Page:Constitution of the state of Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations - 1824.djvu/6

This page has been validated.

4

ted, or the emoluments of which shall have been increased, during the time for which he was elected.—No member of the General Assembly shall take any fees, be of counsel, or act as an advocate before either branch of the Legislature, under penalty of forfeiting his seat, upon due proof thereof.

3. There shall be one session of the General Assembly holden annually at Newport, on the first Tuesday of May; and one other session, holden alternately at Providence and South-Kingstown, on the second Monday of January, in each year; and the adjournments from said sessions, respectively, shall be holden at East-Greenwich and Bristol, alternately.

4. The Senators and Representatives shall, in all cases of civil process, be privileged from arrest, during the session of the General Assembly, and for two days before the commencement, and two days after the termination of any session thereof; and for any speech in debate, in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other place.

5. Each House shall be the judge of the elections and qualifications of its own members; and the majority shall constitute a quorum to do 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 penalties as each House may prescribe.

6. Each House may determine the rules of proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two thirds of the members elected, expel a member, but not a second time for the same cause.

7. Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and publish the same, when required by one fifth of its members. The yeas and nays of the members of either House shall, at the desire of one fifth of those present, be entered on the journal.

8. Every bill which shall have passed both Houses of the General Assembly, shall be presented to the Governor. If he approve of it, he shall sign and transmit it to the Secretary; but if not, he shall return it to the House, in which it shall have originated, with his objections thereto, which shall be entered on their journal at large. The House shall then proceed to reconsider the bill; and if, after such reconsidera-