Searches and seizures limited. Rights of defence and privileges in tions. duct of officers or men in public capacity, or to any other matter proper for public investigation or information, where the fact that such publication was not maliciously or negligently made shall be established to the satisfaction of the jury; and in all indictments for libels the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the facts, under the direction of the court, as in other cases. SECTION 8. The people shall be secure in their persons, houses, papers and possessions from unreasonable searches and seizures, and no warrant to search any place or to seize any person or things shall issue without describing them as nearly as may be, nor without probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation subscribed to by the affiant. SECTION 9. In all criminal prosecutions the accused hath a right to be heard by himself and his counsel, to demand the nature and criminal prosecu- cause of the accusation against him, to meet the witnesses face to face, to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and, in prosecutions by indictment or information, a speedy public trial by an impartial jury of the vicinage; he cannot be compelled to give evidence against himself, nor can he be deprived of his life, liberty or property, unless by the judgment of his peers or the law of the land. Criminal Informa- Appropriation SECTION 10. No person shall, for any indictable offence, be proceeded against criminally by information, except in cases arising in Twice in jeopardy the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service, in private property to time of war or public danger, or by leave of the court for oppression or misdemeanor in office. No person shall, for the same offence, be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall private property be taken or applied to public use, without authority of law and without just compensation being first made or secured. public use. Administration of jst ce to be free. Suits against the Commonwealth. Limitation upon SECTION 11. All courts shall be open; and every man for an injury done him in his lands, goods, person or reputation shall have remedy by due course of law, and right and justice administered without sale, denial or delay. Suits may be brought against the Commonwealth in such manner, in such courts and in such cases as the Legislature may by law direct. SECTION 12. No power of suspending laws shall be exercised unsuspension of laws. less by the Legislature or by its authority. Excessive bail or fines and cruel parishment forbidden. Prisoners baila SECTION 13. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel punishments inflicted. SECTION 14. All prisoners shall be bailable by sufficient sureties, unless for capital offences when the proof is evident or presumption ble. Habeas cor- 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. pus. No commission of oyer and terminer to issue. Imprisonment of limited. Laws ex post facto or impairing con SECTION 15. No commission of oyer and terminer or jail delivery shall be issued. SECTION 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. SECTION 17. No ex post facto law, nor any law impairing the tracts, irrevocable obligation of contracts, or making irrevocable any grant of special grants, &c., for- privileges or immunities, shall be passed. bidden. No legislative at tainder of treason or felony. Attainder shall not SECTION 18. No person shall be attainted of treason or felony by the Legislature. SECTION 19. No attainder shall work corruption of blood, nor, work corruption of except during the life of the offender, forfeiture of estate to the blood or forfeiture 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. beyond lif. No forfeiture for suicide or in case of death by casualty. Rights of meeting and petition. SECTION 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 remonstrance. SECTION 21. The right of the citizens to bear arms in defence of Right to bear arms themselves and the State shall not be questioned. SECTION 22. No standing army shall, in time of peace, be kept subordination of up without the consent of the Legislature, and the military shall in the military to the all cases and at all times be in strict subordination to the civil power. civil power. SECTION 23. No soldier shall in time of peace be quartered in Quartering of any house without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war troops in lious 's. but in a manner to be prescribed by law. No title of nobility SECTION 24. The Legislature shall not grant any title of nobility to be created, etc.. or hereditary distinction, nor create any office the appointment to or office tenure be yond good bewhich shall be for a longer term than during good behavior. havior. SECTION 25. Emigration from the State shall not be prohibited. Emigration perSECTION 26. To guard against transgressions of the high powers mitted. which we have delegated, we declare that everything in this article Everything in this article excepted is excepted out of the general powers of government and shall for- from the powers of ever remain inviolate. government. ARTICLE II. power vested. SECTION 1. The legislative power of this Commonwealth shall The legislativ be vested in a General Assembly, which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives. SECTION 2. Members of the General Assembly shall be chosen at Biennial elections. 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. SECTION 3. Senators shall be elected for the term of four years Legislative terms. and Representatives for the term of two years. ings. Special sessions. SECTION 4. The General Assembly shall meet at twelve o'clock, Biennial meetnoon, 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. resentatives. SECTION 5. Senators shall be at least twenty-five years of age and Qualifications of Representatives twenty-one years of age. They shall have been Senators and Rep. 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. SECTION 6. No Senator or Representative shall, during the time Disqualification for which he shall have been elected, be appointed to any civil office toome. for appointinent under this Commonwealth, and no member of Congress or other Members of Conperson holding any office (except of attorney-at-law or in the militia) gress, etc., ineliunder the United States or this Commonwealth shall be a member Assembly. of either House during his continuance in office. gible to General SECTION 7. No person hereafter convicted of embezzlement of Conviction of cerpublic moneys, bribery, perjury or other infamous crime, shall be tain crimes to diseligible to the General Assembly, or capable of holding any office qualify. of trust or profit in this Commonwealth. SECTION 8. The members of the General Assembly shall receive Compensation. vice upon committee or otherwise. No member of either House SECTION 9. The Senate shall, at the beginning and close of each Presiding officers. Each House to dge of the qualifications of its members. Qnorum. Powers of each Each House shall journal. bility 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. SECTION 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. SECTION 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 twothirds, 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 offence. SECTION 12. Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings keep and publish a 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. SECTION 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. Sessions to be open. Adjournments. Privileges of members. Suntorial dis- Pepresentative districts. SECTION 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. SECTION 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. SECTION 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 of 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. SECTION 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 one 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. SECTION 18. The General Assembly at its first session after the Apportionments. 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. SECTION 1. No law shall be passed except by bill, and no bill Passage of bills. shall be so altered or amended, on its passage through either House, as to change its original purpose. SECTION 2. No bill shall be considered unless referred to a com- Reference and mittee, returned therefrom, and printed for the use of the members. printing. SECTION 3. No bill, except general appropriation bills, shall be To contain but one passed containing more than one subject, which shall be clearly ex- in title. pressed in its title. subject expressed Amendments to be SECTION 4. Every bill shall be read at length on three different To be read on three days in each House; all amendments made thereto shall be printed days. for the use of the members before the final vote is taken on the bill, printed. 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 Yeas and nays. 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. and on reports of SECTION 5. No amendment to bills by one House shall be con- votes concurring curred in by the other, except by the vote of a majority of the mem- in amendments bers elected thereto, taken by yeas and nays, and the names of those conference to be voting for and against recorded upon the journal thereof; and re- yeas and nays. ports 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. SECTION 6. No law shall be revived, amended, or the provisions Revival of law. 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. SECTION 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: 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, graveyards, 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 char ters: 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: Limitation on spe- Notice of local or special bills. Siguing of bills by 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 money 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 moneys legally paid into the treasury : Exempting property from taxation: Regulating labor, trade, mining or manufacturing: Creating corporations, or amending, renewing or extending the charters thereof: Granting to any corporation, association or individual any special or exclusive privilege or immunity, or to any corporation, association or individual the right to lay down a railroad track: Nor shall the General Assembly indirectly enact such special or local law by the partial repeal of a general law; but laws repealing local or special acts may be passed: Nor shall any law be passed granting powers or privileges in any case where the granting of such powers and privileges shall have been provided for by general law, nor where the courts have jurisdiction to grant the same or give the relief asked for. SECTION 8. No local or special bill shall be passed unless notice of the intention to apply therefor shall have been published in the locality where the matter or the thing to be effected may be situated, which notice shall be at least thirty days prior to the introduction into the General Assembly of such bill and in the manner to be provided by law; the evidence of such notice having been published, shall be exhibited in the General Assembly, before such act shall be passed. SECTION 9. The presiding officer of each House shall, in the prespresiding othcers. ence of the House over which he presides, sign all bills and joint resolutions passed by the General Assembly, after their titles have been publicly read immediately before signing; and the fact of signing shall be entered on the journal. Legislative off cers. SECTION 10. The General Assembly shall prescribe by law the number, duties and compensation of the officers and employees of each House, and no payment shall be made from the State Treasury, or be in any way authorized, to any person, except to an acting officer or employee elected or appointed in pursuance of law. SECTION 11. No bill shall be passed giving any extra compensaSation to officers or tion to any public officer, servant, employee, agent or contractor, after services shall have been rendered or contract made, nor providing for the payment of any claim against the Commonwealth without previous authority of law. No extra compen contracto18. Public printing. SECTION 12. All stationery, printing, paper and fuel used in the legislative and other departments of government shall be furnished, and the printing, binding and distributing of the laws, journals, department reports, and all other printing and binding, and the repairing and furnishing the halls and rooms used for the meetings of the General Assembly and its committees, shall be performed under contract to be given to the lowest responsible bidder below such maximum price and under such regulations as shall be prescribed by law; no member or officer of any department of the government shall be in any way interested in such contracts, and |