ing unpaid shall never exceed one hundred
thousand dollars. The credit of the State
shall not in any manner be given or loaned
to, or in aid of any individual, association or
corporation, nor shall the General Assembly
have the power in any mode to involve the
State in the construction of works of internal
improvement, or in any enterprise which shall
involve the faith or credit of the State, or
make any appropriations therefor, and they
shall not use or appropriate the proceeds of
the internal improvement companies, or of
the State tax now levied or which may here-
after be levied to pay off the public debt, to
any other purpose until the interest and debt
are fully paid, or the sinking fund shall be
equal to the amount of the outstanding debt;
but the General Assembly may, without lay-
ing a tax, borrow an amount never to exceed
fifty thousand dollars, to meet temporary de-
ficiencies in the Treasury, and may contract
debts to any amount that may be necessary
for the defence of the State.
Sec. 21. No extra compensation shall be
granted or allowed by the General Assembly
to any public officer, agent, servant or con-
tractor, after the services shall have been ren-
dered or the contract entered into. Nor shall
the salary or compensation of any public of-
ficer be increased or diminished, during his
term of office.
Sec. 22. No Senator or Delegate, after
qualifying as such, notwithstanding he may
thereafter resign, shall, during the whole
period of time for which he was elected, be
eligible to any office which shall have been
created, or the salary or profits of which shall
have been increased during such term, or
shall, during said term, hold any office, or
receive the salary or profits of any office un-
der the appointment of the Executive or
General Assembly.
Sec. 23. Each House may punish by im-
prisonment, during the session of the General
Assembly, any person not a member, for dis-
respectful or disorderly behavior in its pres-
ence, or for obstructing any of its proceed-
ings, or any of its officers in the execution
of their duties; provided such imprisonment
shall not. at any one time, exceed ten days.
Sec. 24, The members of each House shall,
in all cases except treason, felony, or other
criminal offence, be privileged from arrest
during their attendance at the session of the
General Assembly, and in going to and re-
turning from the same, allowing one day for
every thirty-five miles such member may re-
side from the place at which the General As-
sembly is convened.
Sec. 25. No Senator or Delegate shall be
liable, in any civil action or criminal prose-
cution whatever, for words spoken in de-
bate.
Sec. 26. The House of Delegates may in-
quire, on the oath of witnesses, into all com-
plaints, grievances and offences, as the grand |
inquest of the State, and may commit any
person for any crime to the public jail, there
to remain until discharged by due course of
law; they may examine and pass all accounts
of the State, relating either to the collection
or expenditure of the revenue, and appoint
auditors to state and adjust the same; they
may call for all public or official papers and
records, and send for persons whom they
may judge necessary in the course of their
inquiries concerning affairs relating to the
public interest, and may direct all office bonds
which shall be made payable to the State, to
be sued for any breach of duty.
Sec. 27. In case of death, disqualification,
resignation, refusal to act, expulsion or re-
moval from the county or city for which he
shall have been elected, of any person who
shall have been chosen as a Delegate or Sena-
tor, or in case of a tie between two or more
such qualified persons, a warrant of election
shall be issued by the Speaker of the House
of Delegates or President of the Senate, as
the case may be, for the election of another
person in his place, of which election not less
than ten days' notice shall begiven, exclusive
of the day of the publication of the notice
and of the day of election; and in case of
such resignation or refusal to act being com-
municated in writing to the Governor by the
person making it, or if such death occur
during the legislative recess, and more than
ten days before its termination, it shall be the
duty of the Governor to issue a warrant of
election to supply the vacancy thus created,
in the game manner the said Speaker or Presi-
dent might have done during the session of
the General Assembly; provided, however,
that unless a meeting of the General As-
sembly may intervene, the election thus or-
dered to fill such vacancy shall be held on the
day of the ensuing election for Delegates and
Senators.
Sec. 28. The Senators and Delegates shall
receive a per diem of five dollars, and such
mileage as may be allowed by law, and the
presiding officer of each House shall be al-
lowed an addition of one dollar per day. No
book or other printed matter not appertain-
ing to the business of the session, shall be
purchased or subscribed for for the use of the
members, or be distributed among them at
the public expense.
Sec. 29. No law passed by the General As-
sembly shall take effect until the first day of
June next after the session at which it may be
passed, unless it be otherwise expressly de-
clared therein; and in case any public law is
made to take effect betore the said first day of
June, the General Assembly shall provide for
the immediate publication of the same.
Sec. 30. The General Assembly shall pass
laws for the preservation of the purity of
elections, by the registration of voters, or by
such other means as may bedeemed expedient,
and to make effective the provisions of the |
