Massachusetts Constitution of 1780
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son to a capital or infamous punishment, excepting for the government
of the army and navy, without trial by jury.
xiii.—in criminal prosecution, the verification of facts in the vicinity
where they happen, is one of the greatest securities of the life, liberty, and
property of the citizen.
xiv.—every subject has a right to be secure from all unreasonable
searches, and seizures of his person, his houses, his papers, and all his
possessions. All warrants, therefore, are contrary to this right, if the cause
or foundation of them be not previously supported by oath or affirmation; and if the order in the warrant to a civil officer, to make search in
suspected places, or to arrest one or more suspected persons, or to seize
their property, be not accompanied with a special designation of the persons or objects of search, arrest, or seizure: and no warrant ought to be
issued but in cases, and with the formalities, prescribed by the laws.
xv.—in all controversies concerning property, and in all suits between two or more persons, except in cases in which it has heretofore
been otherways used and practiced, the parties have a right to a trial by
jury; and this method of procedure shall be held sacred, unless, in causes
arising on the high-seas, and such as relate to mariners wages, the legislature shall hereafter find it necessary to alter it.
xvi.—the liberty of the press is essential to the security of freedom in
a state: it ought not, therefore, to be restrained in this Commonwealth.
xvii.—the people have a right to keep and to bear arms for the common defence. And as in time of peace armies are dangerous to liberty,
they ought not to be maintained without the consent of the legislature;
and the military power shall always be held in an exact subordination to
the civil authority, and be governed by it.
xviii.—a frequent recurrence to the fundamental principles of the
constitution, and a constant adherence to those of piety, justice, moderation, temperance, industry, and frugality, are absolutely necessary to preserve the advantages of liberty, and to maintain a free government: The
people ought, consequently, to have a particular attention to all those
principles, in the choice of their officers and representatives: And they
have a right to require of their law-givers and magistrates, an exact and
constant observance of them, in the formation and execution of the laws
necessary for the good administration of the Commonwealth.
xix.—the people have a right, in an orderly and peaceable manner, to