INDIANA

 

CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF INDIANA
 
 
Approved in Convention at Indianapolis,
February 10, 1851
Adopted by the Electorate, effective November 1, 1851
As Amended through July 1, 1993 
   
PREAMBLE
 
     _TO THE END_, that justice be established, public order maintained,
     and liberty perpetuated; WE, the People of the State of Indiana,
     grateful to ALMIGHTY GOD for the free exercise of the right to
     choose our own form of government, do ordain this Constitution.
     
ARTICLE 1. Bill of Rights
 
  Section 1. Inherent and inalienable rights
  
   Section 1. WE DECLARE, That all people are created equal; that they
   are endowed by their CREATOR with certain inalienable rights; that
   among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that all
   power is inherent in the People; and that all free governments are,
   and of right ought to be, founded on their authority, and instituted
   for their peace, safety, and well-being. For the advancement of these
   ends, the People have, at all times, an indefeasible right to alter
   and reform their government.
   
    (History: As Amended November 6, 1984).
    
  Section 2. Natural right to worship
  
   Section 2. All people shall be secured in the natural right to worship
   ALMIGHTY GOD, according to the dictates of their own consciences.
   
    (History: As Amended November 6, 1984).
    
  Section 3. Freedom of religious opinions and rights of conscience
  
   Section 3. No law shall, in any case whatever, control the free
   exercise and enjoyment of religious opinions, or interfere with the
   rights of conscience.
   
  Section 4. Freedom of religion
  
   Section 4. No preference shall be given, by law, to any creed,
   religious society, or mode of worship; and no person shall be
   compelled to attend, erect, or support, any place of worship, or to
   maintain any ministry, against his consent.
   
    (History: As Amended November 6, 1984).
    
  Section 5. Religious test for office
  
   Section 5. No religious test shall be required, as a qualification for
   any office of trust or profit.
   
  Section 6. Public money for benefit of religious or theological institutions
  
   Section 6. No money shall be drawn from the treasury, for the benefit
   of any religious or theological institution.
   
  Section 7. Witness competent regardless of religious opinions
   
   Section 7. No person shall be rendered incompetent as a witness, in
   consequence of his opinions on matters of religion.
   
  Section 8. Oath or affirmation, administration
  
   Section 8. The mode of administering an oath or affirmation, shall be
   such as may be most consistent with, and binding upon, the conscience
   of the person, to whom such oath or affirmation may be administered.
   
  Section 9. Right to free thought, speech, writing and printing; abuse of
  right
  
   Section 9. No law shall be passed, restraining the free interchange of
   thought and opinion, or restricting the right to speak, write, or
   print, freely, on any subject whatever: but for the abuse of that
   right, every person shall be responsible.
   
  Section 10. Truth in prosecutions for libel
  
   Section 10. In all prosecutions for libel, the truth of the matters
   alleged to be libellous, may be given in justification.
   
  Section 11. Unreasonable search or seizure; warrant
  
   Section 11. The right of the people to be secure in their persons,
   houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable search or seizure,
   shall not be violated; and no warrant shall issue, but upon probable
   cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing
   the place to be searched, and the person or thing to be seized.
   
  Section 12. Courts open; remedy by due course of law; administration of
  justice
  
   Section 12. All courts shall be open; and every person, for injury
   done to him in his person, property, or reputation, shall have remedy
   by due course of law. Justice shall be administered freely, and
   without purchase; completely, and without denial; speedily, and
   without delay.
   
    (History: As Amended November 6, 1984).
    
  Section 13. Rights of accused in criminal prosecutions
  
   Section 13. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall have the
   right to a public trial, by an impartial jury, in the county in which
   the offense shall have been committed; to be heard by himself and
   counsel; to demand the nature and cause of the accusation against him,
   and to have a copy thereof; to meet the witnesses face to face, and to
   have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor.
   
  Section 14. Double jeopardy and self-incrimination
  
   Section 14. No person shall be put in jeopardy twice for the same
   offense. No person, in any criminal prosecution, shall be compelled to
   testify against himself.
   
  Section 15. Persons arrested or confined, treatment
  
   Section 15. No person arrested, or confined in jail, shall be treated
   with unnecessary rigor.
   
  Section 16. Excessive bail or fines and cruel or unusual punishment
  
   Section 16. Excessive bail shall not be required. Excessive fines
   shall not be imposed. Cruel and unusual punishments shall not be
   inflicted. All penalties shall be proportioned to the nature of the
   offense.
   
  Section 17. Right to bail and unbailable offenses
  
   Section 17. Offenses, other than murder or treason, shall be bailable
   by sufficient sureties. Murder or treason shall not be bailable, when
   the proof is evident, or the presumption strong.
   
  Section 18. Penal code founded on reformation
  
   Section 18. The penal code shall be founded on the principles of
   reformation, and not of vindictive justice.
   
  Section 19. Right of jury to determine law and facts in criminal cases
  
   Section 19. In all criminal cases whatever, the jury shall have the
   right to determine the law and the facts.
   
  Section 20. Trial by jury in civil cases
  
   Section 20. In all civil cases, the right of trial by jury shall
   remain inviolate.
   
  Section 21. Right to compensation for services and property
  
   Section 21. No person's particular services shall be demanded, without
   just compensation. No person's property shall be taken by law, without
   just compensation; nor, except in case of the State, without such
   compensation first assessed and tendered.
   
    (History: As Amended November 6, 1984).
    
  Section 22. Privileges of debtor; imprisonment for.
  
   Section 22. The privilege of the debtor to enjoy the necessary
   comforts of life, shall be recognized by wholesome laws, exempting a
   reasonable amount of property from seizure or sale, for the payment of
   any debt or liability hereafter contracted: and there shall be no
   imprisonment for debt, except in case of fraud.
   
  Section 23. Equal privileges
  
   Section 23. The General Assembly shall not grant to any citizen, or
   class of citizens, privileges or immunities, which, upon the same
   terms, shall not equally belong to all citizens.
   
  Section 24. Ex post facto laws and impairing contracts
  
   Section 24. No ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of
   contracts, shall ever be passed.
   
  Section 25. Effect of laws
  
   Section 25. No law shall be passed, the taking effect of which shall
   be made to depend upon any authority, except as provided in this
   Constitution.
   
  Section 26. Suspension of operation of law
  
   Section 26. The operation of the laws shall never be suspended, except
   by the authority of the General Assembly.
   
  Section 27. Suspension of habeas corpus; exception
  
   Section 27. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be
   suspended, except in case of rebellion or invasion; and then, only if
   the public safety demand it.
   
  Section 28. Treason against state; definition
  
   Section 28. Treason against the State shall consist only in levying
   war against it, and in giving aid and comfort to its enemies.
   
  Section 29. Treason against state; proof
  
   Section 29. No person shall be convicted of treason, except on the
   testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or upon his
   confession in open court.
   
  Section 30. Conviction; effect
  
   Section 30. No conviction shall work corruption of blood or forfeiture
   of estate.
   
  Section 31. Right to assemble, to instruct and to petition
  
   Section 31. No law shall restrain any of the inhabitants of the State
   from assembling together in a peaceable manner, to consult for their
   common good; nor from instructing their representatives; nor from
   applying to the General Assembly for redress of grievances.
   
  Section 32. Bearing arms
  
   Section 32. The people shall have a right to bear arms, for the
   defense of themselves and the State.
   
  Section 33. Military subordinate to civil power
  
   Section 33. The military shall be kept in strict subordination to the
   civil power.
   
  Section 34. Quartering of soldiers
  
   Section 34. No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any
   house, without the consent of the owner; nor, in time of war, but in a
   manner to be prescribed by law.
   
  Section 35. Titles of nobility and hereditary distinctions
  
   Section 35. The General Assembly shall not grant any title of
   nobility, nor confer hereditary distinctions.
   
  Section 36. Freedom of emigration
  
   Section 36. Emigration from the State shall not be prohibited.
   
  Section 37. Slavery and involuntary servitude
  
   Section 37. There shall be neither slavery, nor involuntary servitude,
   within the State, otherwise than for the punishment of crimes, whereof
   the party shall have been duly convicted.
   
    (History: As Amended November 6, 1984).
 
ARTICLE 2. Suffrage and Election
 
  Section 1. Free and equal elections
  
   Section 1. All elections shall be free and equal.
   
  Section 2. Voting qualifications
  
   Section 2. Every citizen of the United States, of the age of eighteen
   (18) years or more, who has been a resident of a precinct thirty (30)
   days immediately preceding such election, shall be entitled to vote in
   that precinct.
   
    (History: As Amended March 14, 1881; September 6, 1921;
    
   November 2, 1976; November 6, 1984).
   
  Section 3. Members of armed forces; residence
  
   Section 3. No member of the armed forces of the United States, or of
   their allies, shall be deemed to have acquired a residence in the
   State, in consequence of having been stationed within the same; nor
   shall any such person have the right to vote.
   
    (History: As Amended November 6. 1981).
    
  Section 4. Residence; absence from state
  
   Section 4. No person shall be deemed to have lost his residence in the
   State, by reason of his absence, either on business of this State or
   of the United States.
   
  Section 5. Repealed
  
   (Repealed March 14, 1881).
   
  Section 6. Disqualification for bribery
  
   Section 6. Every person shall be disqualified from holding office,
   during the term for which he may have been elected, who shall have
   given or offered a bribe, threat, or reward, to procure his election.
   
  Section 7. Repealed
  
   (Repealed November 6, 1984).
   
  Section 8. Conviction of infamous crime
  
   Section 8. The General Assembly shall have power to deprive of the
   right of suffrage, and to render ineligible, any person convicted of
   an infamous crime.
   
  Section 9. Holder of lucrative office; eligibility
  
   Section 9. No person holding a lucrative office or appointment under
   the United States or under this State is eligible to a seat in the
   General Assembly; and no person may hold more than one lucrative
   office at the same time, except as expressly permitted in this
   Constitution. Offices in the militia to which there is attached no
   annual salary shall not be deemed lucrative.
   
    (History: As Amended November 6, 1984).
    
  Section 10. Collectors and holders of public money; eligibility
  
   Section 10. No person who may hereafter be a collector or holder of
   public moneys, shall be eligible to any office of trust or profit,
   until he shall have accounted for, and paid over, according to law,
   all sums for which he may be liable.
   
  Section 11. Pro tempore appointment; term of office
  
   Section 11. In all cases in which it is provided. that an office shall
   not be filled by the same person more than a certain number of years
   continuously, an appointment pro tempore shall not be reckoned a part
   of that term.
   
  Section 12. Freedom from arrest of electors; exceptions
  
   Section 12. In all cases, except treason, felony, and breach of the
   peace, electors shall be free from arrest, in going to elections,
   during their attendance there, and in returning from the same.
   
  Section 13. Election methods
  
   Section 13. All elections by the People shall be by ballot; and all
   elections by the General Assembly, or by either branch thereof, shall
   be _viva voce_.
   
  Section 14. Time of elections; judges of courts; registration of voters
  
   Section 14. All general elections shall be held on the first Tuesday
   after the first Monday in November, but township elections may be held
   at such time as may be provided by law: _Provided_, That the General
   Assembly may provide by law for the election of all judges of courts
   of general and appellate jurisdiction, by an election to be held for
   such officers only, at which time no other officer shall be voted for;
   and shall also provide for the registration of all persons entitled to
   vote.
   
    (History: As Amended March 14, 1881).
 
ARTICLE 3. Distribution of Powers
 
  Section 1. Three separate departments
  
   Section 1. The powers of the Government are divided into three
   separate departments; the Legislative, the Executive including the
   Administrative, and the Judicial: and no person, charged with official
   duties under one of these departments, shall exercise any of the
   functions of another, except as in this Constitution expressly
   provided.
                                       
ARTICLE 4. Legislative
 
  Section 1. General assembly; composition; style of law