or unladen: And WE Will and do, for US, our Heirs and Successors, enjoin and command that this our Declaration shall from Time to Time, be received and allowed in all our Courts and Prætorian Judicatories, and before all the Judges whatsoever of US, our Heirs and Successors, for a sufficient and lawful Discharge, Payment, and Acquittance thereof, charging all and singular the Officers and Ministers of US, our Heirs and Successors, and enjoining them, under our heavy Displeasure, that they do not at any Time presume to attempt any Thing to the contrary of the Premisses, or that may in any wise contravene the same, but that they, at all Times as is fitting, do aid and assist the aforesaid now Baron of BALTIMORE, and his Heirs, and the aforesaid Inhabitants and Merchants of the PROVINCE of MARYLAND aforesaid, and their Servants and Ministers, Factors and Assigns, in the fullest Use and Enjoyment of this our CHARTER.

XXI. AND FURTHERMORE WE WILL, and by these Presents, for US, our Heirs and Successors, do grant unto the aforesaid now Baron of BALTIMORE, his Heirs and Assigns, and to the Freeholders and Inhabitants of the said PROVINCE, both present and to come, and to every of them, that the said PROVINCE and the Freeholders or Inhabitants of the said Colony or Country, shall not henceforth be held or reputed a member or Part of the Land of Virginia or of any other Colony already transported, or hereafter to be transported, or be dependent on the same, or subordinate in any kind of Government, from which WE do separate both the said PROVINCE, and Inhabitants thereof, and by these Presents do WILL to be distinct, and that they may be immediately subject to our Crown of England, and dependent on the same for ever.

XXII. AND if, peradventure, hereafter it may happen that any Doubts or Questions should arise concerning the true Sense and Meaning of any Word, Clause or Sentence, contained in this our present CHARTER, WE will, charge and command, THAT Interpretation to be applied, always, and in all Things, and in all our Courts and Judicatories whatsoever, to obtain which shall be judged to be the more beneficial, profitable, and favourable to the aforesaid now Baron of BALTIMORE, his Heirs and Assigns: PROVIDED always that no Interpretation thereof be made, whereby GOD's holy and true Christian Religion, or the Allegiance due to US, our Heirs and Successors, may in any wise suffer by Change, Prejudice, or Diminution;

although express Mention be not made in these Presents of the true yearly Value or Certainty of the Premisses, or any Part thereof, or of other Gifts and Grants made by US, our Heirs and Predecessors, unto the said now Lord BALTIMORE, or any Statute, Act, Ordinance, Provision, Proclamation or Restraint heretofore had, made, published, ordained or provided, or any other Thing, Cause or Matter whatsoever, to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding.

XXIII. IN WITNESS whereof WE have caused these our Letters to be made Patent. WITNESS OURSELF at Wesminister, the Twentieth Day of June, in the Eighth Year of our Reign.

CONSTITUTION OF MARYLAND.

ADOPTED BY THE CONVENTION

WHICH ASSEMBLED AT THE CITY OF ANNAPOLIS ON THE EIGHTH DAY
OF MAY, EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SEVEN, AND ADJOURNED
ON THE SEVENTEENTH DAY OF AUGUST, EIGHTEEN HUNDRED

AND SIXTY-SEVEN, AND RATIFIED BY THE PEOPLE ON THE

⚫ EIGHTEENTH DAY OF SEPTEMBER, EIGHTEEN HUNDRED
AND SIXTY-SEVEN, WITH AMENDMENTS AND

DECISIONS OF THE COURT OF APPEALS

TO AND INCLUDING 97 MD.

DECLARATION OF RIGHTS.

We, the people of the State of Maryland, grateful to Almighty God for our civil and religious liberty, and taking into our serious consideration the best means of establishing a good Constitution in this State for the sure foundation and more permanent security thereof, declare:

Article 1. That all Government of right originates from the People, is founded in compact only, and instituted solely for the good of the whole; and they have, at all times, the inalienable right to alter, reform or abolish their form of Government in such manner as they may deem expedient.

Hepburn's Case, 3 Bl. 95. Manly v. State, 7 Md. 147.

Art. 2. The Constitution of the United States, and the Laws made or which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, are and shall be the Supreme Law of the State; and the Judges of this State, and all the People of this State, are, and shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or Law of this State to the contrary notwithstanding. Barney v. Patterson, 6 H. & J. 203. Ches. & Ohio Canal Co. v. B. & O. R. R. Co., 4 G. & J. 1. Howell v. State, 3 Gill. 14. Wilson v. Turpin, 5 Gill. 56. Larabee v. Talbott, 5 Gill, 426. Irwin v. Sprigg, 6 Gill, 200. Evans r. Sprigg, 2 Md. 457.

Art. 3. The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution thereof, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the People thereof.

Art. 4. That the people of this State have the sole and exclusive right of regulating the internal government and police thereof, as a free, sovereign and independent State.

Art. 5 That the inhabitants of Maryland are entitled to the Common Law of England, and the trial by Jury, according to the course of that law, and to the benefit of such of the English statutes as existed on the Fourth day of July, seventeen hundred and seventy-six; and which, by experience, have been found applicable to their local and other circumstances, and have been introduced, used and practiced by the Courts of Law or Equity; and also of all Acts of Assembly in force on the first day of June, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven; except such as may have since expired, or may be inconsistent with the provisions of this Constitution; subject, nevertheless, to the revision of, and amendment or repeal by, the Legislature of this State. And the Inhabitants of Maryland are also entitled to all property derived to them from or under the Charter granted by His Majesty, Charles the First, to Cæcilius Calvert, Baron of Baltimore.

State v. Buchanan, 5 H. & J. 317. Dashiell v. Attorney-General, 5 H. & J. 401. State v. Wayman, 2 G. & J. 254. State v. Bank of Maryland, 6 G.

& J. 205. Smith v. State, 5 Gill, 45. Wright v. Wright's Lessee, 2 Md. 429. Manly v. State, 7 Md. 135. Broadbent v. State, 7 Md. 416. Steuart v. Mayor &c. of Balto., 7 Md. 500. Eichelberger v. Hardesty, 15 Md. 548. Pue v. Hetzell, 16 Md. 539. Koontz v. Nabb, 16 Md. 549. State v. Glenn, 54 Md. 572. McCoy v. Johnson, 70 Md. 490. Ford v. State, 85 Md. 465. Knee v. City Pass. Ry., 87 Md. 624. Danner v. State, 89 Md. 225. Lewis v. Tapman, 90 Md. 302. In re Maddox, 93 Md. 727. Beasley r. Ridout,

94 Md. 659.

Art. 6. That all persons invested with the Legislative or Executive powers of Government are Trustees of the Public, and as such, accountable for their conduct: Wherefore, whenever the ends of Government are perverted, and public liberty manifestly endangered, and all other means of redress are ineffectual, the People may, and of right ought to reform the old, or establish a new Government; the doctrine of nonresistance against arbitrary power and oppression is absurd, slavish and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind.

Art. 7. That the right of the People to participate in the Legislature is the best security of liberty and the foundation of all free Government; for this purpose elections ought to be free and frequent, and every white male citizen having the

*The word "white" omitted under the 15th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.