shall assemble biennially, on the first Wednesday of (January) and at such other times as they may judge necessary, and shall dissolve and be dissolved seven days next preceding the said first Wednesday of (January) biennially, and shall be styled the General Court of New. Hampshire.

Art. 4. The General Court shall forever have full power and authority to erect and constitute judicatories and courts of record or other courts, to be holden in the name of the State, for the hearing, trying, and determining all manner of crimes, offenses, pleas, processes, plaints, actions, causes, matters and things whatsoever, arising or happening within this State, or between or concerning persons inhabiting or residing or brought within the same, whether the same be criminal or civil, or whether the crimes be capital or not capital, and whether the said pleas be real, personal, or mixed, and for the awarding and issuing execution thereon, to which courts and judicatories are hereby given and granted full power and authority, from time to time, to administer oaths or affirmations for the better discovery of truth in any matter in controversy or depending before them.

Art. 5. And, further, full power and authority are hereby given and granted to the said General Court, from time to time, to make, ordain, and establish all manner of wholesome and reasonable orders, laws, statutes, ordinances, directions, and instructions, either with penalties or without, so as the same be not repugnant or contrary to this Constitution, as they may judge for the benefit and welfare of this State and for the governing and ordering thereof and of the subjects of the same, for the necessary support and defense of the government thereof; and to name and settle biennially, or provide by fixed laws for the naming and settling of, 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, mulets, 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 defense 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. Provided, that the General Court shall not authorize any town to loan or give its money or credit, directly or indirectly, for the benefit of any corporation having for its object a dividend of profits, or in any way aid the same by taking its stock or bonds.

Art. 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 practiced, 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.

Art. 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.

Art. 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.

Art. 9. There shall be, in the Legislature of the State, a representation of the people, biennially elected, and founded upon the principles of equality; and, in order that such representation may be as equal as circumstances will admit, every town, or place entitled to town privileges, and wards of cities having six hundred inhabitants by the last general census of the State, taken by authority of the United States or of this State, may elect one representative; if eighteen hundred such inhabitants, may elect two representatives; and so proceeding in that proportion, making twelve hundred such inhabitants the mean

increasing number for any additional representative: Provided, that no town shall be divided or the boundaries of the wards of any city so altered as to increase the number of representatives to which such town or city may be entitled by the next preceding census; and provided, further, that to those towns and cities which since the last census have been divided or had their boundaries or ward lines changed, the General Court, in session next before these amendments shall take effect, shall equitably apportion representation in such manner that the number shall not be greater than it would have been had no such division or alteration been made.

Art. 11. Whenever any town, place, or city ward shall have less than six hundred such inhabitants, the General Court (shall) authorize such town, place, or ward to elect and send to the General Court (a representative) such proportionate part of the time as the number of its inhabitants shall bear to six hundred; but the General Court shall not authorize any (such) town, place, or ward to elect and send such representative, except as herein provided.

Art. 12. The members of the House of Representatives shall be chosen biennially, in the month of November, and shall be the second branch of the Legislature.

Art. 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.

Art. 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 be, at the time of his election, an inhabitant of the town, parish, or place he may be chosen to represent; and shall ceas? to represent such town, parish, or place immediately on his ceas ing to be qualified as aforesaid.

Art. 15. (The presiding officers of both Houses of the Legislature shall severally receive out of the State treasury as compensation in full for their services, for the term elected, the sum of two hundred and fifty dollars, and all other members thereof seasonably attending and not departing without license, the sum of two hundred dollars, exclusive of mileage: Provided, however, That when a special session shall be called by the Governor, such officers and members shall receive for attendance an additional compensation of three dollars per day for a period not exceeding fifteen days, and the usual mileage.)

Art. 16. All intermediate vacancies in the House of Repre sentatives may be filled up, from time to time, in the same manner as biennial elections are made.

Art. 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.

Art. 18. All money bills shall originate in the House of Representatives, but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments, as on other bills.

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

Art. 20. A majority of the members of the House of Rep resentatives 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 te render their acts and proceedings valid.

Art. 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.

Art. 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.

Art. 23. The Senate, Governor, and council shall have the same powers in like cases: Provided, That no imprisonment by either for any offense exceed ten days.

Art. 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