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governments in any corporate town or towns in this Commonwealth, and to grant to the inhabitants thereof such powers, privileges and immunities, not repugnant to the constitution, as the general court shall deem necessary or expedient for the regulation and government thereof, and to prescribe the manner of calling and holding public meetings of the inhabitants in wards, or otherwise, for the election of officers under the constitution, and the manner of returning the votes given at such meetings: Provided, that no such government shall be erected or constituted in any town not containing twelve thousand inhabitants; nor unless it be with the consent and on the application of a majority of the inhabitants of such town, present and voting thereon, pursuant to a vote at a meeting duly warned and holden for that purpose: and provided also, that all by-laws, made by such municipal or city government, shall be subject, at all times, to be annulled by the general court.

CHAPTER I.

SECTION II.

Senate.

ART. I. There shall be annually elected, by the inhabitants of this Commonwealth, qualified as in this constitution is provided, forty persons to be senators, for the year ensuing their election; to be chosen by the inhabitants of the districts into which the Commonwealth may be divided for that purpose.

A census of the inhabitants of each city and town, on the first day of May, shall be taken and returned into the office of the secretary of the Commonwealth, on or before the last day of June, of the year one thousand eight hundred and forty,

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and of every tenth year thereafter, which census shall determine the apportionment of senators for the term of ten years.

In the year one thousand eight hnndred and forty, and every tenth year thereafter, the governor and council shall assign the number of senators to be chosen in each district, according to the number of inhabitants in the same, and shall timely make known to the inhabitants of the Commonwealth, the number of senators to be chosen in each district: Provided, that, in all cases, at least one senator shall be assigned to each district, and no district shall be entitled to choose more than six senators.

The several counties in this Commonwealth, as established by law, and existing on the seventeenth day of April, in the year one thousand eight hundred and forty, shall each constitute a district for the choice of senators, except that the counties of Dukes county and Nantucket shall form one district; and the said districts, so established, shall be permanent.

11. The senate shall be the first branch of the legislature; and the senators shall be chosen in the following manner, viz: there shall be a meeting on the second Monday in November annually, forever, of the inhabitants of each town in the several counties of this Commonwealth, to be called by the selectmen, and warned in due course of law, at least seven days before the second Monday in November, for the purpose of electing persons to be senators; and, at such meetings, every person, qualified as in this constitution is provided, shall have a right to give in his vote for the senators for the district of which he is an inhabitant. And to remove all doubts concerning the meaning of the

word "inhabitant," in this constitution, every person shall be considered as an inhabitant, for the purpose of electing and being elected into any office or place within this state, in that town, district or plantation, where he dwelleth, or hath his home.

The selectmen of the several towns shall preside at such meetings impartially; and shall receive the votes of all the inhabitants of such towns present and qualified to vote for senators, and shall sort and count them in open town meeting, and in presence of the town clerk, who shall make a fair record, in presence of the selectmen, and in open town meeting, of the name of every person voted for, and of the number of votes against his name; and a fair copy of this record shall be attested by the selectmen and the town clerk, and shall be sealed up, directed to the secretary of the Commonwealth for the time being, with a superscription, expressing the purport of the contents thereof, and delivered by the town clerk of such town to the sheriff of the county in which such town lies, thirty days at least before the first Wednesday in January annually; or it shall be delivered into the secretary's office seventeen days at least before the said first Wednesday in January; and the sheriff of each county shall deliver all such certificates, by him received, into the secretary's office, seventeen days before the said first Wednesday in January.

And the inhabitants of plantations unincorporated, qualified as this constitution provides, who are or shall be empowered and required to assess taxes upon themselves toward the support of gov ernment, shall have the same privilege of voting for senators, in the plantations where they reside, as town inhabitants have in their respective towns; and the plantation meetings for that purpose shall

be held annually on the same second Monday in November, at such place in the plantations respectively as the assessors thereof shall direct; which assessors shall have like authority for notifying the electors, collecting and returning the votes, as the selectmen and town clerks have in their several towns, by this constitution. And all other persons living in places unincorporated, (qualified as aforesaid,) who shall be assessed to the support of government by the assessors of an adjacent town, shall have the privilege of giving in their votes for senators, in the town where they shall be assessed, and be notified of the place of meeting by the selectmen of the town where they shall be assessed, for that purpose, accordingly.

III. And that there may be a due convention of senators on the first Wednesday in January annually, the governor, with five of the council, for the time being, shall, as soon as may be, examine the returned copies of such records; and fourteen days before the said day, he shall issue his summons to such persons as shall appear to be chosen by a majority of voters, to attend on that day, and take their seats accordingly.

IV. The senate shall be the final judge of the elections, returns, and qualifications of their own members, as pointed out in the constitution; and shall, on the said first Wednesday in January annually, determine and declare who are elected by each district, to be senators, by a majority of votes: and in case there shall not appear to be the full number of senators returned elected by a majority of votes for any district, the deficiency shall be supplied in the following manner, viz: The members of the house of representatives, and such senators as shall

be declared elected, shall take the names of such persons as shall be found to have the highest number of votes in such district, and not elected, amounting to twice the number of senators wanting, if there be so many voted for; and, out of these, shall elect by ballot a number of senators sufficient to fill up the vacancies in such district; and in this manner all such vacancies shall be filled up in every district of the Commonwealth; and in like manner all vacancies in the senate, arising by death, removal out of the state, or otherwise, shall be supplied as soon as may be after such vacancies shall happen.

V. Provided, nevertheless, that no person shall be capable of being elected as a senator, who has not been an inhabitant of this Commonwealth for the space of five years immediately preceding his election, and, at the time of his election, he shall be an inhabitant in the district for which he shall be chosen; and no possession of a freehold, or of any other estate, shall be required as a qualification for holding a seat in the senate.

VI. The senate shall have power to adjourn themselves, provided such adjournments do not exceed two days at a time.

VII. The senate shall choose its own president, appoint its own officers, and determine its own rules of proceeding.

VIII. The senate shall be a court with full authority to hear and determine all impeachments made by the house of representatives, against any officer or officers of the Commonwealth, for misconduct and mal-administration in their offices; but,