Page:Constitution of the state of Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations - 1824.djvu/16

 prived of his life, liberty or property unless by the judgment of his peers, or the law of the land.

7. The person of a debtor, where there is not strong presumption of fraud, ought not to be confined in prison, after he shall have delivered up his property for the benefit of his creditors, in such manner as shall be prescribed by law.

8. Retrospective laws, punishing offences, committed before the existence of such laws, are oppressive and unjust, and ought not to be made.

9. No man in a court of common law, shall be compelled to give evidence against himself.

10. Every man being presumed to be innocent, until pronounced guilty by the law, all acts of severity, that are not necessary to secure an accused person, ought to be repressed.

11. The citizens have a right in a peaceable manner to assemble for their common good, and to apply to those invested with the powers of government, for redress of grievances, or other proper purposes, by petition, address, or remonstrance.

12. The liberty of the press, being essential to the security of freedom in a State, any citizen may publish his sentiments on any subject, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty.

13. The right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate.

14. Private property shall not be taken for public uses, without just compensation.

15. The military power shall always be held in strict subordination to the civil authority.

16. 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 manner to be prescribed by law.

17. Whereas Almighty God hath created the mind free, and all attempts to influence it, by temporal punishments or burthens, or by civil incapacitations, tend to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness; and whereas a principal object of our venerable ancestors, in their migration to this country, and their settlement of this State, was, as they expressed it, to hold forth a lively experiment, that a flourishing civil State may stand, and be best maintained with full liberty in religious concernments: We therefore declare, that no man shall be compelled to frequent, or support, any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor