L. That the Governor, every member of the Council, and every judge and justice, before they act as such, shall respectively take an oath "that he will not, through favor, affection, or partiality, vote for any person to office, and that he will vote for such person as in his judgment and conscience he believes most fit and best qualified for the office: and that he has not made, nor will make, any promise or engagement tc give his vote or interest in favor of any person."

LI. That there be two registers of the land office, one upon the western, and the other upon the eastern shore; that short extracts of the grants and certificates of the land on the western and eastern shores respectively be made in separate books, at the public expense, and deposited in the offices of the said registers, in such manner as shall hereafter be provided by the General Assembly.

LII. That every chancellor, judge, register of wills, commissioner of the loan office, attorney-general, sheriff, treasurer, register of the land office, register of the chancery court, and every clerk of the common law courts, surveyor, and auditor of the public accounts, before he acts as such, shall take an oath, "that he will not, directly or indirectly, receive any fee or reward for doing his office of but what is, or shall be, allowed by law; nor will, directly or indirectly, receive the profits or any parts of the profits of any office held by any person; and that he does not hold the same office in trust, or for the benefit of any other person."

LIII. That, if any Governor, chancellor, judge, register of wills, attorney-general, register of the land office, commissioners of the loan office, register of the chancery court, or any clerk of the common law courts, treasurer, sheriff, surveyor, or auditor of public accounts, shall receive, directly or indirectly, at any time, the profits or any parts of the profits of an office, held by any other person, during his acting in the office to which he is appointed, his election, appointment, and commission, (on conviction in a court of law, by the oath of two credible witnesses,) shall be void, and he shall suffer the punishment for wilful and corrupt perjury, or be banished this State forever, or disqualified forever from holding any office or place of trust or profit, as the court may adjudge.

LIV. That, if any person shall give any bribe, present, or reward, or any promise, or any security for the payment or delivery of any money, or any other thing, to obtain or procure a vote, to be Governor, senator, delegate to Assembly, member of the Council, or judge, or to be appointed to any one of the said offices, or to any office of profit or trust, now created, or hereafter to be created, iņ this State-the person giving, and the person receiving the same, (on conviction in a court of law,) shall be forever disqualified to hold any office of trust or profit in this State.

LV. That every person appointed to any office of profit or trust, shall, before he enters on the execution thereof, take the following oath, to wit: "I, A. B., do swear, that I do not hold myself bound

in allegiance to the king of Great Britain, and that I will be faithful, and bear true allegiance, to the State of Maryland;" and shall also subscribe a declaration of his belief to the Christian religion.

LVI. That there be a Court of Appeals, composed of persons of integrity and sound judgment in the law, whose judgment shall be final and conclusive in all cases of appeal, and that one person of integrity and sound judgment in the law be appointed Chancellor.

LVII. That the style of all laws run thus: "Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland;" that all public commissions and grants run thus: "The State of Maryland," &c., and shall be signed by the Governor, and attested by the Chancellor, with the seal of the State annexed-except military and militia commissions, which shall not be attested by the Chancellor, or have the seal of the State annexed; that all writs shall run in the same style, and be tested, sealed, and signed as usual; that all indictments shall conclude, "against the peace, government, and dignity of the State."

LVIII. That all penalties and forfeitures, heretofore going to the King or proprietary, shall go to the State save only such as the General Assembly may abolish or otherwise provide for.

LIX. That this form of government, and the declaration of rights, and no part thereof, shall be altered, changed, or abolished, unless a bill so to alter, change, or abolish the same, shall pass the General Assembly, and be published at least three months before a new election, and shall be confirmed by the General Assembly, after a new election of delegates, in the first session after such new election : Provided, that nothing in this form of government, which relates to the eastern shore particularly, shall at any time hereafter be altered, unless for the alteration and confirmation thereof, at least two-thirds of all the members of each branch of the General Assembly shall

concur.

LX. That every bill passed by the General Assembly, when engrossed, shall be presented by the Speaker of the House of Delegates, in the Senate, to the Governor for the time being, who shall sign the same, and thereto affix the great seal, in the presence of the members of both houses: every law shall be recorded and in due time printed, published, and certified under the great seal, to the several county courts, in the same manner as hath been heretofore used in this State.

AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION.

ART. II. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland, that no member of Congress, or person holding any office of trust, or profit, under the United States, shall be capable of having a seat in the General Assembly, or being an elector of the Senate, or holding any office of trust, or profit under this State; and if any member of the General Assembly, elector of the Senate, or person

holding any office of trust or profit under this State, shall take his seat in Congress, or accept of any office of trust or profit under the United States, or being elected to Congress, or appointed to any office of trust or profit under the United States, not make his resignation of his seat in Congress, or of his office, as the case may be, within thirty days after notice of his election or appointment to office, as aforesaid, his seat in the Legislature of this State, or as elector of the Senate, or of his office held under this State as aforesaid, shall be void: Provided, that no person who is now or may be at any time when this act becomes part of the Constitution, a member both of Congress and of the Legislature of the State, or who now holds, or may hold, at the time when this act becomes part of the Constitution, an office as aforesaid, both under this State, and the United States, shall be effected by this act, if, within fifteen days after the same shall become part of the Constitution, he shall resign his seat in Congress, or his office held under the United States.-Passed 1791, ch. 80 -confirmed 1792, ch. 22.1

III. That every person being a member of either of the religious sects or societies called Quakers, Menonists, Tunkers, or Nicolites, or New Quakers, and who shall be conscientiously scrupulous of taking an oath on any occasion, being otherwise qualified and duly elected a Senator, delegate or elector of the Senate, or being otherwise qualified and duly apppointed or elected to any office of profit or trust, on making affirmation instead of taking the several oaths appointed by the Constitution and form of Government, and the several acts of Assembly of this State now in force, or that hereafter may be made, such persons may hold and exercise any office of profit or trust to which he may be appointed or elected, and may, by such affirmation, qualify himself to take a seat in the Legislature, and to act therein as a member of the same in all cases whatsoever, or to be an elector of the Senate, in as full and ample a manner, to all intents and purposes whatever, as persons are now competent and qualified to act, who are not conscientiously scrupulous of taking such oaths.-Passed, 1794, ch. 49-confirmed 1795, ch. 11.

V. SEC. 1. That the people called Quakers, those called Nicolites, or New Quakers, those called Tunkers, and those called Menonists, holding it unlawful to take an oath on any occasion, shall be allowed to make their solemn affirmation as witnesses, in the manner that Quakers have been heretofore allowed to affirm, which affirmation shall be of the same avail as an oath, to all intents and purposes whatever. 2. Before any of the persons aforesaid shall be admitted as a witness in any court of justice in this State, the court shall be satisfied, by such testimony as they may require, that such person is one of those who profess to be conscientiously scrupulous of taking an oath.-Passed 1797, ch. 118-confirmed 1798, ch. 83.

VI-SEC. 1. That the several counties of this State, for the purpose of holding all future elections for delegates, electors of the Senate, and sheriffs of the several counties, shall be divided into

separate districts, in the manner hereinafter directed, viz.: St. Mary's county shall be divided and laid off into separate districts; Kent county shall be divided and laid off into three separate districts; Calvert county shall be divided and laid off into three separate districts; Charles county shall be divided and laid off into four separate districts; Talbot county shall be 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; AnneArundel 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.

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.-Passed 1798, ch. 115-confirmed 1799, ch. 48.

VIII. That Frederick county shall be divided and laid off into nine separate districts.-Passed 1802, ch. 82-confirmed 1803, ch. 19. IX. SEC. 1. That this State shall be divided into six judicial districts, in manner and form following, to wit: St. 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 Hartford 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.

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.

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.

IV. If the Attorney-General, or the prosecutor for the State, shall suggest, in writing, to any county court before whom an indict