Maine Const. art. 10, § 5 — Maine Constitution / Article 10 / Section 5
Persons in office to continue to hold their offices; part of a Law of
Status: in_force

Section 5. Persons in office to continue to hold their offices; part of a Law of 
Massachusetts made a part of the constitution. All officers provided for in the sixth 
section of an act of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, passed on the nineteenth day of 
June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and nineteen, entitled "An act 
relating to the Separation of the District of Maine from Massachusetts Proper, and 
forming the same into a separate and Independent State," shall continue in office as 
therein provided; and the following provisions of said act shall be a part of this 
Constitution, subject however to be modified or annulled as therein is prescribed, and not 
otherwise, to wit: 
"SECT. 1 Whereas it has been represented to this Legislature, that a majority of 
the people of the District of Maine are desirous of establishing a separate and 
Independent Government within said District: Therefore, 
"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court 
assembled, and by the authority of the same, That the consent of this Commonwealth be, 
and the same is hereby given, that the District of Maine may be formed and erected into a 
separate and Independent State, if the people of the said District shall in the manner, and 
by the majority hereinafter mentioned, express their consent and agreement thereto, upon 
the following terms and conditions: And, provided the Congress of the United States shall 
give its consent thereto, before the fourth day of March next: which terms and conditions 
are as follows, viz. 
"First. All the lands and buildings belonging to the Commonwealth, within 
Massachusetts Proper, shall continue to belong to said Commonwealth, and all the lands 
belonging to the Commonwealth, within the District of Maine, shall belong, the one half 
thereof to the said Commonwealth, and the other half thereof, to the State to be formed 
within the said District, to be divided as is hereinafter mentioned; and the lands within the 
said District, which shall belong to the said Commonwealth, shall be free from taxation, 
while the title to the said lands remains in the Commonwealth; and the rights of the 
Commonwealth to their lands, within said District, and the remedies for the recovery 
thereof, shall continue the same, within the proposed State, and in the Courts thereof, as 
they now are within the said Commonwealth, and in the Courts thereof; for which 
purposes, and for the maintenance of its rights, and recovery of its lands, the said 
Commonwealth shall be entitled to all other proper and legal remedies, and may appear 
in the Courts of the proposed State and in the Courts of the United States, holden therein; 
and all rights of action for, or entry into lands, and of actions upon bonds, for the breach 
of the performance of the condition of settling duties, so called, which have accrued, or 
may accrue, shall remain in this Commonwealth, to be enforced, commuted, released, or 
otherwise disposed of, in such manner as this Commonwealth may hereafter, 
determine: Provided however, That, whatever this Commonwealth may hereafter receive 
or obtain on account thereof if any thing, shall, after deducting all reasonable charges 
relating thereto, be divided, one third part thereof to the new State, and two third parts 
thereof to this Commonwealth. 
"Second. All the arms which have been received by this Commonwealth from the 
United States, under the law of Congress, entitled, "An act making provision for arming 

and equipping the whole body of militia of the United States, passed April the twenty 
third, one thousand eight hundred and eight, shall, as soon as the said District shall 
become a separate State, be divided between the two States, in proportion to the returns 
of the militia, according to which, the said arms have been received from the United 
States, as aforesaid. 
"Third. All money, stock, or other proceeds, hereafter derived from the United 
States, on account of the claim of this Commonwealth, for disbursements made, and 
expenses incurred, for the defence of the State, during the late war with Great Britain, 
shall be received by this Commonwealth, and when received, shall be divided between 
the two States, in the proportion of two thirds to this Commonwealth, and one third to the 
new State. 
"Fourth. All other property, of every description, belonging to the 
Commonwealth shall be holden and receivable by the same, as a fund and security, for all 
debts, annuities, and Indian subsidies, or claims due by said Commonwealth; and within 
two years after the said District shall have become a separate State, the Commissioners to 
be appointed, as hereinafter provided, if the said States cannot otherwise agree, shall 
assign a just portion of the productive property, so held by said Commonwealth as an 
equivalent and indemnification to said Commonwealth, for all such debts, annuities, or 
Indian subsidies or claims, which may then remain due, or unsatisfied: and all the surplus 
of the said property, so holden, as aforesaid, shall be divided between the said 
Commonwealth and the said District of Maine, in the proportion of two thirds to the said 
Commonwealth, and one third to the said District—and if, in the judgment of the said 
Commissioners, the whole of said property, so held, as a fund and security, shall not be 
sufficient indemnification for the purpose, the said District shall be liable for and shall 
pay to said Commonwealth, one third of the deficiency. 
"Fifth. The new State shall, as soon as the necessary arrangements can be made 
for that purpose, assume and perform all the duties and obligations of this 
Commonwealth, towards the Indians within said District of Maine, whether the same 
arise from treaties, or otherwise; and for this purpose shall obtain the assent of said 
Indians, and their release to this Commonwealth of claims and stipulations arising under 
the treaty at present existing between the said Commonwealth and said Indians; and as an 
indemnification to such new State, therefor, this Commonwealth, when such 
arrangements shall be completed, and the said duties and obligations assumed, shall pay 
to said new State, the value of thirty thousand dollars, in manner following, viz.: The said 
Commissioners shall set off by metes and bounds, so much of any part of the land, within 
the said District, falling to this Commonwealth, in the division of the public lands, 
hereinafter provided for, as in their estimation shall be of the value of thirty thousand 
dollars; and this Commonwealth shall, thereupon, assign the same to the said new State, 
or in lieu thereof, may pay the sum of thirty thousand dollars at its election; which 
election of the said Commonwealth, shall be made within one year from the time that 
notice of the doings of the Commissioners, on this subject, shall be made known to the 
Governor and Council; and if not made within that time, the election shall be with the 
new State. 
"Sixth. Commissioners, with the powers and for the purposes mentioned in this 
act, shall be appointed in manner following: The Executive authority of each State shall 
appoint two; and the four so appointed, or the major part of them, shall appoint two more; 

but if they cannot agree in the appointment, the Executive of each State shall appoint one 
in addition; not however, in that case, to be a citizen of its own State. And any vacancy 
happening with respect to the Commissioners, shall be supplied in the manner provided 
for their original appointment; and, in addition to the powers herein before given to said 
Commissioners, they shall have full power and authority to divide all the public lands 
within the District, between the respective States, in equal shares, or moieties, in 
severalty, having regard to quantity, situation and quality; they shall determine what 
lands shall be surveyed and divided, from time to time, the expense of which surveys, and 
of the Commissioners, shall be borne equally by the two States. They shall keep fair 
records of their doings, and of the surveys made by their direction, copies of which 
records, authenticated by them, shall be deposited from time to time, in the archives of 
the respective States; transcripts of which, properly certified, may he admitted in 
evidence, in all questions touching the subject to which they relate. The Executive 
authority of each State may revoke the power of either or both its commissioners; having, 
however, first appointed a substitute, or substitutes, and may fill any vacancy happening 
with respect to its own Commissioners; four of said Commissioners shall constitute a 
quorum, for the transaction of business; their decision shall be final, upon all subjects 
within their cognizance. In case said commission shall expire, the same not having been 
completed, and either State shall request the renewal or filling up of the same, it shall be 
renewed or filled up in the same manner, as is herein provided for filling the same, in the 
first instance, and with the like powers; and if either State shall, after six months' notice, 
neglect or refuse to appoint its Commissioners, the other may fill up the whole 
commission. 
"Seventh. All grants of land, franchises, immunities, corporate or other rights, and 
all contracts for, or grants of land not yet located which have been or may be made by the 
said Commonwealth, before the separation of said District shall take place, and having or 
to have effect within the said District, shall continue in full force, after the said District 
shall become a separate State. But the grant which has been made to the President and 
Trustees of Bowdoin College, out of the tax laid upon the Banks, within this 
Commonwealth, shall be, charged upon the tax upon the Banks within the said District of 
Maine, and paid according to the terms of said grant; and the President and Trustees, and 
the Overseers of said College, shall have, hold and enjoy their powers and privileges in 
all respects; so that the same shall not be subject to be altered, limited, annulled or 
restrained, except by judicial process, according to the principles of law; and in all grants 
hereafter to be made, by either State, of unlocated land within the said District, the same 
reservations shall be made for the benefit of Schools, and of the Ministry, as have 
heretofore been usual, in grants made by this Commonwealth. And all lands heretofore 
granted by this Commonwealth, to any religious, literary, or eleemosynary corporation, 
or society, shall be free from taxation, while the same continues to be owned by such 
corporation, or society. 
"Eighth. No laws shall be passed in the proposed State, with regard to taxes, 
actions, or remedies at law, or bars, or limitations thereof, or otherwise making any 
distinction between the lands and rights of property of proprietors not resident in, or not 
citizens of said proposed State, and the laws and rights of property of the citizens of the 
proposed State, resident therein; and the rights and liabilities of all persons, shall, after 
the said separation, continue the same as if the said District was still a part of this 

Commonwealth, in all suits pending, or judgments remaining unsatisfied on the fifteenth 
day of March next, where the suits have been commenced in Massachusetts Proper, and 
process has been served within the District of Maine; or commenced in the District of 
Maine, and process has been served in Massachusetts Proper, either by taking bail, 
making attachments, arresting and detaining persons, or otherwise, where execution 
remains to be done; and in such suits, the Courts within Massachusetts Proper, and within 
the proposed State, shall continue to have the same jurisdiction as if the said District had 
still remained a part of the Commonwealth. And this Commonwealth shall have the same 
remedies within the proposed State, as it now has, for the collection of all taxes, bonds, or 
debts, which may be assessed, due, made, or contracted, by, to, or with the 
Commonwealth, on or before the said fifteenth day of March, within the said District of 
Maine; and all officers within Massachusetts Proper and the District of Maine shall 
conduct themselves accordingly. 
"Ninth. These terms and conditions, as here set forth, when the said District shall 
become a separate and Independent State, shall, ipso facto be incorporated into, and 
become and be a part of any Constitution, provisional or other under which the 
Government of the said proposed State, shall, at any time hereafter, be administered; 
subject however, to be modified, or annulled by the agreement of the Legislature of both 
the said States; but by no other power or body whatsoever."