CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO - Initiative

1 CONSTITUTIONOF THESTATE OF NEW MEXICOADOPTED JANUARY 21,1911 PREAMBLEWe, the people of New MEXICO , gratefulto Almighty God for the blessings of lib-erty, in order to secure the advantages of astate government, do ordain and establishthis IName and BoundariesThe name of this STATE is New MEXICO ,and its boundaries are as follows:Beginning at the point where the thirty-seventh parallel of north latitude intersectsthe one hundred and third meridian westfrom Greenwich; thence along said one hun-dred and third meridian to the thirty-secondparallel of north latitude; thence along saidthirty-second parallel to the Rio Grande,1 Article II Bill of Rightsalso known as the Rio Bravo del Norte, as itexisted on the ninth day of September, onethousand eight hundred and fifty; thence,following the main channel of said river, asit existed on the ninth day of September, onethousand eight hundred and fifty, to the par-allel of thirty-one degrees forty-seven min-utes north latitude; thence west one hun-dred miles to a point; thence south to theparallel of thirty-one degrees twenty min-utes north latitude; thence along said par-allel of thirty-one degrees twenty minutes,to the thirty-second meridian of longitudewest from Washington; thence along saidthirty-second meridian to the thirty-seventhparallel of north latitude; thence along saidthirty-seventh parallel to the point of IIBill of Supreme law of the Popular Right of Inherent Rights under Treaty of Guadalupe Right to bear II Bill of Habeas Freedom of Military power subordinate; quartering Searches and Freedom of Trial by jury ; less than unanimous verdictsin civil Bail; excessive fines.

2 Cruel and Indictment and information; grand juries;rights of Self-incrimination; double Freedom of speech and press; Due process; equal protection; sex Retroactive laws; bills of attainder; im-pairment of Eminent Imprisonment for Reserved Victim s 1. [Supreme law of the land.]The STATE of New MEXICO is an insepara-ble part of the federal union, and the con-stitution of the United states is the supremelaw of the II Bill of RightsSec. 2. [Popular sovereignty.]All political power is vested in and de-rived from the people: all government ofright originates with the people, is foundedupon their will and is instituted solely fortheir 3. [Right of self-government.]The people of the STATE have the sole andexclusive right to govern themselves as afree, sovereign and independent 4. [Inherent rights.]All persons are born equally free, andhave certain natural, inherent and inalien-able rights, among which are the rights ofenjoying and defending life and liberty, ofacquiring, possessing and protecting prop-erty, and of seeking and obtaining safety 5.

3 [Rights under Treaty ofGuadalupe Hidalgo preserved.]The rights, privileges and immunities,civil, political and religious guaranteed tothe people of New MEXICO by the Treaty4 Article II Bill of Rightsof Guadalupe Hidalgo shall be 6. [Right to bear arms.]No law shall abridge the right of the cit-izen to keep and bear arms for security anddefense, for lawful hunting and recreationaluse and for other lawful purposes, but noth-ing herein shall be held to permit the carry-ing of concealed weapons. No municipalityor county shall regulate, in any way, an inci-dent of the right to keep and bear arms. (Asamended November 2, 1971 and November2, 1986.)Sec. 7. [Habeas corpus.]The privilege of the writ of habeas corpusshall never be suspended, unless, in caseof rebellion or invasion, the public safetyrequires 8. [Freedom of elections.]All elections shall be free and open, andno power, civil or military, shall at any timeinterfere to prevent the free exercise of theright of II Bill of RightsSec.

4 9. [Military power subordinate;quartering of soldiers.]The military shall always be in strict sub-ordination to the civil power; no soldiershall in time of peace be quartered in anyhouse without the consent of the owner, norin time of war except in the manner pre-scribed by 10. [Searches and seizures.]The people shall be secure in their per-sons, papers, homes and effects, from unrea-sonable searches and seizures, and no war-rant to search any place, or seize any personor thing, shall issue without describing theplace to be searched, or the persons or thingsto be seized, nor without a written showingof probable cause, supported by oath or 11. [Freedom of religion.]Every man shall be free to worship Godaccording to the dictates of his own con-science, and no person shall ever be mo-lested or denied any civil or political rightor privilege on account of his religious opin-ion or mode of religious worship. No person6 Article II Bill of Rightsshall be required to attend any place of wor-ship or support any religious sect or denom-ination; nor shall any preference be given bylaw to any religious denomination or modeof 12.

5 [Trial by jury ; less thanunanimous verdicts in civil cases.]The right of trial by jury as it has hereto-fore existed shall be secured to all and re-main inviolate. In all cases triable in courtsinferior to the district court the jury mayconsist of six. The legislature may providethat verdicts in civil cases may be renderedby less than a unanimous vote of the 13. [Bail; excessive fines; cruel andunusual punishment.]All persons shall, before conviction bebailable by sufficient sureties, except forcapital offenses when the proof is evidentor the presumption great and in situationsin which bail is specifically prohibited bythis section. Excessive bail shall not berequired, nor excessive fines imposed, norcruel and unusual punishment a period of sixty days after the incarcer-7 Article II Bill of Rightsation of the defendant by an order enteredwithin seven days after the incarceration, inthe following instances:A.

6 The defendant is accused of a felonyand has previously been convicted of twoor more felonies, within the STATE , whichfelonies did not arise from the same transac-tion or a common transaction with the caseat bar;B. the defendant is accused of a felonyinvolving the use of a deadly weapon andhas a prior felony conviction, within thestate. The period for incarceration withoutbail may be extended by any period of timeby which trial is delayed by a motion for acontinuance made by or on behalf of the de-fendant. An appeal from an order denyingbail shall be given preference over all othermatters. (As amended November 4, 1980and November 8, 1988.)Sec. 14. [Indictment and information; grand juries; rights of accused.]No person shall be held to answer for acapital, felonious or infamous crime unlesson a presentment or indictment of a grandjury or information filed by a district attor-ney or attorney general or their deputies, ex-8 Article II Bill of Rightscept in cases arising in the militia when inactual service in time of war or public dan-ger.

7 No person shall be so held on informa-tion without having had a preliminary ex-amination before an examining magistrate,or having waived such preliminary grand jury shall be composed of suchnumber, not less than twelve, as may be pre-scribed by law. Citizens only, residing in thecounty for which a grand jury may be con-vened and qualified as prescribed by law,may serve on a grand jury . Concurrencenecessary for the finding of an indictment bya grand jury shall be prescribed by law; pro-vided, such concurrence shall never be byless than a majority of those who composea grand jury , and, provided, at least eightmust concur in finding an indictment when agrand jury is composed of twelve in otherwise prescribed by law a grandjury shall be composed of twelve in num-ber of which eight must concur in findingan indictment. A grand jury shall be con-vened upon order of a judge of a court em-powered to try and determine cases of cap-ital, felonious or infamous crimes at suchtimes as to him shall be deemed necessary,or a grand jury shall be ordered to convene9 Article II Bill of Rightsby such judge upon the filing of a petitiontherefor signed by not less than the greaterof two hundred registered voters or two per-cent of the registered voters of the county, ora grand jury may be convened in any addi-tional manner as may be prescribed by all criminal prosecutions, the accusedshall have the right to appear and defendhimself in person, and by counsel; to de-mand the nature and cause of the accusa-tion; to be confronted with the witnessesagainst him; to have the charge and testi-mony interpreted to him in a language thathe understands.

8 To have compulsory processto compel the attendance of necessary wit-nesses in his behalf, and a speedy public trialby an impartial jury of the county or dis-trict in which the offense is alleged to havebeen committed. (As amended November4, 1924, effective January 1, 1925, Novem-ber 4, 1980, and November 8, 1994.)Sec. 15. [Self-incrimination; doublejeopardy.]No person shall be compelled to testifyagainst himself in a criminal proceeding ,nor shall any person be twice put in jeopardyfor the same offense; and when the indict-10 Article II Bill of Rightsment, information or affidavit upon whichany person is convicted charges different of-fenses or different degrees of the same of-fense and a new trial is granted the accused,he may not again be tried for an offense ordegree of the offense greater than the one ofwhich he was 16. [Treason.]Treason against the STATE shall consistonly in levying war against it, adhering toits enemies, or giving them aid and person shall be convicted of treason un-less on the testimony of two witnesses tothe same overt act, or on confession in 17.

9 [Freedom of speech and press;libel.]Every person may freely speak, write andpublish his sentiments on all subjects, be-ing responsible for the abuse of that right;and no law shall be passed to restrain orabridge the liberty of speech or of the all criminal prosecutions for libels, thetruth may be given in evidence to the jury ;and if it shall appear to the jury that the mat-ter charged as libelous is true and was pub-11 Article II Bill of Rightslished with good motives and for justifiableends, the party shall be 18. [Due process; equal protection;sex discrimination.]No person shall be deprived of life, lib-erty or property without due process of law;nor shall any person be denied equal protec-tion of the laws. Equality of rights underlaw shall not be denied on account of the sexof any person. (As amended November 7,1972, effective July 1, 1973).Sec. 19. [Retroactive laws; bills ofattainder; impairment of contracts.]

10 ]No ex post facto law, bill of attaindernor law impairing the obligation of contractsshall be enacted by the 20. [Eminent domain.]Private property shall not be taken ordamaged for public use without just II Bill of RightsSec. 21. [Imprisonment for debt.]No person shall be imprisoned for debt inany civil 23. [Reserved rights.]The enumeration in this CONSTITUTION ofcertain rights shall not be construed to deny,impair or disparage others retained by 24. [Victim s rights.]A. A victim of arson resulting in bod-ily injury, aggravated arson, aggravatedassault, aggravated battery, dangerous useof explosives, negligent use of a deadlyweapon, murder, voluntary manslaugh-ter, involuntary manslaughter, kidnapping,criminal sexual penetration, criminal sexualcontact of a minor, homicide by vehicle,great bodily injury by vehicle or abandon-ment or abuse of a child or that victim srepresentative shall have the followingrights as provided by law:(1) the right to be treated with fair-ness and respect for the victim s dignityand privacy throughout the criminal justiceprocess;13 Article II Bill of Rights(2) the right to timely disposition of thecase;(3) the right to be reasonably protectedfrom the accused throughout the criminaljustice process;(4) the right to notification of court pro-ceedings;(5) the right to attend all public courtproceedings the accused has the right to at-tend.