Section

8. Real and personal estate shall be taxed according to its value.

9. Taxation.

10. Sheriffs, how elected and tenure

of office.

11. Attorney-General, how to be elected. Vacancy, how filled. 12. Soldiers, who may be allowed to vote for county officers.

13. Bribery at elections.

14. Credit of State shall not be loaned. Creation of State debt, limited. Exceptions.

15. State may issue bonds in payment of municipal war debt. Basis of payment. Commission shall be appointed to determine amount due to municipalities. Loan limited to $3,500,000.

16. Towns having four thousand

inhabitants, and towns having
inhabited islands, may be
divided into voting districts.

PREAMBLE.

We, the people of Maine, in order to establish justice, insure tranquillity, provide for our mutual defense, promote our common welfare, and secure to ourselves and our posterity the blessings of liberty, acknowledging with grateful hearts the goodness of the Sovereign Ruler of the Universe in affording us an opportunity, so favorable to the design; and, imploring His aid and direction in its accomplishment, do agree to form ourselves into a free and independent State, by the style and title of the State of Maine, and do ordain and establish the following Constitution for the government of the same.

ARTICLE I.

Declaration of Rights.

Section 1. All men are born equally free and independent, and have certain natural, inherent and inalienable rights, among

which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and of pursuing and obtaining safety and happiness.

Sec. 2. All power is inherent in the people; all free governments are founded in their authority and instituted for their benefit; they have, therefore, an inalienable and indefeasible right to institute government, and to alter, reform or totally change the same, when their safety and happiness require it.

Sec. 3. All men have a natural and inalienable right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences, and no one shall be hurt, molested or restrained in his person, liberty or estate for worshipping God in the manner and season most agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience, nor for his religious professions or sentiments, provided he does not disturb the public peace, nor obstruct others in their religious worship; and all persons demeaning themselves peaceably as good members of the State shall be equally under the protection of the laws, and no subordination nor preference of any one sect or denomination to another shall ever be established by law, nor shall any religious test be required as a qualification for any office or trust, under this State; and all religious societies in this State, whether incorporate or unincorporate, shall at all times have the exclusive right of electing their public teachers, and contracting with them for their support and maintenance.

Sec. 4. Every citizen may freely speak, write and publish his sentiments on any subject, being responsible for the abuse of this liberty; no laws shall be passed regulating or restraining the freedom of the press; and in prosecutions for any publication respecting the official conduct of men in public capacity, or the qualifications of those who are candidates for the suffrages of the people, or where the matter published is proper for public information, the truth thereof may be given in evidence, and in all indictments for libels, the jury, after having received the direction of the court, shall have a right to determine, at their discretion, the law and the fact.

Sec. 5. The people shall be secure in their persons, houses, papers and possessions from all unreasonable searches and seizures; and no warrant to search any place, or seize any person or thing, shall issue without a special designation of the place to be searched, and the person or thing to be seized, nor without probable cause-supported by oath or affirmation.

Sec. 6. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall have a right to be heard by himself and his counsel, or either, at his election;

To demand the nature and cause of the accusation, and have a copy thereof;

To be confronted by the witnesses against him;

To have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor;

To have a speedy, public and impartial trial, and, except in trials by martial law or impeachment, by a jury of the vicinity. He shall not be compelled to furnish or give evidence against himself, nor be deprived of his life, liberty, property or privileges, but by judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land.

Sec. 7. No person shall be held to answer for a capital or infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases of impeachment, or in such cases of offenses as are usually cognizable by a justice of the peace, or in cases arising in the army or navy, or in the militia when in actual service in time of war or public danger. The Legislature shall provide by law a suitable and impartial mode of selecting juries and their usual number and unanimity, in indictments and convictions, shall be held indispensable.

Sec. 8. No person, for the same offense, shall be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb.

Sec. 9. Sanguinary laws shall not be passed; all penalties and punishments shall be proportioned to the offense; excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel nor unusual punishments inflicted.

Sec. 10. No person before conviction shall be bailable for any of the crimes, which now are, or have been denominated capital offenses since the adoption of the Constitution, where the proof is evident or the presumption great, whatever the punishment of the crimes may be. And the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.

Sec. 11. The Legislature shall pass no bill of attainder, ex post facto law, nor law impairing the obligation of contracts, and no attainder shall work corruption of blood nor forfeiture

of estate.

Sec. 12. Treason against this State shall consist only in levy ing war against it, adhering to its enemies, giving them aid and