divided and laid off into four separate districts; Somerset County shall be divided and laid off into three separate districts; Dorchester County shall be divided and laid off into three separate districts; Cecil County shall be divided and laid off into four separate districts; Prince George's County shall be divided and laid off into five separate districts; Queen Anne's County shall be divided and laid off into three separate districts; Worcester County shall be divided and laid off into five separate districts; Frederick County shall be divided and laid off into separate districts; Harford County shall be divided and laid off into five separate districts; Caroline County shall be divided and laid off into three separate districts; Washington County shall be divided and laid off into five separate districts; Montgomery County shall be divided and laid off into five separate districts; Alleghany County shall be divided and laid off into six separate districts; Anne Arundel County, including the city of Annapolis, shall be divided and laid off into five separate districts; Baltimore County, out of the limits of the city of Baltimore, shall be divided and laid off into seven districts; and that the city of Baltimore shall be laid off into eight districts.

SEC. 2. All and every part of the constitution and form of government, relating to the judges, time, place, and manner of holding elections in the city of Baltimore, and all and every part of the second, third, fifth, fourteenth, and forty-second sections of the constitution and form of government of this State, which relate to the judges, place, time, and manner of holding the several elections for delegates, electors of the senate, and the sheriffs of the several counties, be, and the same are hereby, abrogated, repealed, and annulled, and the same shall hereafter be regulated by law.

RATIFIED 1803.

ART. VIII. That Frederick County shall be divided and laid off into nine separate 'districts.

RATIFIED 1805.

ART. IX. SECTION 1. That this State shall be divided into six judicial districts, in manner and form following, to wit: Saint Mary's, Charles, and Prince George's Counties shall be the first district; Cecil, Kent, Queen Anne's, and Talbot Counties shall be the second district; Calvert, Anne Arundel, and Montgomery Counties shall be the third district; Caroline, Dorchester, Somerset, and Worcester Counties shall be the fourth district; Frederick, Washington, and Alleghany Counties shall be the fifth district; Baltimore and Harford Counties shall be the sixth district; and there shall be appointed for each of the said judicial districts three persons of integrity and sound legal knowledge, residents of the State of Maryland, who shall, previous to, and during their acting as judges, reside in the district for which they shall respectively be appointed, one of whom shall be styled in the commission chief judge, and the other two associate judges of the district for which they shall be appointed; and the chief judge, together with the two associate judges, shall compose the county courts in each respective district; and each judge shall hold his commission during good behavior; removal for misbehavior, on conviction in a court of law, or shall be removed by the governor, upon the address of the general assembly, provided that two-thirds of the members of each house concur in such address; and the county courts, so as aforesaid established, shall have, hold, and exercise, in the several counties of this State, all and every the powers, authorities, and jurisdictions which the county courts of this State now have, use, and exercise, and which shall be hereafter prescribed by law; and the said county courts established by this act shall respectively hold their sessions in the several counties at such times and places as the legislature shall direct and appoint; and the salaries of the said judges shall not be diminished during the period of their continuance in office.

SEC. 2. In any suit or action at law hereafter to be commenced or instituted in any county court of this State, the judges thereof, upon suggestion in writing, by either of the parties thereto, supported by affidavit, or other proper evidence, that a fair and impartial trial cannot be had in the county court of the county where such suit or action is depending, shall and may order and direct the record of their proceedings in such suit or action to be transmitted to the judges of any county court within the district, for trial, and the judges of such county court, to whom the said record

shall be transmitted, shall hear and determine the same in like manner as if such suit or action had been originally instituted therein: Provided, nevertheless, That such suggestion shall be made as aforesaid, before or during the term in which the issue or issues may be joined in said suit or action: And provided also, That such further remedy may be provided by law in the premises as the legislature shall from time to time direct and enact.

ART. III. If any party presented or indicted, in any of the county courts of this State, shall suggest, in writing, to the court in which such prosecution is depending, that a fair and impartial trial cannot be had in such court, it shall and may be lawful for the said court to order and direct the record of their proceedings in the said prosecution to be transmitted to the judge of any adjoining county court, for trial; and the judges of such adjoining county court shall hear and determine the same, in the same manner as if such prosecution had been originally instituted therein: Provided, That such further and other remedy may be provided by law in the premises as the legislature may direct and enact.

ART. IV. If the attorney-general, or the prosecutor for the State, shall suggest, in writing, to any county court before whom an indictment is or may be depending, that the State cannot have a fair and impartial trial in such court, it shall and may be lawful for the said court, in their discretion, to order and direct the record of their proceedings in the said prosecution to be transmitted to the judges of any adjoining county court for trial; and the judges of such county court shall hear and determine the same, as if such prosecution had been originally instituted therein.

ART. V. There shall be a court of appeals, and the same shall be composed of the chief judges of the several judicial districts of the State; which said court of appeals shall hold, use, and exercise all and singular the powers, authorities, and jurisdictions, heretofore held, used, and exercised by the court of appeals of this State, and also the appellate jurisdiction heretofore used and exercised by the general court; and the said court of appeals hereby established shall sit on the western and eastern shores, for transacting and determining the business of the respective shores, at such times and places as the future legislature of this State shall direct and appoint; and any three of the said judges of the court of appeals shall form a quorum to hear and decide in all cases pending in said court; and the judge who has given a decision in any case in the county court shall withdraw from the bench upon the deciding of the same case before the court of appeals; and the judges of the court of appeals may appoint the clerks of said court for the western and eastern shores respectively, who shall hold their appointments during good behavior, removable only for misbehavior, on conviction in a court of law; and, in case of death, resignation, disqualification, or removal out of the State, or from their respective shores, of either of the said clerks, in the vacation of the said court, the governor, with the advice of the council, may appoint and commission a fit and proper person to such vacant office, to hold the same until the next meeting of the said court; and all laws passed after this act shall take effect shall be recorded in the office of the court of appeals of the western shore.

RATIFIED 1807.

ART. X. That Saint Mary's County shall be divided into four separate districts, and that the additional district shall be laid off adjoining and between the first and third districts, as they are now numbered.

RATIFIED 1809.

ART. XI. SECTION 1. That, upon the death, resignation, or removal out of this 'State of the governor, it shall not be necessary to call a meeting of the legislature to fill the vacancy occasioned thereby, but the first named of the council for the time being shall qualify and act as governor, until the next meeting of the general assembly, at which meeting a governor shall be chosen in the manner heretofore appointed and directed.

SEC. 2. No governor shall be capable of holding any other office of profit during the time for which he shall be elected.

RATIFIED 1810.

ART. XII. That all such parts of the constitution and form of government as require a property qualification in persons to be appointed or holding offices of profit or trust in this State, and in persons elected members of the legislature or electors of the senate, shall be, and the same are hereby, repealed and abolished.

ART. XIII. That it shall not be lawful for the general assembly of this State to lay an equal and general tax, or any other tax, on the people of this State, for the support of any religion.

ART. XIV. That every free white male citizen of this State, above twenty-one years of age, and no other, having resided twelve months within this State, and six months in the county, or in the city of Annapolis or Baltimore, next preceding the election at which he offers to vote, shall have a right of suffrage, and shall vote, by ballot, in the election of such county or city, or either of them, for electors of the President and Vice-President of the United States, for Representatives of this State in the Congress of the United States, for delegates to the general assembly of this State, electors of the senate, and sheriffs.

ART. XV. That no person residing in the city of Annapolis shall have a vote in the county of Anne Arundel, for delegates of the said county; and all and every part of the constitution which enables persons holding fifty acres of land to vote in said county, be, and is hereby, abolished.

ART. XVI. That the forty-fifth article of the constitution and form of government be, and the same is hereby, repealed and utterly abolished.

RATIFIED 1812.

ART. XVII. SECTION 1. That the time of the meeting of the general assembly shall be on the first Monday in December in each year, instead of the first Monday in November, as prescribed by the constitution and form of government.

SEC. 2. The governor of this State shall be chosen on the second Monday of December, in each and every year, in the same manner as is now prescribed by the constitution and form of government; and the council to the governor shall be elected on the first Tuesday after the second Monday of December, in cach and every year, in the same manner as is now prescribed by the constitution and form of government.

SEC. 3. All annual appointments of civil officers in this State shall be made in the third week of December, in every year, in the same manner as the constitution and form of government now directs.

RATIFIED 1837.

SECTION 1. The term of office of the members of the present senate shall end and be determined whenever and as soon as a new senate shall be elected as hereinafter provided, and a quorum of its members shall have qualified, as directed by the constitution and laws of this State.

SEC. 2. At the December session of the general assembly for the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and thirty-eight, and forever thereafter, the senate shall be composed of twenty-one members, to be chosen as hereinafter provided, a majority of whom shall be a quorum for the transaction of business.

SEC. 3. At the time and place of holding elections in the several counties of this State, and in the city of Baltimore, for delegates to the general assembly for the December session of the year eighteen hundred and thirty-eight, and under the direction of the same judges by whom such elections for delegates shall be held, an election shall also be held in each of the several counties of this State and in the city of Baltimore respectively, for the purpose of choosing a senator of the State of Maryland for and from such county or said city, as the case may be, whose term of office shall commence on the day fixed by law for the commencement of the regular session of the general assembly next succeeding such election, and continue for two, four, or six years, according to the classification of a quorum of its members; and at every such election for senators, every person qualified to vote at the place at which he shall offer to vote for delegates to the general assembly, shall be entitled to vote for

18;6

one person as senator; and of the persons voted for as senator in each of the several counties and in said city, respectively, the person having the highest number of legal votes, and possessing the qualifications hereinafter mentioned, shall be declared and returned as duly elected for said county or said city, as the case may be; and in case two persons possessing the required qualifications shall be found on the final casting of the votes given, in any one of said counties or said city, to have an equal number of votes, there shall be a new election ordered as hereinafter mentioned; and immediately after the senate shall have convened in pursuance of their election under this act, the senators shall be divided, in such manner as the senate shall prescribe, into three classes; the seats of the senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration of the second year, of the second class at the expiration of the fourth year, and of the third class at the expiration of the sixth year, so that onethird thereof may be elected on the first Wednesday of October in every second year; and elections shall be held in the several counties and city, from which the retiring senators came, to supply the vacancies as they may occur in consequence of this classification.

SEC. 4. Such election for senators shall be conducted, and the returns thereof be made, with proper variations in the certificate to suit the case, in like manner as in cases of elections for delegates.

SEC. 5. The qualifications necessary in a senator shall be the same as are required in a delegate to the general assembly, with the additional qualification that he shall be above the age of twenty-five years, and shall have resided at least three years, next preceding his election, in the county or city in and for which he shall be chosen.

SEC. 6. In case any person who shall have been chosen as a senator shall refuse to act, remove from the county or city, as the case may be, for which he shall have been elected, die, resign, or be removed for cause, or in case of a tie between two or more qualified persons in any one of the counties or in the city of Baltimore, a warrant of election shall be issued by the president of the senate for the time being for the election of a senator to supply the vacancy, of which ten days' notice at the least, excluding the day of notice and the day of election, shall be given. ·

SEC. 7. So much of the thirty-seventh article of the constitution as provides that no senator or delegate to the general assembly, if he shall qualify as such, shall hold or execute any office of profit during the time for which he shall be elected, shall be, and the same is hereby, repealed.

SEC. 8. No senator or delegate to the general assembly shall, during the time for which he was elected. be appointed to any civil office under the constitution and laws of this State which shall have been created or the emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time; and no senator or delegate, during the time he shall continue to act as such, shall be eligible to any civil office whatever.

SEC. 9. At the election for delegates to the general assembly for the December session of the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and thirty-eight, and at each succeeding election for delegates, until after the next census shall have been taken and officially promulged, five delegates shall be elected in and for Baltimore City and one delegate in and for the city of Annapolis, until the promulging of the census for the year eighteen hundred and forty, when the city of Annapolis shall be deemed and taken as a part of Anne Arundel County, and her right to a separate delegation shall cease; five delegates in and for Baltimore County; five delegates in and for Frederick County, and four delegates in and for Anne Arundel County, and four delegates in and for each of the several counties respectively hereinafter mentioned, to wit: Dorchester, Somerset, Worcester, Prince George's, Harford, Montgomery, Carroll, and Washington, and three delegates in and for each of the several counties respectively hereinafter next mentioned, to wit: Cecil, Kent, Queen Anne's, Caroline, Talbot, Saint Mary's, Charles, Calvert, and Alleghany.

SEC. 10. From and after the period when the next census shall have been taken and officially promulged, and from and after the official promulgation of every second census thereafter, the representation in the house of delegates from the several counties and from the city of Baltimore shall be graduated and established on the following basis: that is to say, every county which shall have by the said census a

population of less than fifteen thousand souls, federal numbers, shall be entitled to elect three delegates; every county having a population by the said census of fifteen thousand souls and less than twenty-five thousand souls, federal numbers, shall be entitled to elect four delegates; and every county having by the said census a population of twenty-five thousand and less than thirty-five thousand souls, federal numbers, shall be entitled to elect five delegates; and every county having a population of upwards of thirty-five thousand souls, federal numbers, shall be entitled to elect six delegates; and the city of Baltimore shall be entitled to elect as many delegates as the county which shall have the largest representation, on the basis aforesaid, may be entitled to elect: Provided, and it is hereby enacted, That if any of the several counties hereinbefore mentioned shall not, after the said census for the year eighteen hundred and forty shall have been taken, be entitled by the graduation on the basis aforesaid to a representation in the house of delegates equal to that allowed to such county by the ninth section of this act, at the election of delegates for the December session of the year eighteen hundred and thirty-eight, such county shall, neverthe less, after said census for the year eighteen hundred and forty, or any future census, and forever thereafter, be entitled to elect the number of delegates allowed by the provisions of said section for the said session; but nothing in the proviso contained shall be construed to include in the representation of Anne Arundel County the delegate allowed to the city of Annapolis in the said ninth section of this act.

SEC. 11. In all elections for senators, to be held after the election for delegates, for the December session, eighteen hundred and thirty-seven, the city of Annapolis shall be deemed and taken as part of Anne Arundel County.

SEC. 12. The general assembly shall have power from time to time to regulate all matters relating to the judges, time, place, and manner of holding elections for senators and delegates, and of making returns thereof, and to divide the several counties into election districts, for the more convenient holding of elections, not affecting their terms or tenure of office.

SEC. 13. So much of the constitution and form of government as relates to the council, to the governor, and to the clerk of the council, be abrogated, abolished, and annulled, and that the whole executive power of the government of this State shall be vested exclusively in the governor, subject, nevertheless, to the checks, limitations, and provisions hereinafter specified and mentioned.

SEC. 14. The governor shall nominate, and, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, shall appoint all officers of the State whose offices are or may be created by law, and whose appointment shall not be otherwise provided for by the constitution and form of government, or by any laws consistent with the constitution and form of government: Provided, That this act shall not be deemed or construed to impair in any manner the validity of the commissions of such persons as shall be in office under previous executive appointment, when this act shall go into operation, or alter, abridge, or change the tenure, quality, or duration of the same, or of any of them.

SEC. 15. The governor shall have power to fill any vacancy that may occur in any such offices during the recess of the senate, by granting commissions which shall expire upon the appointment of the same person, or any other person, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, to the same office, or at the expiration of one calendar month, ensuing the commencement of the next regular session of the senate, whichever shall first occur.

SEC. 16. The same person shall in no case be nominated by the governor a second time during the same session for the same office, in case he shall have been rejected by the senate, unless after such rejection the senate shall inform the governor by message of their willingness to receive again the nomination of such rejected person for further consideration; and in case any person nominated by the governor for any office shall have been rejected by the senate, it shall not be lawful for the governor at any time afterwards, during the recess of the senate, in case of vacancy in the same office, to appoint such rejected person to fill said vacancy.

SEC. 17. It shall be the duty of the governor, within the period of one calendar month next after this act shall go into operation, and in the same session in which