Sec. 3. The people of the state have the sole and exclusive right to govern themselves as a free, sovereign and independent state.

Sec. 4. All persons are born equally free, and have certain natural, inherent and inalienable rights, among which are the rights of enjoying and defending life and liberty, of acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and of seeking and obtaining safety and happiness.

Sec. 5. The rights, privileges and immunities, civil, political and religious, guaranteed to the people of New Mexico by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo shall be preserved inviolate.

Sec. 6. The people have the right to bear arms for their security and defense, but nothing herein shall be held to permit the carrying of concealed weapons.

Sec, 7. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall never be suspended, unless, in case of rebellion or invasion, the public safety requires it.

Sec. 8. All elections shall be free and open, and no power, civil or military, shall at any time interfere to prevent the free exercise of the right of suffrage.

Sec. 9. The military shall always be in strict subordina tion to the civil power; no soldier shall in time of peace be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war except in the manner prescribed by law.

Sec. 10. The people shall be secure in their persons, papers, homes and effects, from unreasonable searches and seizures, and no warrant to search any place, or seize any person or thing, shall issue without describing the place to be searched, or the persons or things to be seized, nor without a written showing of probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation.

Sec. 11. Every man shall be free to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience, and no person shall ever be molested or denied any civil or political right or privilege on account of his religious opinion or mode of religious worship. No person shall be required to attend any place of worship or support any religious sect or denomina

tion; nor shall any preference be given by law to any religious denomination or mode of worship.

Sec. 12. The right of trial by jury as it has heretofore existed shall be secure to all and remain inviolate. In all cases triable in courts inferior to the district court the jury may consist of six. The legislature may provide that verdicts in civil cases may be rendered by less than a unanimous vote of the jury.

Sec. 13. All persons shall be bailable by sufficient sureties, except for capital offenses when the proof is evident or the presumption great. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Sec. 14. No person shall be held to answer for a capital, felonious or infamous crime unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the militia when in actual service in time of war or public dangerIn all criminal prosecutions the accused shall have the right to appear and defend himself in person, and by counsel; to demand the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have the charge and testimony interpreted to him in a language that he understands; to have compulsory process to compel the attendance of necessary witnesses in his behalf, and a speedy public trial by an impartial jury of the county or district in which the offense is alleged to have been committed.

Sec. 15. No person shall be compelled to testify against himself in a criminal proceeding, nor shall any person be twice put in jeopardy for the same offense; and when the indictment, information or affidavit upon which any person is convicted charges different offenses or different degrees of the same offense and a new trial is granted the accused, he may not again be tried for an offense or degree of the offense greater than the one of which he was convicted.

Sec. 16, Treason against the state shall consist only in levying war against it, adhering to its enemies, or giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of

treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.

Sec. 17. Every person may freely speak, write and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right; and no law shall be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech or of the press. In all criminal prosecutions for libels, the truth may be given in evidence to the jury; and if it shall appear to the jury that the matter charged as libelous is true and was published with good motives and for justifiable ends, the party shall be acquitted.

Sec. 18. No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law; nor shall any person be denied the equal protection of the laws.

Sec. 19. No ex-post-facto law, bill of attainder, nor law impairing the obligation of contracts shall be enacted by the legislature.

Sec. 20. Private property shall not be taken or damaged for public use without just compensation.

Sec. 21. No person shall be imprisoned for debt in any civil action.

Sec. 22. No distinction shall ever be made by law between resident aliens and citizens in regard to the ownership or descent of property.

Sec. 23. The enumeration in this constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny, impair or disparage others retained by the people.

ARTICLE III.

DISTRIBUTION OF POWERS.

Section 1. The powers of the government of this state are divided into three distinct departments, the Legislative, Executive and Judicial, and no person or collection of persons charged with the excercise of powers properly belonging to one of these departments, shall excercise any powers properly belonging to either of the others, except as in this constitution otherwise expressly directed or permitted,

ARTICLE IV.

LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT.

Section 1. The legislative power shall be vested in a senate and house of representatives which shall be designated the Legislature of the State of New Mexico, and shall hold its sessions at the seat of government.

The people reserve the power to disapprove, suspend and annul any law enacted by the legislature, except general appropriation laws; laws providing for the preservation of the public peace, health or safety; for the payment of the public debt or interest thereon, or the creation or funding of the same, except as in this constitution otherwise provided; for the maintenance of the public schools or state institutions; and local or special laws. Petitions disapproving any law other than those above excepted, enacted at the last preceding session of the legislature, shall be filed with the secretary of state not less than four months prior to the next general election. Such petitions shall be signed by not less than ten per centum of the qualified electors of each of three-fourths of the counties and in the aggregate by not less than ten per centum of the qualified electors of the state, as shown by the total number of votes cast at the last preceding general election. The question of the approval or rejection of such law shall be submitted by the secretary of state to the electorate at the next general election; and if a majority of the legal votes cast thereon, and not less than forty per centum of the total number of legal votes cast at such general election, be cast for the rejection of such law, it shall be annulled and thereby repealed with the same effect as if the legislature had then repealed it, and such repeal shall revive any law repealed by the act so annulled; otherwise, it shall remain in force unless subsequently repealed by the legislature. such petition or petitions be signed by not less than twentyfive per centum of the qualified electors under each of the foregoing conditions, and be filed with the secretary of state within ninety days after the adjournment of the session of

If

the legislature at which such law was enacted, the operation thereof shall be thereupon suspended and the question of its approval or rejection shall be likewise submitted to a vote at the next ensuing general election. If a majority of the votes cast thereon and not less than forty per centum of the total number of votes cast at such general election be cast for its rejection, it shall be thereby annulled; otherwise, it shall go into effect upon publication of the certificate of the secretary of state declaring the result of the vote thereon. It shall be a felony for any person to sign any such petition with any name other than his own, or to sign his name more than once for the same measure, or to sign such petition when he is not a qualified elector in the county specified in such petition; provided, that nothing herein shall be construed to pohibit the writing thereon of the name of any person who cannot write, and who signs the same with his mark. The legislature shall enact laws necessary for the effective exercise of the power hereby reserved.

Sec. 2. In addition to the powers herein enumerated, the legislature shall have all powers necessary to the legislature of a free state.

Sec. 3. The senate shall consist of twenty-four, and the house of representatives of forty-nine members, who shall be qualified electors of their respective districts and residents of New Mexico for at least three years next preceding their election. Senators shall not be less than twenty-five years, and representatives not less than twenty-one years of age at the time of their election. No person shall be eligible to the legislature who, at the time of qualifying, holds any office of trust or profit under the state, county or national government, except notaries public and officers of the militia who receive no salary.

Sec. 4. Members of the legislature shall be elected as follows: Senators for the term of four years, and members of the house of representatives for the term of two years. They shall be elected on the day provided by law for holding the general election of state officers or representatives in