PART the Second.
The Frame of Government.
THE people inhabiting the territory formerly called the Province of Maſſachuſetts-Bay, do hereby ſolemnly and mutually agree with each other, to form themſelves into a free, ſovereign, and independent body-politic or ſtate, by the name of THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.
chapter i.
The Legiſlative Power.
section i.
The General Court.
Art. I. The department of legiſlation ſhall be formed by two branches, a Senate and Houſe of Repreſentatives: each of which ſhall have a negative on the other.
The legiſlative body ſhall aſſemble every year on the laſt Wedneſday in May, and at ſuch other times as they ſhall judge neceſſary; and ſhall diſſolve and be diſſolved on the day next preceeding the ſaid laſt Wedneſay in May; and ſhall be ſtiled, The General Court of Massachusetts.
II. No bill or reſolve of the Senate or Houſe of Repreſentatives ſhall become a law, and have force as ſuch, until it ſhall have been laid before the Gover-
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