A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. Amendment II. No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law. Amendment III. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the person or things to be seized. Amendment IV. No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation. Amendment V. In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense. Amendment VI. In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise re-examined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law. Amendment VII. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. Amendment VIII. The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. Amendment IX. The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively or to the people. Amendment X. [President elected by electors chosen as the State legislatures may direct, but in fact by the people]. Amendment XII. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Amendment XIII, 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. Amendinent XIV, 1. THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS SECTION 1. Explanatory preface. Of the contents of the various State Constitutions, a threefold division may roughly be made; they usually contain, first, the Declaration of Rights; second, the political constitution and organization of the State; and third, very varied and miscellaneous restrictions and injunctions concerning legislation. I have attempted to incorporate herein the entire Constitution of every State, excepting only minute and detailed provisions, not of general interest, concerning minor administrative offices, courts, and municipal government. Where the wording in the several States is not identical, I have been careful to give the various forms when there is any possibility of a difference of meaning or legal effect. This third part has grown out of all proportion to the others; in fact, in the newer Constitutions, particularly in the West, it far exceeds the other two in bulk and contains such a code of directions or inhibitions as to leave very little real legislative power to the Legislature. The Louisiana Constitution, for instance, contains one hundred and forty-four pages! But still more notable is that of Alabama, covering sixty-nine pages of fine print, and those of the eight new far Western States. Even in States which do not adopt the initiative and referendum, as some of these Western States do, the adoption of such an elaborate Constitution is practically direct. legislation, "Legislation by the people." Naturally, there is a tendency in such cases to more frequent amendment; necessarily so when the Constitution, instead of embodying a few great principles and the broad framework of the State government, attempts to prescribe infinite details of legislation and of administrative machinery. Historically, and from the point of view of a Constitutional lawyer, such Constitutions are entirely unscientific. The late Governor Russell of Massachusetts, in his address before the Yale Law School, well pointed out the objections of putting such a mass of things into the Constitution, both as depriving the Legislature of all sense of responsibility, and as discrediting the Constitution itself. Such a vast mass of directions embodying merely the temporary desires of a present majority, when either necessity or popular opinion requires a change, involves a necessity of such continual amendment and frequent alteration as to bring a written Constitution into contempt. It must be borne in mind that this is a comparative digest of constitutional provisions only; it does not follow, of course, that there may not be in the several States statutes on the same subject. All the forty-six States have Constitutions; not so the Territories, or the District of Columbia. Arizona, however, has a "Bill of Rights," though it has naturally no greater sanction than an ordinary territorial statute. In a few cases I have noted similar provisions in the United States laws which restrict the legislation of New Mexico and Arizona. References are also made in the Bill of Rights to the provisions of the United States Constitution or of the English and American constitutional documents on which such articles are founded; and the principles are fully discussed in the notes, and elsewhere. It may generally be said that the Constitutions of the Western States are more elaborate, more cumbrous, and more frequently amended than those of the Eastern. One reason for this is, that in the West the State Constitution is frequently made the instrument for enacting laws which are in most States unconstitutional; another, that in the West many things are put in the Constitution which are elsewhere left to the Legislature. The constitutional provisions are, of course, much more stable than ordinary laws. Nevertheless, the practice is, as has been said, an objectionable one. For the date of the latest State Constitutions and where they may be found, see the Table of Citations. States are cited in alphabetical order, and the words "Article" or "Section" are left out. That is to say, 1, 14, would be Article 1, Section 14, or whatever other division is used in the Constitution in question. If there is no citation, refer to the one of the same State last preceding. Many of the States, however, have the articles of the Constitution numbered continuously. The asterisk sign is used in the rare instances where, to complete the subject, a statute is cited. Since the first edition of this part, published as the first part of Volume I. of "American Statute Law," in 1886, no less than eighteen |