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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
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