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Thus many, if not most, of our constitutional provisions now apply to conditions not at all contemplated by their framers although clearly within the principle enunciated and the spirit of the language used. Much of the efficacy of our federal and state bills of rights, or of any similar provisions which this Convention may embody in the new constitution, would be practically nullified if the language used were to be interpreted as being limited to the particular conditions existing when they were adopted. It is the spirit and the expanding principles of constitutional provisions which should always control. The letter killeth.

A charter of liberties, a bill of rights, or a constitution is not an ephemeral enactment designed to meet only the conditions existing at the time of its adoption. It embodies and perpetuates permanent principles. It is designed to endure "forever," in the language of Magna Carta, and "to approach immortality as nearly as human institutions can approach it," in the lofty phrase of Marshall, the great Chief Justice of the United States. Under any other rule of interpretation, Magna Carta would have become antiquated long before the discovery of America.