Mr. CHAMBERS, of Kent, (with a view, he said,
lo avoid the multiplication of oaths,) offered a
substitute oath.
Mr. SPENCER moved an amendment.
Some explanation followed between Messrs.
CHAMBERS and SPENCER, and STEWART, of Caro-
line.
Mr. STEWART, of Caroline, moved to strike
out the section.
Mr. CHAMBERS, of Kent, acquiescing in a sug-
gestion of Mr. STEWART to that effect, withdrew
his amendment.
The question was then taken on the motion of
Mr. STEWART,
And the section was stricken out.
The eleventh section of the report was read, as
follows:
Sec. 11th. The Senate, upon assembling, shall
choose a President and its other officers, and the
House of Delegates when assembled shall choose
a Speaker and its other officers—each House
shall be judge of the qualifications, elections and
returns of its members, but a contested election
aball be determined in such manner as shall be
directed by law.
Mr. DORSEY, (to meet a suggestion of Mr.
Chambers, of Kent,) moved to amend the said
section by inserting after the word "determined,"
in the fifth line, the following :
" By the House in which such contests may
arise."
The amendment was agreed to.
And the section, as amended, was adopted.
The twelfth section was read and adopted as
follows:
Sec. 12th. A majority of each House shall con-
stitute a quorum for the transaction of business,
but a smaller number may adjourn from day to
day, and may compel the attendance of absent
members in such manner and under such penal-
ties as each House may prescribe.
The thirteenth section was read and adopted,
as follows:
Sec. 13th. The doors of each House and of
committees of the whole shall be open, except
when the business is such as ought to be kept se-
cret.
The fourteenth section was read, as follows :
Sec. 14th. Each House shall keep a Journal of
its proceedings and cause the same to be publish-
ed—the yeas and nays of the members on any
question shall, at the desire of any five of them,
be entered on the journal.
Mr, STEPHENSON moved to amend by striking
out " five," and inserting in lieu thereof " two."
The motion was rejected.
Mr. RICAUD moved to amend by striking out
the last clause of the section, (in regard to the
yeas and nays,
Mr. THOMAS stated that this amendment pre-
supposes the case where a majority of members
present may not wish their votes to go out to the
world, and therefore do not desire to have the
yeas and nays recorded. The number of five is
specified, because it is believed that the House
39

could never be in such a condition but that five
members could be found ready to second a call
lor the yeas and nays. He thought the clause a
novel one to be engrafted in a written Constitu-
tion.
Mr, RICAUD withdrew his amendment.
Mr. CHAMBERS moved to amend the section by
providing that the yeas and nays should be order-
ed on the call of three, (instead of five) members
of the Senate.
Mr. RICAUD suggested one.
Mr, CHAMBERS, of Kent, accepted the modifi-
cation.
The amendment, as modified, was adopted.
And the section, as amended, was adopted.
The fifteenth section was read and adopted, as
follows:
Sec. 15th. Neither House shall, without the
consent of the other, adjourn lor more than three
days, nor to any other place than that in which
the Houses shall be sitting, without the concur-
rent vote of two-thirds of the members present of
both Houses.
The sixteenth section was then read, as fol-
lows:
Sec. 16th. The enacting clause of every bill
shall be, " Be it enacted by the General Assem-
bly of Maryland," and no law shall be enacted
except by Bill.
Mr. DORSEY said, that if change, for the sake
of change, was not the order of the day, he should
prefer the language of the old Constitution. But
if we were to have change, he would move to
amend the said section by inserting after the
word " the," in the first line, the words " com-
mencement of the first."
Mr. CHAMBERS hoped, he said, that the Con-
vention would stand by the language of the old
Constitution so far as practicable.
The amendment of Mr. DORSEY was rejected.
Mr. STEWART, of Caroline, moved to amend
the section by adding, at the end thereof, the
words,
" And that all laws be passed by original Bill
and not as supplement."
Mr. STEWART, of Caroline, pointed out the
confusion and embarrassment, which were pro-
duced in the laws, by the practice of passing sup-
plementary acts. The original law, embracing
every variety of subjects, has been permitted to
stand, and supplements have passed, until a very
few lilies of the original law remain in force.
And it is impossible for the people to tell what is
in force as law, or what has been repealed. Laws
ale enacted for all classes of the community, and
should beplain and intelligible. All laws should
bepassed by original bill, and in the language of
his amendment should embrace but one subject,
and that subject should be described in the title
of the law,
Mr. SPENCER said the amendment was one
which would produce much difficulty, it would
lead to great delay in legislation, and would
furnish a crib from which to feed the printers,
Mr. STEWART replied, that the cost of print-
ing, if the benefit and good that would result