SEC. 12. No power of suspending laws shall be exercised unless by the Legislature, or by its authority.

SEC. 13. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel punishments inflicted.

SEC. 14. All prisoners shall be bailable by sufficient sureties, unless for capital offenses, when the proof is evident or presumption great; and the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in case of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.

SEC. 15. No commission of oyer or terminer or jail delivery shall be issued.

SEC. 16. The person of a debtor, where there is not strong presumption of fraud, shall not be continued in prison after delivering up his estate for the benefit of his creditors, in such manner as shall be prescribed by law.

SEC. 17. No ex post facto law, nor any law impairing the obligation of contracts, or making irrevocable any grant of special privileges or immunities, shall be passed.

SEC. 18. No person shall be attainted of treason or felony by the Legislature.

SEC. 19. No attainder shall work corruption of blood, nor, except during the life of the offender, forfeiture of estate to the Commonwealth. The estate of such persons as shall destroy their own lives shall descend or vest as in cases of natural death, and if any person shall be killed by casualty there shall be no forfeiture by reason thereof.

SEC. 20. The citizens have a right in a peaceable manner to assemble together for their common good, and to apply to those invested with the powers of government for redress of grievances or other proper purposes, by petition, address or re

monstrance.

SEC. 21. The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State shall not be questioned.

SEC. 22. No standing army shall, in time of peace, be kept up without the consent of the Legislature, and the military shall in all cases and at all times be in strict subordination to the civil power.

SEC. 23. 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.

SEC. 24. The Legislature shall not grant any title of nobility or hereditary distinction, nor create any office, the appointment to which shall be for a longer term than during good behavior.

SEC. 25. Emigration from the State shall not be prohibited. SEC. 26. To guard against transgressions of the high powers which we have delegated, we declare that everything in this article is excepted out of the general powers of government and shall forever remain inviolate.

ARTICLE II.

THE LEGISLATURE.

SEC. 1. The legislative power of this Commonwealth shall be vested in a General Assembly, which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives.

SEC. 2. Members of the General Assembly shall be chosen at the general election every second year. Their term of service shall begin on the first day of December next after their election. Whenever a vacancy shall occur in either House, the presiding officer thereof shall issue a writ of election to fill such vacancy for the remainder of the term.

SEC. 3. Senators shall be elected for the term of four years, and Representatives for the term of two years.

SEC. 4. The General Assembly shall meet at twelve o'clock, noon, on the first Tuesday of January every second year, and at other times when convened by the Governor, but shall hold no adjourned annual session after the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight. In case of a vacancy in the office of United States Senator from this Commonwealth, in a recess between sessions, the Governor shall convene the two Houses, by proclamation on notice not exceeding sixty days, to fill the

same.

SEC. 5. Senators shall be at least twenty-five years of age, and Representatives twenty-one years of age. They shall have been citizens and inhabitants of the State four years, and inhabitants of their respective districts one year next before their election (unless absent on the public business of the United States, or of this State), and shall reside in their respective districts during their terms of service.

SEC. 6. No Senator or Representative shall, during the time for which he shall have been elected, be appointed to any civil office under this Commonwealth, and no member of Congress, or other person holding any office (except of attorney-at-law or in the militia), under the United States, or this Commonwealth, shall be a member of either House during his continuance in office.

SEC. 7. No person hereafter convicted of embezzlement of public moneys, bribery, perjury, or other infamous crime, shall be eligible to the General Assembly, or capable of holding any office of trust or profit in this Commonwealth.

SEC. 8. The members of the General Assembly shall receive such salary and mileage for regular and special sessions as shall be fixed by law, and no other compensation whatever, whether for service upon committee or otherwise. No member of either House shall, during the term for which he may have been elected, receive any increase of salary or mileage, under any law passed during such term.

SEC. 9. The Senate shall, at the beginning and close of each

regular session, and at such other times as may be necessary, elect one of its members President pro tempore, who shall perform the duties of the Lieutenant Governor, in any case of absence or disability of that officer, and whenever the said office of Lieutenant Governor shall be vacant. The House of Representatives shall elect one of its members as Speaker. Each House shall choose its other officers, and shall judge of the election and qualifications of its members.

SEC. 10. A majority of each House shall constitute a quorum, but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and compel the attendance of absent members.

SEC. 11. Each House shall have power to determine the rules of its proceedings, and punish its members or other persons for contempt or disorderly behavior in its presence, to enforce obedience to its process, to protect its members against violence, or offers of bribes or private solicitation, and with the concurrence of two-thirds, to expel a member, but not a second time for the same cause, and shall have all other powers necessary for the Legislature of a free State. A member expelled for corruption shall not thereafter be eligible to either House, and punishment for contempt or disorderly behavior shall not bar an indictment for the same offense.

SEC. 12. Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, except such parts as require secrecy, and the yeas and nays of the members on any question shall, at the desire of any two of them, be entered on the journal.

SEC. 13. The sessions of each House, and of committees of the whole, shall be open, unless when the business is such as ought to be kept secret.

SEC. 14. Neither House shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.

SEC. 15. The members of the General Assembly shall in all cases except treason, felony, violation of their oath of office, and breach or surety of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the sessions of their respective Houses and in going to and returning from the same; and for any speech or debate in either House they shall not be questioned in any other place.

SEC. 16. The State shall be divided into fifty Senatorial districts of compact and contiguous territory as nearly equal in population as may be, and each district shall be entitled to elect one Senator. Each county containing one or more ratios of population shall be entitled to one Senator for each ratio, and to an additional Senator for a surplus of population exceeding three-fifths of a ratio, but no county shall form a separate district unless it shall contain four-fifths of a ratio, except where the adjoining counties are each entitled to one or more Senators, when such county may be assigned a Senator on less than four

fifths and exceeding one-half a ratio; and no county shall be divided unless entitled to two or more Senators. No city or county shall be entitled to separate representation exceeding one-sixth of the whole number of Senators. No ward, borough, or township shall be divided in the formation of a district. The senatorial ratio shall be ascertained by dividing the whole population of the State by the number fifty.

one

SEC. 17. The members of the House of Representatives shall be apportioned among the several counties, on a ratio obtained by dividing the population of the State, as ascertained by the most recent United States census, by two hundred. Every county containing less than five ratios shall have Representative for every full ratio, and an additional Representative when the surplus exceeds half a ratio; but each county shall have at least one Representative. Every county containing five ratios or more shall have one Representative for every full ratio. Every city containing a population equal to a ratio shall elect separately its proportion of the Representatives allotted to the county in which it is located. Every city entitled to more than four Representatives, and every county having over one hundred thousand inhabitants, shall be divided into districts of compact and contiguous territory, each district to elect its proportion of Representatives according to its population, but no district shall elect more than four Representatives.

SEC. 18. The General Assembly at its first session after the adoption of this Constitution, and immediately after each United States decennial census, shall apportion the State into senatorial and representative districts, agreeably to the provisions of the two next preceding sections.

ARTICLE III.

LEGISLATION.

SEC. 1. No law shall be passed except by bill, and no bill shall be so altered or amended, on its passage through either House, as to change its original purpose.

SEC. 2. No bill shall be considered unless referred to a committee, returned therefrom, and printed for the use of the members.

SEC. 3. No bills, except general appropriation bills, shall be passed containing more than one subject, which shall be clearly expressed in its title.

SEC. 4. Every bill shall be read at length on three different days, in each House; all amendments made thereto shall be printed for the use of the members before the final vote is taken on the bill, and no bill shall become a law, unless on its final passage the vote be taken by yeas and nays, the names of the

persons voting for and against the same be entered on the journal, and a majority of the members elected to each House be recorded thereon as voting in its favor.

SEC. 5. No amendments to bills by one House shall be concurred in by the other, except by the vote of a majority of the members elected thereto, taken by yeas and nays, and the names of those voting for and against recorded upon the journal thereof; and reports of committees of conference shall be adopted in either House only by the vote of a majority of the members elected thereto, taken by yeas and nays, and the names of those voting recorded upon the journals.

SEC. 6. No law shall be revived, amended, or the provisions thereof extended or conferred, by reference to its title only, but so much thereof as is revived, amended, extended, or conferred, shall be re-enacted, and published at length.

SEC. 7. The General Assembly shall not pass any local or special law authorizing the creation, extension, or impairing of liens; regulating the affairs of counties, cities, townships, wards, boroughs, or school districts; changing the names of persons or places; changing the venue in civil or criminal cases; authorizing the laying out, opening, altering, or maintaining roads, highways, streets, or alleys; relating to ferries or bridges, or incorporating ferry or bridge companies, except for the erection of bridges crossing streams which form boundaries between this and any other State; vacating roads, town plats, streets, or alleys; relating to cemeteries, grave-yards, or public grounds not of the State; authorizing the adoption or legitimation of children; locating or changing county seats; erecting new counties, or changing county lines; incorporating cities, towns, or villages, or changing their charters; for the opening and conducting of elections, or fixing or changing the place of voting; granting divorces; erecting new townships or boroughs; changing township lines, borough limits, or school districts; creating offices, or prescribing the powers and duties of officers in counties, cities, boroughs, townships, election, or school districts; changing the law of descent or succession; regulating the practice or jurisdiction of, or changing the rules of evidence in, any judicial proceeding or inquiry before courts, aldermen, justices of the peace, sheriffs, commissioners, arbitrators, auditors, masters in chancery, or other tribunals, or providing or changing methods for the collection of debts, or the enforcing of judgments, or prescribing the effect of judicial sales of real estate; regulating the fees, or extending the powers and duties of aldermen, justices of the peace, magistrates, or constables; regulating the management of public schools, the building or repairing of school-houses, and the raising of mon ey for such purposes; fixing the rate of interest; affecting the estates of minors or persons under disability, except after due notice to all parties in interest, to be recited in the special enactment; remitting fines, penalties and forfeitures, or refunding