               CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF KENTUCKY
                       (as amended to 1980)

                              PREAMBLE

   We,  the people of the Commonwealth of Kentucky,  grateful to Almighty God 
for the civil,  political and religious liberties we enjoy,  and invoking the 
continuance of these blessings, do ordain and establish this Constitution.

                           BILL OF RIGHTS

   That the great and essential principles of liberty and free government may 
be recognized and established, we declare that:

Section  1.    Rights  of  life,  liberty,  worship,  pursuit of  safety  and 
happiness,  free  speech,   acquiring  and  protecting  property,   peaceable 
assembly, redress of grievances, bearing arms. All men are,  by nature,  free 
and equal, and have certain inherent and inalienable rights,  among which may 
be reckoned:

First:   The right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties.

Second:   The  right of worshipping Almighty God according to the dictates of 
their conscience.

Third:   The right of seeking and pursuing their safety and happiness.

Fourth:  The right of freely communicating their thoughts and opinions.

Fifth:   The right of acquiring and protecting property.

Sixth:    The  right  of assembling together in a peaceable manner for  their 
common  good,  and of applying to those invested with power of government for 
redress  of  grievances or other proper purposes,  by  petition,  address  or 
remonstrance.

Seventh:  The  right to bear arms in defense of themselves and of the  State, 
subject to the power of the General Assembly to enact laws to prevent persons 
from carrying concealed weapons.

Section  2.    Absolute  and arbitrary power denied.  Absolute and  arbitrary 
power  over  the lives,  liberty and property of freemen exists nowhere in  a 
republic, not even in the largest majority.

Section  3.    Men are equal;  no exclusive grant except for public services; 
property not to be exempted from taxation;  grants revocable.  All men,  when 
they form a social compact,  are equal;  and no grant of exclusive,  separate 
public  emoluments  or  privileges shall be made to any man or  set  of  men, 
except  in consideration of public services;  but no property shall be exempt 
from  taxation except as provided in this Constitution,  and every grant of a 
franchise,  privilege  or  exemption,  shall  remain subject  to  revocation, 
alteration or amendment.

Section 4.   Power inherent in the people; right to alter,  reform or abolish 
government. All power is inherent in the people, and all free governments are 
founded on their authority and instituted for their peace, safety,  happiness 
and the protection of property. For the advancement of these ends,  they have 
at  all  times  an inalienable and indefeasible right  to  alter,  reform  or 
abolish their government in such manner as they may deem proper.

Section 5.   Right of religious freedom. No preference shall ever be given by 
law  to any religious sect,  society or denomination;  nor to any  particular 
creed,  mode  of  worship or system of ecclesiastical polity;  nor shall  any 
person  be  compelled to attend any place of worship,  to contribute  to  the 
erection or maintenance of any such place, or to the salary or support of any 
minister or religion; nor shall any man be compelled to send his child to any 
school  to  which he may be conscientiously opposed;  and the  civil  rights, 
privileges  or  capacities of no person shall be taken away,  or  in  anywise 
diminished  or  enlarged,  on  account  of his belief  or  disbelief  of  any 
religious  tenet,  dogma or teaching.  No human authority shall,  in any case 
whatever, control or interfere with the rights of conscience.

Section 6.    Elections to be free and equal..All elections shall be free and 
equal.

Section 7.   Right of trial by jury.  The ancient mode of trial by jury shall 
be  held  sacred,  and the right thereof remain inviolate,  subject  to  such 
modifications as may be authorized by this Constitution.

Section  8.    Freedom of speech and of the press.  Printing presses shall be 
free to every person who undertakes to examine the proceedings of the General 
Assembly  or any branch of government,  and no shall ever be made to restrain 
the right thereof.  Every person may freely and fully speak,  write and print 
on any subject, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty.

Section  9.    Truth  may be given in evidence in prosecution for  publishing 
matters  proper  for public information;  jury to try law and facts in  libel 
prosecutions. In prosecutions for the publication of papers investigating the 
official  conduct of officers or men in public capacity,  or where the matter 
published is proper for public information, the truth thereof may be given in 
evidence;  and  in all indictments for libel the jury shall have the right to 
determine  the  law and the facts,  under the direction of the court,  as  in 
other cases.

Section  10.   Security  from search and seizure;  conditions of issuance  of 
warrants.  The  people shall be secure in their persons,  houses,  papers and 
possessions,  from  unreasonable searches and seizure;  and no warrant  shall 
issue to search any place,  or seize any person or thing,  without describing 
them  as  nearly as may be,  nor without probable cause supported by oath  or 
affirmation.

Section 11.  Rights of accused in criminal prosecution;  change of venue.  In 
all  criminal  prosecutions the accused has the right to be heard by  himself 
and counsel; to demand the nature and cause of the accusation against him; to 
meet the witnesses face to face, and to have compulsory process for obtaining 
witnesses  in  his  favor.  He cannot be compelled to give  evidence  against 
himself, nor can he be deprived of his life,  liberty or property,  unless by 
the  judgement  of his peers or the law of the land;  and in prosecutions  by 
indictments  or  information,  he  shall  have a speedy public  trial  by  an 
impartial  jury  of the vicinage;  but the General Assembly may provide by  a 
general law for a change of venue in such prosecutions for both the defendant 
and the Commonwealth,  the change to be made to the most convenient county in 
which a fair trial can be obtained.

Section  12.   Indictable  offense  not  to  be  prosecuted  by  information; 
exceptions. No person, for an indictable offense,  shall be proceeded against 
criminally  by  information,  except  in cases arising in the land  or  naval 
forces, or in the militia,  when in actual service,  in time of war or public 
danger, or by leave of court for oppression or misdemeanor in office.

Section 13.  Double jeopardy; property not to be taken for public use without 
just  compensation.  No person shall,  for the same offense,  be twice put in 
jeopardy  of  his  life or limb,  nor shall any man's property  be  taken  or 
applied to public use without just compensation being previously made to him.

Section 14.   Right of judicial remedy for injury;  speedy trial.  All courts 
shall be open,  and every person for an injury done him in his lands,  goods, 
person or reputation,  shall have remedy by due course of law,  and right and 
justice administered without sale, denial or delay.

Section  15.   Laws  to be suspended only by General Assembly.  No  power  to 
suspend  laws  shall  be  exercised unless by  the  General  Assembly.or  its 
authority.

Section 16.  Right to bail; habeas corpus. All prisoners shall be bailable by 
sufficient securities,  unless for capital offenses when the proof is evident 
or  the  presumption great:  and the privilege of the writ of  habeas  corpus 
shall  not be suspended unless when,  in case of rebellion or  invasion,  the 
public safety may require it.

Section  17.   Excessive  bail  or fine,  or  cruel  punishment,  prohibited. 
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed,  nor cruel 
punishment inflicted.

Section 18.  Imprisonment for debt restricted. The person of a debtor,  where 
there  is not strong presumption of fraud,  shall not be continued in  prison 
after  delivering  up  his estate for the benefit of his  creditors  in  such 
manner as shall be prescribed by law.

Section  19.   Ex post facto law or law impairing the obligation of  contract 
forbidden.  No  ex  post facto law,  nor any law impairing the obligation  of 
contracts, shall be enacted.

Section 20.  Attainder, operation of restricted. No person shall be attainted 
of  treason  or felony by the General Assembly,  and no attainder shall  work 
corruption of blood, nor, except during the life of the offender,  forfeiture 
of estate to the Commonwealth.
Section  21.   Descent  in case of suicide or casualty.  The estate  of  such 
persons as shall destroy their own lives shall descend or vest as in cases of 
natural death; and if any person shall be killed by casualty,  there shall be 
no forfeiture by reason thereof.

Section  22.   Standing  armies restricted;  military subordinate  to  civil; 
quartering soldiers restricted. No standing army shall, in time of peace,  be 
maintained  without  the consent of the General Assembly;  and  the  military 
shall, in all cases and at all times, be in strict subordination to the civil 
power;  nor  shall any soldier,  in time of peace,  be quartered in any house 
without  the  consent of the owner,  nor in time of war,  except in a  manner 
prescribed by law.

Section 23.   No office of nobility or hereditary distinction,  or for longer 
than  a  term  of years.  The General Assembly shall not grant any  title  of 
nobility or hereditary distinction,  nor create any office the appointment of 
which shall be for a longer time than a term of years.

Section  24.   Emigration to be free.  Emigration from the state shall not be 
prohibited.

Section  25.   Slavery  and  involuntary  servitude  forbidden.  Slavery  and 
involuntary  servitude in this State are forbidden,  except as punishment for 
crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.

Section  26.   General  powers subordinate to Bill of Rights;  laws  contrary 
thereto are void.  To guard against transgression of the high powers which we 
have  delegated,  We  Declare  that  every thing in this Bill  of  Rights  is 
excepted  out of the general powers of government,  and shall forever  remain 
inviolate;  and all laws contrary thereto,  or contrary to this Constitution, 
shall be void.
