Trisha Posey did this constitution It is ready to go. JW 2/21/05 *** CSTART MS 11/01/1890 01/01/2010 *** *** ASTART 9001.0 MS 1890 *** CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI 1890 We the people of Mississippi, in Convention assembled, grateful to Almighty God, and invoking His blessing on our work, do ordain and establish this Constitution. *** AEND *** *** ASTART 001.0 MS 1890 *** ARTICLE I DISTRIBUTION OF POWERS *** SSTART 001.0 001.0 0 MS 1890 *** SECTION 1. The powers of the government of the State of Mississippi shall be divided into three distinct departments, and each of them confided to a separate magistracy, to-wit: those which are legislative to one; those which are judicial to another; and those which are executive to another. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 002.0 001.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 2. No person or collection of persons, being one, or belonging to one, of these departments, shall exercise any power properly belonging to either of the others. The acceptance of an office in either of said departments shall, of itself, and at once, vacate any and all offices held by the person so accepting in either of the other departments. *** SEND *** *** AEND *** *** ASTART 002.0 MS 1890 *** ARTICLE 2 BOUNDARIES OF THE STATE *** SSTART 003.0 002.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 3. The limits and boundaries of the State of Mississippi are as follows, to-wit: Beginning on the Mississippi river (meaning thereby the center of said river or thread of the stream) where the southern boundary line of the State of Tennessee strikes the same, as run by B. A. Ludlow, D.W. Connelly and W. Petrie, commissioners appointed for that purpose on the part of the State of Mississippi in A. D., 1837, and J. D. Graham and Austin Miller, commissioners appointed for that purpose on the part of Tennessee; thence east along the said boundary line of the State of Tennessee to a point on the west bank of the Tennessee river, six four-pole chains south of and above the mouth of Yellow Creek; thence up the said river to the mouth of Bear Creek; thence by a direct line to what was formerly the northwest corner of the county of Washington, Alabama; thence on a direct line to a point ten miles east of the Pascagoula river on the Gulf of Mexico; thence westwardly, including all the islands within six leagues of the shore, to the most eastern junction of Pearl river with Lake Borgne; thence up said Pearl river to the thirty-first degree of north latitude; thence west along the said degree of latitude to the middle or thread of the stream of the Mississippi river; thence up the middle of the Mississippi river, or thread of the stream, to the place of beginning, including all islands lying cast of the thread of the stream of said river, and also including any lands which were at any time heretofore a part of this State. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 004.0 002.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 4. The legislature shall have power to consent to the acquisition of additional territory by the State and to make the same a part thereof; and the legislature may settle disputed boundaries between this State and its coterminous States whenever such disputes arise. *** SEND *** *** AEND *** *** ASTART 003.0 MS 1890 *** ARTICLE 3 BILL OF RIGHTS *** SSTART 005.0 003.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 5. All political power is vested in, and derived from, the people; all government of right originates with the people, is founded upon their will only, and is instituted solely for the good of the whole. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 006.0 003.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 6. The people of this State have the inherent, sole and exclusive right to regulate the internal government and police thereof, and to alter and abolish their constitution and form of government whenever they may deem it necessary to their safety and happiness; provided, such change be not repugnant to the constitution of the United States. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 007.0 003.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC 7. The right to withdraw from the Federal Union on account of any real or supposed grievance, shall never be assumed by this State, nor shall any law be passed in derogation of the paramount allegiance of the citizens of this State to the government of the United States. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 008.0 003.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 8. All persons resident in this State, citizens of the United States, are hereby declared citizens of the State of Mississippi. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 009.0 003.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 9. The military shall be in strict subordination to the civil power. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 010.0 003.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 10. Treason against the State shall consist only in levying war against the same or in adhering to its enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 011.0 003.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 11. The right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government on any subject shall never be impaired. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 012.0 003.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 12. The right of every citizen to keep and bear arms in defense of his home, person or property, or in aid of the civil power when thereto legally summoned, shall not be called in question, but the legislature may regulate or forbid carrying concealed weapons. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 013.0 003.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 13. The freedom of speech and of the press shall be held sacred, and in all prosecutions for libel the truth may be given in evidence, and the jury shall determine the law and the facts under the direction of the court; and if it shall appear to the jury that the matter charged as libelous is true, and was published with good motives and for justifiable ends, the party shall be acquitted. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 014.0 003.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 14. No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property, except by due process of law. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 015.0 003.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 15. There shall be neither slaver nor involuntary servitude in this State, otherwise than in the punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 016.0 003.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 16. Ex post facto laws, or laws impairing the obligation of contracts, shall not be passed. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 017.0 003.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 17. Private property shall not be taken or damaged for public use except on due compensation being first made to the owner or owners thereof, in a manner to be prescribed by law; and whenever an attempt is made to take private property for a use alleged to be public, the question whether the contemplated use be public shall be a judicial question, and as such determined without regard to legislative assertion that the use is public. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 018.0 003.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 18. No religious test as a qualification for office shall be required; and no preference shall be given by law to any religious sect, or mode of worship; but the free enjoyment of all religious sentiments and the different modes of worship shall be held sacred. The rights hereby secured shall not be construed to justify acts of licentiousness injurious to morals or dangerous to the peace and safety of the State, or to exclude the Holy Bible from use in any public school of this State. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 019.0 003.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 19. Human life shall not be imperiled by the practice of dueling; and any citizen of this State who shall hereafter fight a duel, or assist in the same as second, or send, accept, or knowingly carry a challenge therefor, whether such act be done in the State, or out of it, or who shall go out of the State to fight a duel, or to assist in the same as second, or to send, accept or carry a challenge, shall be disqualified from holding any office under this constitution and shall be disfranchised. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 020.0 003.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 20. No person shall be elected or appointed to office in this State for life or during good behavior, but the term of all offices shall be for some specified period. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 021.0 003.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 21. 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, nor ever without the authority of the legislature. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 022.0 003.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 22. No person's life or liberty shall be twice placed in jeopardy for the same offense; but there must be an actual acquittal or conviction on the merits to bar another prosecution. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 023.0 003.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 23. The people shall be secure in their persons, houses and possessions, from unreasonable seizure or search; and no warrant shall be issued without probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, specially designating the place to be searched and the person or thing to be seized. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 024.0 003.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 24. 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 shall be administered without sale, denial or delay. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 025.0 003.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 25. No person shall be debarred from prosecuting or defending any civil cause, for or against him or herself before any tribunal in this State, by him or herself, or counsel, or both. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 026.0 003.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 26. In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall have a right to be heard by himself or counsel, or both, to demand the nature and cause of the accusation, to be confronted by the witnesses against him, to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and in all prosecutions by indictment or information, a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury of the county where the offense was committed; and he shall not be compelled to give evidence against himself; but in prosecutions for rape adultery, fornication, sodomy or the crime against nature, the court may in its discretion exclude from the court room all persons except such as are necessary in the conduct of the trial. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 027.0 003.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 27. No person shall for any indictable offense, be proceeded against criminally by information, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or the militia when in actual service, or by leave of the court for misdemeanor in office; but the legislature in cases not punishable by death or by imprisonment in the penitentiary, may dispense with the inquest of the grand jury, and may authorize prosecutions before justices of the peace, or such other inferior court or courts as may be established, and the proceedings in such cases shall be regulated by law. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 028.0 003.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 28. Cruel or unusual punishment shall not be inflicted, nor excessive fines be imposed. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 029.0 003.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 29. Excessive bail shall not be required; and all persons shall, before conviction, be bailable by sufficient sureties, except for capital offenses when the proof is evident or presumption great. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 030.0 003.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 30. There shall be no imprisonment for debt. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 031.0 003.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 31. The right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 032.0 003.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 32. The enumeration of rights in this constitution shall not be construed to deny or impair others retained by, and inherent in, the people. *** SEND *** *** AEND *** *** ASTART 004.0 MS 1890 *** ARTICLE 4 LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT *** SSTART 033.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 33. The legislative power of this State shall be vested in the legislature, which shall consist of a senate, and a house of representatives. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 034.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 34. The house of representatives shall consist of members chosen every four years by the qualified electors of the several counties and representative districts. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 035.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 35. The senate shall consist of members to be chosen every four years by the qualified electors of the several districts. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 036.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 36. The legislature shall meet at the seat of government in regular session, on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in January of the year A. D., 1892, and every four years thereafter; and in special session on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in January of the year A. D., 1894, and every four years thereafter, unless sooner convened by the governor. The special sessions shall not continue longer than thirty days unless the governor, deeming the public inter- est to require it, shall extend the sitting by proclamation in writing to be sent to and entered upon the journals of each house for a specific number of days, and then it may continue in session to the expiration of that time. At such special sessions the members shall receive not more compensation or salary than ten cents mileage, and a per diem of not exceeding five dollars; and none but appropriation and revenue bills shall be considered except such other matters as may be acted upon at an extraordinary session called by the governor. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 037.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 37. Elections for members of the legislature shall be held in the several counties and districts as provided by law. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 038.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 38. Each house shall elect its own officers, and shall judge of the qualifications, return and election of its own members. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 039.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 39. The Senate shall choose a president pro tempore to act in the absence or disability of its presiding officer. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 040.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** QUALIFICATIONS AND PRIVILEGES 0F LEGISLATORS SEC. 40. Members of the legislature before entering upon the discharge of their duties shall take the following oath: " I, ---- ----, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully support the constitution of the United States and of the State of Mississippi; that I am not disqualified from holding office by the constitution of this State; that I will faithfully discharge my duties as a legislator; that I will, as soon as practicable hereafter, carefully read (or have read to me) the constitution of this State, and will endeavor to note, and as a legislator, to execute all the requirements thereof imposed on the legislature; and I will not vote for any measure or person because of a promise of any other member of this legislature to vote for any measure or person, or as a means of influencing him or them to do so. So help me God." *** SEND *** *** SSTART 041.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 41. No person shall be a member of the house of representatives who shall not have attained the age of twenty-one years, and who shall not be a qualified elector of the State, and who shall not have been a resident citizen of the State four years, and of the county two years, immediately preceding his election. The seat of a member of the house of representatives shall be vacated on his removal from the county or flotorial district from which he was elected. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 042.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 42. No person shall be a senator who shall not have attained the age of twenty-five years, who shall not have been a qualified elector of the State four years, and who shall not be an actual resident of the district or territory he may be chosen to represent, for two years before his election. The seat of a senator shall be vacated upon his removal from the district from which he was elected. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 043.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 43. No person liable as principal for public moneys unaccounted for shall be eligible to a seat in either house of the legislature, or to any office of profit or trust, until he shall have accounted for and paid over all sums for which he may have been liable. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 044.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 44. No person shall be eligible to a seat in either house of the legislature, or to any office of profit or trust, who shall have been convicted of bribery, perjury, or other infamous crime; and any person who shall have been convicted of giving, or offering, directly, or indirectly, any bribe to procure his election or appointment; and any person who shall give, or offer any bribe to procure the election or appointment of any person to office, shall, on conviction thereof, be disqualified from holding any office of profit or trust under the laws of this State. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 045.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 45. No senator or representative during the term for which he was elected, shall be eligible to any office of profit, which shall have been created, or the emoluments of which have been increased, during the time such senator or representative was in office, except to such offices as may be filled by an election of the people. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 046.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 46. The members of the legislature shall severally receive from the State treasury, compensation for their services, to be proscribed by law, which may be increased or diminished, but no alteration of such compensation of members shall take effect during the session at which it is made. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 047.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 47. No member of the legislature shall take any fee or reward, or be counsel in any measure pending before either house of the legislature, under penalty of forfeiting his seat, upon proof thereof to the satisfaction of the house, of which he is a member. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 048.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 48. Senators and representatives shall, in all cases, except treason, felony, theft or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during the session of the legislature, and for fifteen days before the commencement and after the termination of each session. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 049.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** TRIAL OF OFFICERS SEC. 49. The house of representatives shall have the sole power of impeachment; but two-thirds of all the members present must concur therein. All impeachments shall be tried by the senate, and, when sitting for that purpose, the senators shall be sworn to do justice according to law and the evidence. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 050.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 50. The governor, and all other civil officers of this State, shall be liable to impeachment for treason, bribery, or any high crime or misdemeanor in office. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 051.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 51. Judgment in such cases shall not extend further than removal from office, and disqualification to hold any office of honor, trust or profit in this State; but the party convicted shall, nevertheless, be subject to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment according to law. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 052.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 52. When the governor shall be tried, the chief justice of the supreme court shall preside; and when the chief justice is disabled, disqualified, or refuses to act, the judge of the supreme court, next oldest in commission, shall preside; and no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of all the senators present. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 053.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 53. For reasonable cause, which shall not be sufficient ground of impeachment, the governor shall, on the joint address of two-thirds of each branch of the legislature, remove from office the judges of the supreme and inferior courts; but the cause or causes of removal shall be spread on the journal, and the party charged be notified of the same and have an opportunity to be heard by himself or counsel or both, before the vote is finally taken and decided. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 054.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** RULES OF PROCEDURE SEC. 54. A majority of each house shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a less number may adjourn from day to day, and compel the attendance of absent members in such manner and under such penalties as each shall provide. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 055.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 55. Each house may determine rules of its own proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior; and with the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present, expel a member; but no member, unless expelled for theft, bribery or corruption, shall be expelled a second time for the same offense. Both houses shall from time to time, publish journals of their proceedings, except such parts as may in their opinion require secrecy; and the yeas and nays, on any question, shall be entered on the journal, at the request of one-tenth of the members present; and the yeas and nays shall be entered on the journal on the final passage of every bill. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 056.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 56. The style of the laws of the State shall be: "Be it enacted by the legislature of the State of Mississippi." *** SEND *** *** SSTART 057.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 57. Neither house shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which the two houses shall be sitting. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 058.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 58. The doors of each house, when in session, or in committee of the whole, shall be kept open, except in cases which may require secrecy; and each house may punish, by fine and imprisonment, any person not a member, who shall be guilty of disrespect to the house, by any disorderly or contemptuous behavior in its presence, or who shall in any way disturb its deliberations during the session; but such imprisonment shall not extend beyond the final adjournment of that session. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 059.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 59. Bills may originate in either house and be amended or rejected in the other; every bill shall be read on three different days in each house unless two-thirds of the house where the same is pending shall dispense with the rules; and every bill shall be read in full immediately before the vote on its final passage; and every bill having passed both houses, shall be signed by the president of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives, in open session; but before either shall sign any bill, he shall give notice thereof, suspend business in the house over which he presides, have the bill read by its title, and on demand of any member, have it read in full; and all such proceedings shall be entered on the journal. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 060.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 60. No bill shall be so amended in its passage through either house as to change its original purpose, and no law shall be passed except by bill; but orders, votes and resolutions of both houses, affecting the prerogatives and duties thereof, or relating to adjournment, to amendments to the constitution, to the investigation of public officers, and the like, shall not require the signature of the governor; and such resolutions, orders and votes, may empower legislative com- mittees to administer oaths, to send for persons and papers, and generally make legislative investigators effective. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 061.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 61. No law shall be revived or amended by reference to its title only, but the section or sections as amended, or revived, shall be inserted at length. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 062.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 62. No amendment to bills by one house shall be concurred in by the other, except by a vote of a majority thereof, taken by yeas and nays and the names of those voting for and against recorded upon the journals; and reports of committees of conference shall in like manner be adopted in each house. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 063.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 63. No appropriation bill shall be passed by the legislature which does not fix definitely the maximum sum thereby authorized to be drawn from the treasury. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 064.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 64. No bill passed after the adoption of this constitution to make appropriations of money out of the State treasury, shall continue in force more than six months after the meeting of the legislature at its next regular session; nor shall such bill be passed except by the votes of a majority of all the members elected to each house of the legislature. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 065.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 65. All votes on the final passage of any measure shall be subject to reconsideration for at least one whole legislative day, and no motion to reconsider such vote shall be disposed of adversely on the day on which the original vote was taken, except on the last day of the session. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 066.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 66. No law granting a donation, or gratuity, in favor of any person or object shall be enacted, except by the concurrence of two-thirds of each branch of the legislature, nor by any vote for a sectarian purpose or use. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 067.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 67. No new bills shall be introduced into either house of the legislature during the last three days of the session. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 068.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 68. Appropriation and revenue bills shall, at regular sessions of the legislature, have precedence in both houses over all other business, and no such bills shall be passed during the last five days of the session. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 069.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 69. General appropriation bills shall contain only the appropriations to defray the ordinary expenses of the executive, legislative and judicial departments of the government, to pay interest on State bonds, and to support the common schools. All other appropriations shall be made by separate bills, each embracing but one subject. Legislation shall not be engrafted on appropriation bills, but the same may prescribe the conditions on which the money may be drawn, and for what purposes paid. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 070.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 70. No revenue bill nor any bill providing for assessments of property for taxation, shall become a law, except by a vote of at least three-fifths of the members of each house present, and voting. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 071.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 71. Every bill introduced into the legislature shall have a title, and the title ought to indicate clearly the subject matter, or matters, of the proposed legislation. Each committee to which a bill may be referred, shall express in writing its judgment of the sufficiency of the title of the bill, and this, too, whether the recommendation be that the bill do pass, or do not pass. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 072.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 72. Every bill which shall pass both houses shall be presented to the governor of the State. If he approve, he shall sign it, but if he does not approve, he shall return it, with his objection, to the house in which it originated, which shall enter the objections at large upon its journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration, two-thirds of that house shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, with the objections, to the other house, by which, likewise, it shall be reconsidered, and if approved by two-thirds of that house, it shall become a law; but in all such cases, the votes of both houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for, and against the bill, shall be entered on the journal of each house respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the governor, within five days, (Sunday excepted), after it has been presented to him, it shall become a law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the legislature, by adjournment, prevent its return; in which case it shall be a law unless sent back within three days after the beginning of the next session of the legislature. No bill shall be approved when the legislature is not in session. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 073.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 73. The governor may veto parts of any appropriation bill, and approve parts of the same, and the portions approved shall be law. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 074.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 74. No bill shall become a law until it shall have been referred to a committee of each house and returned therefrom with a recommendation in writing. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 075.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 75. No law or a general nature, unless therein otherwise provided, shall be enforced until sixty days after its passage. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 076.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 76. In all elections by the legislature the members shall vote viva voce, and the votes shall be entered on the journals. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 077.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 77. The governor shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies as may occur in ether house of the legislature, and the persons thereupon chosen shall hold their seats for the unexpired term. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 078.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 78. It shall be the duty of the legislature to regulate by law the cases in which deductions shall be made from salaries of public officers, for neglect of official duty and the amount of said deduction. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 079.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 79. The legislature shall provide by law for the sale of all delinquent tax lands. The courts shall apply the same liberal principles in favor of such titles as in sale by execution. The right of redemption from all sales of real estate, for the non-payment of taxes, or special assessments, of any and every character whatsoever, shall exist, on conditions to be prescribed by law, in favor of owners and persons interested in such real estate, for a period of not less than two years. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 080.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 80. Provision shall be made by general laws to prevent the abuse by cities, towns and other municipal corporations of their powers of assessment, taxation, borrowing money and contracting debts. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 081.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 81. The legislature shall never authorize the permanent obstruction of any of the navigable waters of this State; but may provide for the removal of such obstructions as now exist, whenever the public welfare demands; this section shall not prevent the construction, under proper authority, of draw-bridges for railroads, or other roads, nor the construction of " booms and chutes " for logs in such manner as not to prevent the safe passage of vessels, or logs, under regulations to be provided by law. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 082.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 82. The legislature shall fix the amount of the penalty of all official bonds, and may, as far as practicable, provide that the whole or a part of the security required for the faithful discharge of official duty shall be made by some guarantee company or companies. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 083.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 83. The legislature shall enact laws to secure the safety of persons from fires in hotels, theatres and other public places of resort. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 084.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 84. The legislature shall enact laws to limit, restrict or prevent the acquiring and holding of land in this State by non-resident aliens, and may limit or restrict the acquiring or holding of lands by corporations. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 085.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 85. The legislature shall provide by general law for the working of public roads by contract or by county prisoners, or both. Such law may be put in operation only by a vote of the board of supervisors in those counties where it may be desirable. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 086.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 86. It shall be the duty of the legislature to provide by law for the treatment and care of the insane; and the legislature may provide for the care of the indigent sick in the hospitals in the State. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 087.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** LOCAL LEGISLATION SEC. 87. No special or local law shall be enacted for the benefit of individuals or corporations, in cases which are, or can be provided for by a general law, or where the relief sought can be given by any court of this State; nor shall the operation of any general law be, suspended by the legislature for the benefit of any individual or private corporation or association, and in all cases where a general law can be made applicable, and would be advantageous, no special law shall be enacted. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 088.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 88. The legislature shall pass general laws, under which local and private interests shall be provided for and protected, and under which cities and towns may be chartered and their charters amended and under which corporations may be created, organized, and their acts of incorporation altered; and all such laws shall be subject to repeal or amendment. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 089.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 89. There shall be appointed in each house of the legislature a standing committee on local and private legislation; the house committee to consist of seven representatives, and the senate committee, of five senators. No local or private bill shall be passed by either house until it shall have been referred to said committee thereof, and shall have been reported back with a recommendation in writing that it do pass, stating affirmatively the reasons therefor, and why the end to be accomplished should not be reached by a general law, or by a proceeding in court; or if the recommendation of the committee be that the bill do not pass, then it shall not pass the house to which it is so reported unless it be voted for by a majority of all the members elected thereto. If a bill is passed in conformity to the requirements hereof, other than such as are prohibited in the next section, the courts shall not, because of its local, special or private nature, refuse to enforce it. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 090.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 90. The legislature shall not pass local, private or special laws in any of the following enumerated cases, but such matters shall be provided for only by general laws, viz: (a) Granting divorces. (b) Changing the names of persons, places or corporations. (c) Providing for changes of venue in civil and criminal cases. (d) Regulating the rate of interest on money. (e) Concerning the settlement or administration of any estate, or the sale or mortgage of any property, of any infant, or of a person of unsound mind, or of any deceased person. (f) The removal of the disability of infancy. (g) Granting to any person, corporate, or association, the right to have any ferry, bridge, road or fish-trap. (h) Exemption of property from taxation, or from levy or sale. (i) Providing for the adoption or legitimation of children. (j) Changing the law of decent and distribution. (k) Exempting any person from jury, road, or other civil duty (and no person shall be exempted therefrom by force of any local or private law). (1) Laying out, opening, altering and working roads and highways. (m) Vacating any road or highway, town plat, street, alley or public grounds. (n) Selecting, drawing, summoning or empaneling grand or petit juries. (o) Creating, increasing, or decreasing the fees, salary or emoluments of any public officer. (p) Providing for the management or support of any private or common school, incorporating the same or granting such school any privileges. (q) Relating to stock laws, water courses and fences. (r) Conferring the power to exercise the right of eminent domain, or granting to any person, corporation, or association the right to lay down railroad tracks, or street car tracks, in any other manner than that prescribed by general law. (s) Regulating the practice in courts of justice. (t) Providing for the creation of districts for the election of justices of the peace and constables. (u) Granting any lands under control of the State to any person or corporation. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 091.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** PROHIBITIONS SEC. 91. The legislature shall not enact any law for one or more counties, not applicable to all the counties in the State, increasing the uniform charge for the registration of deeds, or regulating costs and charges and fees of officers. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 092.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 92. The legislature shall not authorize payment to any person of the salary of a deceased officer beyond the date of his death. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 093.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 93. The legislature shall not retire any officer on pay, or part pay, or make any grant to such retiring officer. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 094.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 94. The legislature shall never create by law any distinction between the rights of men and women to acquire, own, enjoy, and dispose of property of all kinds, or their power to contract in reference thereto. Married women are hereby fully emancipated from all disability on account of coverture. But this shall not prevent the legislature from regulating contracts between husband and wife; nor shall the legislature be prevented from regulating the sale of homesteads. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 095.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 95. Lands belonging to, or under the control of the State, shall never be donated directly, or indirectly, to private corporations or individuals, or to railroad companies. Nor shall such land be sold to corporations or associations for a less price than that for which it is subject to sale to individuals. This, however, shall not prevent the legislature from granting a right of way, not exceeding one hundred feet in width, as a mere easement, to railroads across State land, and the legislature shall never dispose of the land covered by said right of way so long as such easement exists. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 096.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 96. The legislature shall never grant extra compensation, fee or allowance, to any public officer, agent, servant or contractor, after service rendered, or contract made, nor authorize payment, or part payment, of any claim under any contract, not authorized by law; but appropriations may be made for expenditures in repelling invasion, preventing, or suppressing insurrections. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 097.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 97. The legislature shall have no power to revive any remedy which may have become barred by lapse of time, or by any statute of limitation of this State. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 098.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 98. No lottery shall ever be allowed, or be advertised by newspapers, or otherwise, or its tickets be sold in this State; and the legislature shall provide by law for the enforcement of this provision; nor shall any lottery heretofore authorized be permitted to be drawn or its tickets sold. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 099.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 99. The legislature shall not elect any other than its own officers, State librarian, and United States senators; but this section shall not prohibit the legislature from appointing presidential electors. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 100.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 100. No obligation or liability of any person, association, or corporation held or owned by this State, or levee board, or any county, city, or town thereof, shall ever be remitted, released or postponed, or in any way diminished by the legislature, nor shall such liability or obligation be extinguished except by payment thereof into the proper treasury; nor shall such liability, or obligation be exchanged or transferred except upon payment of its face value; but this shall not be construed to prevent the legislature from providing by general law for the compromise of doubtful claims. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 101.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 101. The seat of government of the State shall be at the city of Jackson, and shall not be removed or relocated without the assent of a majority of the electors of the State. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 102.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** MISCELLANEOUS SEC. 102. All general elections for State and county officers shall commence and be holden every four years, on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, until altered by law; and the electors, in all cases except in cases of treason, felony and breach of the peace, shall be privileged from arrest during their attendance at elections and in going to and returning therefrom. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 103.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 103. In all cases not otherwise provided for in this constitution, the legislature may determine the mode of filling all vacancies, in all offices, and in cases of emergency provisional appointments may be made by the governor, to continue until the vacancy is regularly filled; and the legislature shall provide suitable compensation for all officers , and shall define their respective powers. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 104.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 104. Statutes of limitation in civil causes shall not run against the State, or any subdivision, or municipal corporation thereof. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 105.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 105. The legislature shall provide for the enumeration of the whole number of inhabitants, and the qualified electors of the State, once in every ten years; and the first enumeration shall be made during the two months beginning on the first Monday of June, 1895, and the legislature shall provide for the same by law. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 106.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 106. There shall be a State librarian, to be chosen by the legislature, on joint vote of the two houses, to serve for four years, whose duties and compensation shall be prescribed by law. Any woman, a resident of the State four years, and who has attained the age, of, twenty years, shall be eligible to said office. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 107.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 107. All stationery, printing, paper, and fuel, used by the legislature, and other departments of the government, shall be furnished, and the printing and binding of the laws, journals, depart- ment reports, and other printing and binding, and the repairing and furnishing the halls and rooms used for the meeting of the legislature, and its committees, shall be performed under contract, to be given to the lowest responsible bidder, below such maximum and under such regulations as may be prescribed by law. No member of the legislature or officer of any department shall be in any way interested in such contract; and all such contracts shall be subject to the approval of the governor and State treasurer. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 108.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 108. Whenever the legislature shall take away the duties pertaining to any office, then the salary of the officer shall cease. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 109.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 109. No public officer or member of the legislature shall be interested directly or indirectly in any contract with the State, or any district, county, city or town thereof, authorized by any law passed, or order made by any board of which he may be or may have been a member, during the term for which he shall have been chosen, or within one year after the expiration of such term. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 110.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 110. The legislature may provide, by general law, for condemning rights of way for private roads, where necessary for ingress and egress by the party applying, on due compensation being first made to the owner of the property; but such rights of way shall not be provided for in incorporated cities and towns. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 111.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 111. All lands comprising a single tract sold in pursuance of decree of court, or execution, shall be first offered in subdivisions not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres, or one-quarter section, and then offered as an entirety, and the price bid for the latter shall control only when it shall exceed the aggregate of the bids for the same in subdivisions as aforesaid; but the chancery court, in cases before it, may decree otherwise if deemed advisable to do so. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 112.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 112. Taxation shall be uniform and equal throughout the State. Property shall be taxed in proportion to its value. The legislature may, however, impose a tax per capita upon such domestic animals as from their nature and habits are destructive of other property. Property shall be assessed for taxes under general laws, and by uniform rules, according to its true value. But the legislature may provide for a special mode of valuation and assessment for railroads, and railroad and other corporate property, or for particular species of property belonging to persons, corporations or associations not situated wholly in one county. But all such property shall be assessed at its true value, and no county shall be denied the right to levy county and special taxes upon such assessment as in otter cases of property situated and assessed in the county. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 113.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 113. The auditor shall, within sixty days after the adjournment of the legislature, prepare and publish a full statement of all money expended at such session, specifying the items and amount of each item, and to whom, and for what paid; and he shall also publish the amounts of all appropriations. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 114.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 114. Returns of all elections by the people shall be made to the secretary of state in such manner as shall be provided by law. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 115.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 115. The fiscal year of the State of Mississippi shall commence on the first day of October, and end on the thirtieth day of September of each year; and the auditor of public accounts and the treasurer of the State shall compile, and have published, a full and complete report, showing the transactions of their respective offices on or before the thirty-first day of December of each year for the preceding fiscal year. *** SEND *** *** AEND *** *** ASTART 005.0 MS 1890 *** ARTICLE 5 EXECUTIVE *** SSTART 116.0 005.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 116. The chief executive power of the State shall be vested in a governor, who shall hold his office for four years, and who shall be ineligible as his immediate successor in office. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 117.0 005.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 117. The governor shall be at least thirty years of age, and shall have been a citizen of the United States twenty years, and shall have resided in this State five years next preceding the day of his election. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 118.0 005.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 118. The governor shall receive for his services such compensation as may be fixed by law, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during his term of office. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 119.0 005.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 119. The governor shall be commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the State, and of the militia, except when they shall be called into the service of the United States. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 120.0 005.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 120. The governor may require information, in writing, from the officers in the executive departments of the State on any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 121.0 005.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 121. The governor shall have power to convene the legislature in extraordinary session whenever in his judgment the public interest requires it. Should the governor deem it necessary to convene the legislature, he shall do so by public proclamation, in which he shall state the subjects and matters to be considered by the legislature when so convened; and the legislature when so convened, as aforesaid, shall have no power to consider or act upon subjects or matters other than those designated in the proclamation of the governor, by which the sessions is called, except impeachments, and examination into the accounts of State offices. The legislature when so convened may also act on and consider such other matters as the governor may in writing submit to them while in session. The governor may convene the legislature at the seat of government, or at a different place, if that shall become dangerous from an enemy, or from disease; and in case of a disagreement between the two houses, with respect to time of adjournment, adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper, not beyond the day of the next stated meeting of the legislature. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 122.0 005.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 122. The governor shall, from time to time, give the legislature information of the state of the government, and recommend for consideration such measures as may be deemed necessary and expedient. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 123.0 005.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 123. The governor shall see that the laws are faithfully executed. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 124.0 005.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 124. In all criminal and penal cases, excepting those of treason and impeachment, the governor shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons, to remit fines, and in cases of forfeiture, to stay the collection, until the end of the next session of the legislature, and by and with the consent of the senate to remit forfeitures. In cases of treason, he shall have power to grant reprieves, by and with the consent of the senate, but may respite the sentence until the end of the next session of the legislature; but no pardon shall be granted before conviction, and in cases of felony after conviction no pardon shall be granted until the applicant therefor shall have published for thirty days, in some newspaper in the county where the crime was committed, and in case there be no newspaper published in said county, then in an adjoining county, his petition for pardon, setting forth therein the reasons why such pardon should be granted. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 125.0 005.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 125. The governor shall have the power, and it is hereby made his duty, to suspend alleged defaulting State and county treasurers, and defaulting tax collect pending the investigation of their respective accounts, and to make temporary appointments of proper persons to fill the offices while such investigations are being made, and the legislature shall provide for the enforcement of this provision by appropriate legislation. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 126.0 005.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 126. There shall be a seal of the State kept by the governor, and used by him officially, and be called the great seal of the State of Mississippi. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 127.0 005.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 127. All commissions shall be in the name and by the authority of the State of Mississippi, be sealed with the great seal of State, and be signed by the governor, and attested by the secretary of state. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 128.0 005.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 128. There shall be a lieutenant-governor, who shall be elected at the same time, in the same manner, and for the same term, and who shall possess the same qualifications as required of the governor. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 129.0 005.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 129. The lieutenant-governor shall, by virtue of his office, be president of the senate. In committee of the whole, he may debate all questions, and when there is an equal division in the senate, or on a joint vote of both houses, he shall give the casting vote. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 130.0 005.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 130. The lieutenant-governor shall receive for his services the same compensation as the speaker of the house of representatives. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 131.0 005.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 131. When the office of governor shall become vacant, by death or otherwise, the lieu tenant- governor shall possess the powers and discharge the duties of said office. When the governor shall be absent from the State, or unable from protracted illness, to perform the duties of the office, the lieutenant-governor shall discharge the duties of said office until the governor be able to resume his duties; but, if from disability or otherwise, the lieutenant-governor shall be incapable of performing said duties, or if he be absent from the State, the president of the senate pro tempore shall act in his stead; but if there be no such president, or if he be disqualified by like disability, or be absent from the State, then the speaker of the house of representatives shall assume the office of governor, and perform said duties; and in case of the inability of the foregoing officers to discharge the duties of governor, the secretary of state shall convene the senate to elect a president pro tempore. The officer discharging the duties of governor shall receive the compensation as such. Should a doubt arise as to whether a vacancy has occurred in the office of governor or as to whether any one of the disabilities mentioned in this section exists or shall have ended, then the secretary of state shall submit the question in doubt to the judges of the supreme court, who, or a majority of whom, shall investigate and determine said question; and shall furnish to said secretary of state an opinion in writing determining the question submitted to them, which opinion when rendered as aforesaid shall be final and conclusive. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 132.0 005.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 132. In case the election for lieutenant governor shall be contested, the contest shall be tried and determined in the same manner as a contest for the office of governor. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 133.0 005.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 133. There shall be a secretary of State, who shall be elected as herein provided. He shall be at least twenty-five years of age, a citizen of the State five years next preceding the day of his election, and he shall continue in office during the term of four years, and shall be keeper of the capitol; he shall keep a correct register of all official acts and proceedings of the governor; and shall, when required, lay the same, and all papers, minutes and vouchers relative thereto, before the legislature, and he shall perform such other duties as may be required of him by law. He shall receive such compensation as shall be prescribed. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 134.0 005.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 134. A State treasurer and an auditor of public accounts shall be elected as herein provided, who shall hold their offices for the term of four years, and shall possess the same qualifications as required for the secretary of state; they shall receive such compensation as may be provided by law. Said treasurer and auditor of public accounts shall be ineligible to immediately succeed themselves or each other in office. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 135.0 005.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 135. There shall be a sheriff, coroner, treasurer, assessor and surveyor for each county, to be selected as elsewhere provided herein, who shall hold their offices for four years. The sheriff and treasurer shall be ineligible to immediately succeed themselves or each other in office. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 136.0 005.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 136. All officers named in this article shall hold their offices during the term for which they were selected, unless removed, and until their successors shall be duly qualified to enter on the discharge of their respective duties. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 137.0 005.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 137. It shall be the duty of the state treasurer, within ten days after the first day of January and July of each year, to publish a statement under oath, in some newspaper published at the seat of government's owing the condition of the treasury on said days, the balance on hand and in what funds, together with a certificate of the governor that he has verified the count of the funds in the treasury and found the balance, stated by the treasurer, actually in the vaults of the treasury, or as the truth may be. And it shall be the duty of the governor at such times as he may deem proper, to go to the treasury, without giving notice to the treasurer, and verify the cash balance as shown by the books, and to publish the fact that be has done so, and whether the amount called for by the books be actually in the treasury, and stating whether the treasurer had any notice whatever that the verification would be made. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 138.0 005.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 138. The sheriff, coroner, treasurer, assessor, surveyor, clerks of the courts, and members of the board of supervisors of the several counties, and all other officers exercising local jurisdiction therein, shall be selected in the manner provided by law for each county. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 139.0 005.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 139. The legislature may empower the governor to remove and appoint officers, in any county or counties or municipal corporations, under such regulations as may be prescribed by law. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 140.0 005.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 140. The governor of the State shall be chosen in the following manner: On the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November of A. D., 1895, and on the first Tuesday after first Monday of November in every fourth year thereafter, until the day shall be changed by law, an election shall be held in the several counties and districts created for the election of members of the house of representatives in this State, for governor, and the person receiving in any county or such legislative district the highest number of votes cast therein, for said office, shall be holden to have received as many votes as such county or district is entitled to members in the house of representatives, which last named votes are hereby designated " electoral votes." In all cases where a representative is apportioned to two or more counties or districts the electoral vote based on such representative shall be equally divided among such counties or districts. The returns of said election shall be certified by the election commissioners, or a majority of them, of the several counties, and transmitted, sealed, to the seat of government, directed to the secretary of state, and shall be by him safely kept and delivered to the speaker of the house of representatives at the next ensuing session of the legislature within one day after he shall have been elected. The speaker shall, on the next Tuesday after he shall have received said returns, open and publish them in the presence of the house of representatives, and said house shall ascertain and count the vote of each county and legislative district and decide any contest that may be made concerning the same, and said decision shall be made by a majority of the whole number of members of the house of representatives concurring therein, by a viva voce vote, which shall be recorded in its journal; provided, in case the two highest candidates have an equal number votes in any county or legislative district, the electoral vote of such county or legislative district shall be considered as equally divided between them. The person found to have received a majority of all the electoral votes, and also a majority of the popular vote, shall be declared elected. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 141.0 005.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 141. If no person shall receive such majorities, then the house of representatives shall proceed to choose a governor from the two persons who shall have received the highest number of popular votes; the election shall be by viva voce vote, which shall be recorded in the journal, in such manner as to show for whom each member voted. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 142.0 005.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 142. In case of an election of governor or any State officer by the house of representatives, no member of that house shall be eligible to receive any appointment from the governor or other State officer so elected, during the term for which he shall be selected. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 143.0 005.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 143. All other State officers shall be elected at the same time, and in the same manner as provided for election of governor. *** SEND *** *** AEND *** *** ASTART 006.0 MS 1890 *** ARTICLE 6 JUDICIARY *** SSTART 144.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 144. The judicial power of the State shall be vested in a supreme court and such other courts as are provided for in this constitution. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 145.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 145. The supreme court shall consist of three judges, any two of whom, when convened, shall form a quorum. The legislature shall divide the State into three supreme court districts, and the gov- ernor, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, shall appoint one judge for and from each district; but the removal of a judge to the State capital during his term of office shall not render him ineligible as his own successor for the district from which he has removed. The present incumbents shall be considered as holding their terms of office from the State at large. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 146.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 146. The supreme court shall have such jurisdiction as properly belongs to a court of appeals. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 147.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 147. No judgment or decree in any chancery or circuit court rendered in a civil cause, shall be reversed or annulled on the ground of want of jurisdiction to render said judgment or decree, from any error or mistake as to whether the cause in which it was rendered was of equity or common law jurisdiction; but if the supreme court shall find error in the proceedings other than as to jurisdiction, and it shall be necessary to remand the case, the supreme court may remand it to that court which in its opinion can best determine the controversy. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 148.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 148. The supreme court shall be held twice in each year at the seat of government, at such time as the legislature may provide. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 149.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 149. The term of office of the judges of the supreme court shall be nine years. The office of one of said judges shall be vacated in three years, one in six years, and one in nine years, so that at the expiration of every three years one of said judges shall be appointed as aforesaid. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 150.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 150. No person shall be eligible to the office of judge of the supreme court who shall not have attained the age of thirty years at the time of his appointment, and who shall not have been a practicing attorney and a citizen of the State for five years immediately preceding such appointment. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 151.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 151. All vacancies which may occur in said court from death, resignation, or removal, shall be filled by appointment as aforesaid; but if a vacancy shall occur during the recess of the legislature, the governor shall appoint a successor who shall hold his office until the end of the next session of the senate unless his nomination shall be sooner rejected. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 152.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 152. The legislature shall divide the State into convenient circuit and chancery court districts. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 153.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 153. The judges of the circuit courts and of the chancery courts shall be appointed by the governor, with the advice and consent of the senate, and shall hold their offices for the term of four years. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 154.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 154. No person shall be eligible to the office of judge of the circuit or of the chancery court, who shall not have been a practicing lawyer for five years, and who shall not have attained the age of twenty-six years, and who shall not have been five years a citizen of this State. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 155.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 155. The judges of the several courts of this State shall, before they proceed to execute the duties of their respective offices, take the follow, oath or affirmation, to-wit: "I - -, solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as ------ according to the best of my ability and understanding, agreeably to the constitution of the United States, and the constitution and laws of the State of Mississippi; so help me God." *** SEND *** *** SSTART 156.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 156. The circuit court shall have original jurisdiction in all matters civil and criminal in this State not vested by this constitution in some other court, and such appellate jurisdiction as shall be prescribed by law. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 157.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 157. All causes that may be brought in the circuit court whereof the chancery court has exclusive jurisdiction shall be transferred to the chancery court. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 158.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 158. A circuit court shall be held in each county at least twice in each year, and the judges of said courts may interchange circuits with each other in such manner as may be provided by law. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 159.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 159. The chancery court shall have full jurisdiction in the following matters and cases, viz: (a) All matters in equity. (b) Divorce and alimony. (c) Matters testamentary and of administration. (d) Minor's business. (e) Cases of idiocy, lunacy and persons of unsound mind. (f) All cases of , which the said court had jurisdiction under the laws in force when this constitution is put in operation. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 160.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 160. And in addition to the jurisdiction heretofore exercised by the chancery court in suits to try title and to cancel deeds and other clouds upon title to real estate, it shall have jurisdiction in such cases to decree possession, and to displace possession, to decree rents and compensation for improvements and taxes; and in all cases where said court heretofore exercised jurisdiction, auxiliary to courts of common law, it may exercise such jurisdiction to grant the relief sought although the legal remedy may not have been exhausted or the legal title established by a suit at law. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 161.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 161. And the chancery court shall have jurisdiction, concurrent with the circuit court, of suits on bonds of fiduciaries and public officers for failure to account for money or property received or wasted or lost by neglect or failure to collect, and of suits involving inquiry into matters of mutual accounts; but if the plaintiff brings his suit in the circuit court, that court may, on application of the defendant, transfer the cause to the chancery court if it appears that the accounts to be investigated are mutual and complicated. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 162.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 162. All causes that may be brought in the chancery court whereof the circuit court has exclusive jurisdiction shall be transferred to the circuit court. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 163.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 163. The legislature shall provide by law for the due certification of all causes that may be transferred to or from any chancery court or circuit court, for such reformation of the pleadings therein as may be necessary, and the adjudication of the costs of such transfer. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 164.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 164. A chancery court shall be held in each county at least twice in each year. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 165.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 165. No judge of any court shall preside on the trial of any cause where the parties or either of them shall be connected with him by affinity or consanguinity, or where he may be interested in the same, except by the consent of the judge and of the parties. Whenever any judge of the supreme court or the judge or chancellor of any district, in this State, shall, for any reason, be unable or dis- qualified to preside at any term of court, or in any case where the attorneys engaged therein shall not agree upon a member of the bar to preside in his place, the governor may commission another, or others, of law knowledge to preside at such term or during such disability or disqualification in the place of the judge or judges so disqualified. When either party shall desire, the supreme court for the trial of any cause shall be composed of three judges. No judgment or decree shall be affirmed by disagreement of two judges constituting a quorum. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 166.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 166. The judges of the supreme court, of the circuit courts and the chancellors shall receive for their services a compensation to be fixed by law, which shall not be increased or diminished during their continuance in office. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 167.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 167. All civil officers shall be conservators of the peace, and shall be, by law, vested with ample power as such. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 168.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 168. The clerk of the supreme court shall be elected as other State officers for the term of four years, and the clerk of the circuit court and the clerk of the chancery court shall be selected in each county in the manner provided by law, and shall hold office for the term of four years, and the legislature shall provide by law what duties shall be performed during vacation by the clerks of the circuit and chancery courts subject to the approval of the court. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 169.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 169. The style of all process shall be " The State of Mississippi," and all prosecutions shall be carried on in the name and by authority of the "State of Mississippi," and all indictments shall conclude " against the peace and dignity of the State." *** SEND *** *** SSTART 170.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 170. Each county shall be divided into five districts. A resident freeholder of each district shall be selected, in the manner described by law, and the five so chosen shall constitute the board of supervisors of the county, a majority of whom may transact business. The board of supervisors shall have full jurisdiction over roads, ferries and bridges, to be exercised in accordance with such regula- tions as the legislature may prescribe, and perform such other duties as may be required by law. The clerk of the chancery court of each county shall be clerk of the board of supervisors. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 171.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 171. A competent number of justices of the peace and constables shall be chosen in each county in the manner provided by law, for each district, who shall hold their office for the term of four years. No person shall be eligible to the office of justice of the peace who shall not have resided two years in the district next preceding his selection. The jurisdiction of justices of the peace shall extend to causes in which the principal amount in controversy shall not exceed the sum of two hundred dollars; and they shall have jurisdiction concurrent with the circuit court over all crimes whereof the punishment prescribed does not extend beyond a fine and imprisonment in the county jail; but the legislature may confer on the justices of the peace exclusive jurisdiction in such petty misdemeanors as it shall see proper. In all causes tried by a justice of the peace, the right of appeal shall be secured under such rules and regulations as shall be prescribed by law, and no justice of the peace shall preside at the trial of any cause where he may be interested, or the parties or either of them shall be connected with him by affinity or consanguinity, except by the consent of the justice of the peace and of the parties. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 172.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 172. The legislature shall, from time to time, establish such, other inferior courts as may be necessary, and abolish the same whenever deemed expedient. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 173.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 173. There shall be an attorney-general elected at the same time and in the same manner as the governor is elected, whose term of office shall be four years, and whose compensation shall be fixed by law. The qualifications for the attorney-general shall be the same as herein prescribed for judges of the circuit and chancery courts. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 174.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 174. A district attorney for each circuit court district shall be selected in the manner provided by law, whose term of office shall be four years, whose duties shall be prescribed by law, and whose compensation shall be a fixed salary. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 175.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 175. All public officers, for willful neglect of duty, or misdemeanor in office, shall be liable to presentment or indictment by a grand jury, and upon conviction, shall be removed from office, and otherwise punished as may be prescribed by law. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 176.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 176. No person shall be a member of the board of supervisors who is not a resident freeholder in the district for which he is chosen. The value of real estate necessary to be owned to qualify persons in the several counties to be members of said board shall be fixed by law. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 177.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 177. The governor shall have power to fill any vacancy which may happen during the recess of the senate, in the office of chancellor, by making a temporary appointment of an incumbent, which shall expire at the end of the next session of the senate, unless a successor shall be sooner appointed, and confirmed by the senate. When a temporary appointment of a judge or chancellor has been made during the recess of the senate, the governor shall have no power to remove the person or appointee, nor power to withhold his name from the senate for their action. *** SEND *** *** AEND *** *** ASTART 007.0 MS 1890 *** ARTICLE 7 CORPORATION *** SSTART 178.0 007.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 178. Corporations shall be formed under general laws only. The legislature shall have power to alter, amend or repeal any charter of incorporation now existing, and revocable, and any that may hereafter be created, whenever in its opinion it may be for the public interest to do so; provided, however, that no injustice shall be done to the stockholders. No charter for any private corporation for pecuniary gain shall be granted for a longer period than ninety-nine years. In assessing for taxation the property and franchises of corporations, having charters for a longer period than ninety- nine years, the increased value of such property and franchises arising from such longer duration of their charters shall be considered and assessed; but any such corporation shall have the right to surrender the excess over ninety-nine years of its charter. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 179.0 007.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 179. The legislature shall never remit the forfeiture of the franchise of any corporation now existing, nor alter nor amend the charter thereof, nor pass any general nor special law for the benefit of such corporation, except upon the condition that such corporation shall thereafter hold its charter and franchises subject to the provisions of this constitution; and the reception by any corporation of any provision of any such laws, or the taking of any benefit or advantage from the same, shall be conclusively held an agreement by such corporation to hold thereafter its charter and franchises under the provisions thereof. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 180.0 007.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 180. All existing charters or grants of corporate franchise under which organizations have not in good faith taken place at the adoption of this constitution shall be subject to the provisions of this article; and all such charters under which organizations shall not take place in good faith and business be commenced within one year from the adoption of this constitution, shall thereafter have no validity; and every charter or grant of corporate franchise hereafter made shall have no validity, unless an organization shall take place thereunder and business be commenced within two years from the date of such charter or grant. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 181.0 007.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 181 The property of all private corporations for pecuniary gain shall be taxed in the same way and to the same extent as the property of individuals, but the legislature may provide for the taxation of banks and banking capital, by taxing the shares according to the value thereof, (augmented by the accumulations, surplus and unpaid dividends,) exclusive of real estate, which shall be taxed as other real estate. Exemptions from taxation to which corporations are legally entitled at the adoption of this constitution, shall remain in full force and effect for the time of such exemptions as expressed in their respective charters, or by general laws, unless sooner repealed by the legislature. And domestic insurance companies shall not be required to pay a greater tax in the aggregate than is required to be paid by foreign insurance companies doing business in this State, except to the extent of the excess of their ad valorem tax over the privilege tax imposed upon such foreign companies; and the legislature may impose privilege taxes on building and loan associations in lieu of all other taxes except on their real estate. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 182.0 007.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 182. The power to tax corporations and their property shall never be surrendered or abridged by any contract or grant to which the State or any political subdivision thereof may be a party, except that the legislature may grant exemption from taxation in the encouragement of manufactures and other new enterprises of public utility extending for a period not exceeding five years, the time of such exemptions to commence from date of charter, if to a corporation; and if to an individual enterprise, then from the commencement of work; but when the legislature grants such exemptions for a period of five years or less, it shall be done by general laws, which shall distinctly enumerate the classes of manufacturers and other new enterprises of public utility entitled to such exemptions, and shall prescribe the mode and manner in which the right to such exemptions shall be determined. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 183.0 007.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 183. No county, city, town or other municipal corporation shall hereafter become a subscriber to the capital stock of any railroad or other corporation or association, or make appropriation, or loan its credit in aid of such corporation or association. All authority heretofore conferred for any of the purposes aforesaid by the legislature or by the charter of any corporation, is hereby repealed. Nothing in this section contained shall affect the right of any such corporation, municipality or county to make such subscription where the same has been authorized under laws existing at the time of the adoption of this constitution, and by a vote of the people thereof, had prior to its adoption, and where the terms of submission and subscription have been or shall be complied with, or to prevent the issue of renewal bonds, or the use of such other means as are or may be prescribed by law for the payment or liquidation of such subscription, or of any existing indebtedness. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 184.0 007.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 184. All railroads which carry persons or property for hire, shall be public highways, and all railroad companies so engaged shall be common carriers. Any company organized for that purpose under the laws of the State, shall have the right to construct and operate a railroad between any points within this State, and to connect at the State line with roads of other States. Every railroad company shall have the right with its road to intersect, connect with, or cross any other railroad; and all railroad companies shall receive and transport each other's passengers, tonnage and cars, loaded or empty, without unnecessary delay or discrimination. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 185.0 007.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 185. The rolling stock, belonging to any railroad company or corporation in this State, shall be considered personal property and shall be liable to execution and sale as such. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 186.0 007.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 186. The legislature shall pass laws to prevent abuses, unjust discrimination and extortion in all charges of express, telephone, sleeping car, telegraph and railroad companies, and shall enact laws for the supervision of railroads, express, telephone, telegraph, sleeping car companies and other common carriers in this State, by commission or otherwise, and shall provide adequate penalties, to the extent, if necessary for that purpose, of forfeiture of their franchises. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 187.0 007.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 187. No railroad hereafter constructed in this State, shall pass within three miles of any county seat without passing through the same, and establishing and maintaining a depot therein, unless prevented by natural obstacles; provided, such town or citizens shall grant the right-of- way through its limits, and sufficient ground for ordinary depot purposes. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 188.0 007.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 188. No railroad or other transportation company shall grant free passes or tickets, or passes or tickets at a discount, to members of the legislature, or any State, district, county or municipal officers, except railroad commissioners. The legislature shall enact suitable laws for the detection, prevention and punishment of violations of this provision. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 189.0 007.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 189. All charters granted to private corporations in this State shall be recorded in the chancery clerk's office of the county in which the principal office or place of business of such company shall be located. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 190.0 007.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 190. The exercise of the right of eminent domain shall never be abridged, or so construed as to prevent the legislature from taking the property and franchises of incorporated companies, and subjecting them to public use; and the exercise of the police powers of the State shall never be abridged, or so construed as to permit corporations to conduct their business in such manner as to infringe upon the rights of individuals, or the general well being of the State. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 191.0 007.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 191. The legislature shall provide for the protection of the employees of all corporations doing business in this State from interference with their social, civil, or political rights by said corporations, their agents or employees. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 192.0 007.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 192. Provision shall be made by general laws whereby cities and towns may be authorized to aid and encourage the establishment of manufactories, gas-works, waterworks, and other enterprises of public utility other than railroads, within the limits of said cities r towns, by exempting all property used for such purposes, from municipal taxation for a period not longer than ten years. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 193.0 007.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 193. Every employee of any railroad corporation shall have the same right and remedies for any injury suffered by him from the act or omission of said corporation or its employees, as are allowed by law to other persons not employees, where the injury results from the negligence of a superior agent or officer, or of a person having the right to control or direct the services of the party injured, and also when the injury results from the negligence of a fellow-servant engaged in another department of labor from that of the party injured, or of a fellow-servant on another train of cars, or one engaged about a different piece of work. Knowledge by any employee injured, of the defective or unsafe character or condition of any machinery, ways or appliances, shall be no defense to an action for injury caused thereby, except as to conductors or engineers in charge of dangerous or unsafe cars, or engines voluntarily operated by them. Where death ensues from any injury to employees, the legal or personal representatives of the person injured shall have the same right and remedies as are allowed by law to such representatives of other persons. Any contract or agreement, express or implied, made by any employee to waive the benefit of this section shall be null and void; and this section shall not be construed to deprive any employee of a corporation or his legal or personal representative, of any right or remedy that he now has by the law of the land. The legislature may extend the remedies herein provided for to any other class of employees. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 194.0 007.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 194. The legislature shall provide by law, that in all elections for directors or managers of incorporate companies, every stockholder shall have the right to vote in person or by proxy, for the number of shares of stock owned by him, for as many persons as there are directors or managers to be elected, or to cumulate said shares, so as to give one candidate as many votes as the number of directors multiplied by the number of his shares of stock shall equal, or to distribute them on the same principle among as many candidates as he shall see fit; and such directors or managers shall not be elected in any other manner; but no person who is engaged or interested in a competing business, either individually or as employee, or stockholder, shall serve on any board of directors of any corporation without the consent of a majority in interest of the stockholders thereof. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 195.0 007.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 195. Express, telegraph, telephone and sleeping car companies are declared common carriers in their respective lines of business and subject to liability as such. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 196.0 007.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 196. No transportation corporation shall issue stocks or bonds except for money, labor done, or in good faith agreed to be done, or money or property actually received; and all fictitious increase of stock or indebtedness shall be void. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 197.0 007.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 197. The legislature shall not grant to any foreign corporation or association, a license to build, operate or lease any railroad in this State; but in all cases where a railroad is to be built or operated, and the same shall be partly in this State and partly in another State, or in other States, the owners or projectors thereof shall first become incorporated under the laws of this State; nor shall any foreign corporation or association lease or operate any railroad in this State or purchase the same, or any interest therein; consolidation of any railroad lines and corporations in this State with others shall be allowed only where the consolidated company shall become a domestic corporation of this State. No general or special law shall ever be passed for the benefit of any foreign corporation operating a railroad under an existing license from this State, or under an existing lease; and no grant of any right or privilege, and no exemption from any burden, shall be made to any such foreign corporation except upon the condition that the owners or stockholders thereof shall first organize a corporation in this State under the laws thereof, and shall thereafter operate and manage the same, and the business thereof under said domestic charter. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 198.0 007.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 198. The legislature shall enact laws to prevent all trusts, combinations, contracts and agreements inimical to the public welfare. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 199.0 007.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 199. The term "corporation" used in this article shall include all associations and all joint stock companies for pecuniary gain, having privileges not possessed by individuals or partnerships. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 200.0 007.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 200. The legislature shall enforce the provisions of this article by appropriate legislation. *** SEND *** *** AEND *** *** ASTART 008.0 MS 1890 *** ARTICLE 8 EDUCATION *** SSTART 201.0 008.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 201. It shall be the duty of the legislature to encourage by all suitable means, the promotion of intellectual, scientific, moral and agricultural improvement, by establishing a uniform system of free public schools, by taxation, or otherwise, for all children between the ages of five any twenty-one years, and, as soon as practicable, to establish schools of higher grade. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 202.0 008.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 202. There shall be a superintendent of public education elected at the same time and in the same manner as the governor, who shall have the qualifications required of the secretary of state, and hold his office for four years and until his successor shall be elected and qualified, who shall have the general supervision of the common schools, and of the educational interests of the State, and who shall perform such other duties and receive such compensation, as shall be prescribed by law. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 203.0 008.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 203. There shall be a board of education, consisting of the secretary of state, the attorney- general, and the superintendent of public education, for the management and investment of the school funds, according to law, and for the performance of such other duties as may be prescribed. The superintendent and one other of said board shall constitute a quorum. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 204.0 008.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 204. There shall be a superintendent of public education in each county, who shall be appointed by the board of education by and with the advice and consent of the senate, whose term of office shall be four years, and whose qualifications, compensation and duties, shall be prescribed by law; provided, that the legislature shall have power to make the office of county school superintendent of the several counties elective, or may otherwise provide for the discharge of the duties of county superintendent, or abolish said office. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 205.0 008.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 205. A public school shall be maintained in each school district in the county at least four months during each scholastic year. A school district neglecting to maintain its school four months, shall be entitled to only such part of the free school fund as may be, required to pay the teacher for the time actually taught. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 206.0 008.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 206. There shall be a common school fund which shall consist of the poll tax (to be retained in the counties where the same is collected) and an additional sum from the general fund in the State treasury which together shall be sufficient to maintain the common schools for the term of four months in each scholastic year. But any county or separate, school district may levy an additional tax to maintain its schools for a longer time than the term of four months. The common school fund shall be distributed among the several counties and separate school districts, in proportion to the number of educable children in each, to be determined from data, collected through the office of the state superintendent of education, in the manner to be prescribed by law. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 207.0 008.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 207. Separate schools shall be maintained for children of the white and colored races. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 208.0 008.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 208. No religious or other sect, or sects, shall ever control any part of the school or other educational funds of this State; nor shall any funds be appropriated towards the support of any sectarian school; or to any school that at the time of receiving such appropriation is not conducted as a free school. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 209.0 008.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 209. It shall be the duty of the legislature to provide by law for the support of institutions for the education of the deaf, dumb, and blind. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 210.0 008.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 210. No public officer of this State, or any district, county, city or town thereof, nor any teacher or trustee of any public school, shall be interested in the sale, proceeds or profits of any books, apparatus or furniture to be used in any public school in this State. Penalties shall be provided by law for the violation of this section. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 211.0 008.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 211. The Legislature shall enact such laws as may be necessary to ascertain the true condition of the title to the 16th sections of land in this State, or land granted in lieu thereof, in the Choctaw purchase, and shall provide that the sixteenth section lands reserved for the support of township schools shall not be sold, nor shall they be leased for a longer term than ten years for a gross sum; but the legislature may provide for the lease of any of said lands for a term not exceeding twenty-five years for a ground rental payable annually, and, in case of uncleared lands, may lease them for such short term as may be deemed proper in consideration of the improvement thereof, with right thereafter to lease for a term or to hold on payment of ground rent. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 212.0 008.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 212. The rate of interest on the fund known as the Chickasaw school fund; and other trust funds for educational purposes, for which the State is responsible, shall be fixed and remain as long as said funds are held by the State, at six per centum per annum, from and after the close of the fiscal year A. D., 1891, and the distribution of said interest shall be made semi-annually on the first of May and November of each year. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 213.0 008.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 213. The State having received and appropriated the land donated to it for the support of Agricultural and Mechanical Colleges by the United States, and having, in furtherance of the beneficent, design of Congress in granting said land, established the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Mississippi, and the Alcorn Agri cultural and Mechanical College, it is the duty of the State to sacredly carry out the conditions of the act of Congress, upon the subject, approved July 2d, A. D., 1862, and the legislature shall preserve intact the endowments to, and support, said colleges. *** SEND *** *** AEND *** *** ASTART 009.0 MS 1890 *** ARTICLE 9 MILITIA *** SSTART 214.0 009.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 214. All able-bodied male citizens of the State between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years shall be liable to military duty in the militia of this State, in such manner as the legislature may provide. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 215.0 009.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 215. The legislature shall provide for the organizing, arming, equipping and discipline of the militia, and for paying the same when called into active service. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 216.0 009.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 216. All officers of militia, except non-commissioned officers, shall be appointed by the governor, by and with the consent of the senate, or elected, as the legislature may determine; and no commissioned officer shall be removed from office except by the senate on suggestion of the governor, stating the ground on which such removal is recommended, or by the decision of a court-martial, pursuant to law, or at his own request. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 217.0 009.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 217. The governor shall be commander-in-chief of the militia, except when it is called into the service of the United States, and shall have power to call forth the militia to execute the laws, repel invasion, and to suppress riots and insurrections. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 218.0 009.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 218. The governor shall nominate, and, by and with the consent of the senate, commission one major-general for the State, who shall be a citizen thereof, and also one brigadier-general for each congressional district, who shall be a resident of the district for which he shall be appointed, and each district shall constitute a militia division. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 219.0 009.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 219. The adjutant-general and other staff officers to the commander-in-chief, shall be appointed by the governor, and their appointment shall expire with the governor's term of office, and the legislature shall provide by law a salary for the adjutant-general commensurate with the duties of said office. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 220.0 009.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 220. The militia shall be exempt from arrest during their attendance on musters, and in going to and returning from the same, except in case of treason, felony or breach of the peace. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 221.0 009.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 221. The legislature is hereby required to make an annual appropriation for the efficient support and maintenance of the Mississippi National Guard, which shall consist of not less than one hundred men for each senator and representative to which this State may be entitled in the Congress of the United States; but no part of such funds shall be used in the payment of said guard except when in actual service. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 222.0 009.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 222. The legislature shall empower the board of supervisors of each county in the State to aid in supporting a military company or companies, of the Mississippi National Guard, within its borders, under such regulations, limitations and restrictions as may be prescribed by law. *** SEND *** *** AEND *** *** ASTART 010.0 MS 1890 *** ARTICLE 10 THE PENITENTIARY AND PRISONS *** SSTART 223.0 010.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 223. No penitentiary convict shall ever be leased or hired to any person or persons, or corporation, private or public or quasi public, or board, after December the 31st, A. D. 1894, save as authorized in the next section, nor shall any previous lease or hiring of convicts extend beyond that date; and the legislature shall abandon the system of such leasing or hiring as much sooner than the date mentioned as may be consistent with the economic safety of the State. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 224.0 010.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 224. The legislature may authorize the employment under State supervision, and the proper officers and employees of the State, of convicts on public roads or other public works, or by any levee board on any public levees, under Such provisions and restrictions as it may from time to time see proper to impose; but said convicts shall not be let or hired to any contractor under said board, nor shall the working of convicts on public roads, or public works, by any levee board ever interfere with the preparation for or the cultivation of any crop which it may be intended shall be cultivated by the said convicts, nor interfere with the good management of the State farm, nor put the State to any expense. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 225.0 010.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 225. The legislature may place the convicts on a State farm or farms and have them worked thereon under State supervision exclusively, in tilling the soil or manufacturing, or both, and may buy farms for that purpose. It may establish a reformatory school or schools, and provide for keeping of juvenile offenders from association with hardened criminals. It may provide for the commutation of the sentence of convicts for good behavior, and for the constant separation of the sexes, and for the separation of the white and black convicts as far as practicable, and for religious worship for the convicts. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 226.0 010.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 226. Convicts sentenced to the county jail shall not be hired or leased to any person or corporation outside the county of their conviction, after the first day of January, A. D., 1893, nor for a term which shall extend beyond that date. *** SEND *** *** AEND *** *** ASTART 011.0 MS 1890 *** ARTICLE 11 LEVEES *** SSTART 227.0 011.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 227. A levee system shall be maintained in the State as provided in this article. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 228.0 011.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 228. The division heretofore made by the legislature of the alluvial land of the State into two levee districts, viz: The Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee District, and the Mississippi Levee District, as shown by the laws creating the same, and the amendments thereto, is hereby recognized, and said districts shall so remain until changed by but the legislature may hereafter add to either of said districts any other alluvial land in the State. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 229.0 011.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 229. There shall be a board of levee commissioners for the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee District, which shall consist of two members from each of the counties of Coahoma and Tunica, and one member from each of the remaining counties or parts of counties, now or hereafter embraced within the limits of said district, and the governor may appoint a stockholder in the Louisville, New Orleans & Texas Railway Company as in additional commissioners; and there shall also be a board of levee commissioners for the Mississippi Levee District, which shall consist of two members from each of the counties of Bolivar and Washington and one from each of the counties of Issaquena and Sharkey. In the event of the formation of a new county or counties out of the territory embraced in either or both of said levee districts such new counties shall each be entitled to representation and membership in the proper board or boards. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 230.0 011.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 230. All of said commissioners shall be qualified electors of the respective counties or parts of counties from which they may be chosen, except the one selected for the Louisville, New Orleans & Texas Railway Company; and the legislature shall provide that they shall each give bond for the faithful performance of his duties, and shall fix the penalty thereof; but the penalty of such bond in no instance shall be fixed at less than $10,000, and the sureties thereon shall be freeholders of the district. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 231.0 011.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 231. When the terms of the present levee commissioners shall expire, or whenever a vacancy shall occur or be about to occur, in either of said boards, the governor shall make appointments to fill vacancies, subject to the confirmation of the senate. The terms of office of said commissioners shall remain as provided by law at the adoption of this constitution, but, this provision shall not require the appointment of a commissioner for the Louisville, New Orleans & Texas Railway Company, except in the discretion of the governor as provided. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 232.0 011.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 232. The commissioners of said levee districts shall have supervision of the erection, repair and maintenance of the levees in their respective districts. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 233.0 011.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 233. The levee boards shall have and are hereby granted authority and full power to appropriate private property in their respective districts for the purpose of constructing, maintaining and repairing levees therein; and when any owner of land, or any other person interested therein, shall object to the location or building of the levee thereon, or shall claim compensation for any land that may be taken, or for any damages he may sustain in consequence thereof, the president or other proper officer or agent of such levee board, or owner of such land, or other person interested therein, may forthwith apply for an assessment of the damages to which said person claiming the same may be entitled whereupon the proceedings as now pro- visions by law shall be taken, viz: in the Mississippi Levee District, in accordance with the terms and provisions of section 3 of an act entitled " an act to amend an act to incorporate the Board of Levee Commissioners for Bolivar, Washington and Issaquena counties, and for other purposes," approved, November, 27, A. D., 1865, and to revise acts amendatory thereof, approved March 13, A. D. 1884; and in the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee District, in accordance with the terms and provisions of section three of an act entitled " an act to incorporate the board of levee commissioners for the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta, and for other purposes," approved February 28, A. D., 1884," and the amendments thereto: but the legislature shall have full power to alter and amend said several acts, and to provide different manners of procedure. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 234.0 011.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 234. No bill changing the boundaries of the district or affecting the taxation or revenue of the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee District, or the Mississippi Levee District, shall be considered by the legislature unless said bill shall have been published in some newspaper in the county in which is situated the domicile of the board of levee commissioners of the levee district to be affected thereby, for four weeks prior to the introduction thereof into the legislature; and no such bill shall be considered for final passage by either the senate or house of representatives, unless the same shall have been referred to, and reported on, by an appropriate committee of each house in which the same may be pending; and no such committee shall consider or report on any such bill unless publication thereof shall have been made as aforesaid. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 235.0 011.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 235. Each levee board shall make at the end of each fiscal year, to the governor of this State, a report showing the condition of the levees, and recommending such additional legislation on the subject of the system as shall be thought necessary, and showing the receipts and expenditures of the board, so that each item, the amount and consideration therefor, shall distinctly appear, together with such other matters as it shall be thought proper to call to the attention of the legislature. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 236.0 011.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 236. The legislature shall impose for levee purposes, in addition to the levee taxes heretofore levied or authorized by law, a uniform tax of not less than two nor more than five cents an acre, per annum, upon every acre of land now, or hereafter, embraced within the limits of either, or both, of said levee districts. The taxes so derived shall be paid into the treasury of the levee board of the district in which the land charged with the same is situated; and the legislature, by the act imposing said tax, shall authorize said levee boards to fix the annual rate of taxation per acre within the limits aforesaid, and thereby require said levee boards, whenever a reduction is made by them in their other taxes, to make a proportionate reduction in the acreage tax hereinbefore mentioned; but said acreage tax shall not be reduced below two cents an acre per annum; and all reductions in such taxation shall be uniform in each said districts; but the rate of taxation need not be the same in both of them; and such specific taxes shall be assessed on the same assessment roll, and collected under the same penalties as the ad valorem taxes for levee purposes, and shall be paid at the same time with the latter. And no levee board shall ever be permitted to buy lands when sold for taxes; but the senate shall have a prior lien for the taxes due thereto. The legislature may provide for the discontinuance of the tax on cotton, but not in such manner as to affect outstanding bonds based on it, and on the discontinuance of the tax on cotton, shall impose another tax in lieu thereof, but the legislature may repeal the acreage tax required to be levied hereby, after the first day of January, A. D., 1895. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 237.0 011.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 237. The legislature shall have full power to provide such system of taxation for said levee districts as it shall from time to time deem wise and proper. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 238.0 011.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 238. No property situated between the levee and the Mississippi river shall be taxed for levee purposes, nor shall damage be paid to any owner of land so situated because of it being left outside a levee. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 239.0 011.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 239. The legislature shall require the levee boards to publish at each of their sessions, an itemized account embracing their respective receipts since the prior session, and such appropriations is have been made or ordered by them respectively, in some newspaper or newspapers of the district. *** SEND *** *** AEND *** *** ASTART 012.0 MS 1890 *** ARTICLE 12 FRANCHISE *** SSTART 240.0 012.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 240. All elections by the people shall be by ballot. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 241.0 012.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 241. Every male inhabitant of this State, except idiots, insane persons and Indians not taxed, who is a citizen of the United States, twenty-one years old and upwards, who has resided in this State two years, and one year in the election district, or in the incorporated city or town, in which he offers to vote, and who is duly registered as provided in this article, and who has never been convicted of bribery, burglary, theft, arson, obtaining money or goods under false pretenses, perjury, forgery, embezzlement or bigamy, and who has paid, on or before the first day of February of the year in which he shall offer to vote, all taxes which may have been legally required of him, and which he has had an opportunity of paying according to law, for the two preceding years, and who shall produce to the officers holding the election satisfactory evidence that he has paid said taxes, is declared to be a qualified elector; but any minister of the gospel in charge of an organized church shall be entitled to vote after six months residence in the election district if otherwise qualified. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 242.0 012.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 242. The legislature shall provide by law for the registration of all persons entitled to vote at any election, and all persons offering to register shall take the following oath or affirmation: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I am twenty-one years old (or I will be before the next election in this county) and that I will have resided in this State two years, and election district of county one year next preceding the ensuing election [or if it be stated in the oath that the person proposing to register is a minister of the gospel in charge of an organized church, then it will be sufficient to aver therein, two years residence in the State and six months in said election district], and am now in good faith a resident of the same, and that I am not disqualified from voting by reason of having been convicted of any crime named in the constitution of this State as a disqualification to be an elector; that I will truly answer all questions propounded to me concerning my antecedents so far as they relate to my right to vote, and also as to my residence before my citizenship in this district; that I will faithfully support the constitution of the United States and of the State of Mississippi, and will bear true faith and allegiance to the same. So help me God." In registering voters in cities and towns, not wholly in one election district, the name of such city or town may be substituted in the oath for the election district. Any willful and corrupt false statement in said affidavit, or in answer to any material question propounded as herein authorized, shall be perjury. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 243.0 012.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 243. A uniform poll tax of two dollars, to be used in aid of the common schools, and for no other purpose, is hereby imposed on every male inhabitant of this State between the ages of twenty-one and sixty years, except persons who are deaf and dumb or blind, or who are maimed by loss of hand or foot; said tax to be a lien only upon taxable property. The board of supervisors of any county may, for the purpose of aiding the common schools in that county, increase the poll tax in said county, but in no case shall the entire poll tax exceed in any one year three dollars on each poll. No criminal proceedings shall be allowed to enforce the collection of the poll tax. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 244.0 012.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 244. On and after the first day of January, A. D., 1892, every elector shall, in addition to the foregoing qualifications, be able to read any section of the constitution of this State; or he shall be able to understand the same when read to him, or give a reasonable interpretation thereof. A new registration shall be made before the next ensuing election after January the first, A. D., 1892. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 245.0 012.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 245. Electors in municipal elections shall possess all the qualifications herein prescribed, and such additional qualifications as may be provided by law. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 246.0 012.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 246. Prior to the first day of January, A. D., 1896, the elections by the people in this State shall be regulated by an ordinance of this convention. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 247.0 012.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 247. The legislature shall enact laws to secure fairness in party primary elections, conventions or other methods of naming party candidates. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 248.0 012.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 248. Suitable remedies by appeal or otherwise shall be provided by law, to correct illegal or improper registration and to secure the elective franchise to those who may be illegally or improperly denied the same. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 249.0 012.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 249. No one shall be allowed to vote for members of the legislature or other officers who has not been duly registered under the constitution and laws of this State, by an officer of this State, legally authorized to register the voters thereof. And registration under the constitution and laws of this State by the proper officers of this State is hereby declared to be an essential and necessary qualification to vote at any and all elections. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 250.0 012.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 250. All qualified electors and no others shall be eligible to office as otherwise provided in this constitution. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 251.0 012.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 251. Electors shall not be registered within four months next before any election at which they may offer to vote; but appeals may be heard and determined and revision take place at any time prior to the election; and no person who, in respect to age and residence, would become entitled to vote, within the said four months, shall be excluded from registration on account of his want of qualification at the time of registration. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 252.0 012.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 252. The term of office of all elective officers under this constitution shall be four years, except as otherwise provided herein. A general election for all elective officers shall be held on the Tuesday next after the first Monday of November, A. D. 1895, and every four (4) years thereafter; provided, the legislature may change the day find date of general elections to any day and date in October, November or December. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 253.0 012.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 253. The legislature may by a two-thirds vote of both houses, of all members elected, restore the right of suffrage to any person disqualified by reason of crime; but the reasons therefor shall be spread upon the journals, and the vote shall be by yeas and nays. *** SEND *** *** AEND *** *** ASTART 013.0 MS 1890 *** ARTICLE 13 APPORTIONMENT *** SSTART 254.0 013.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 254. The number of representatives in the lower house of the legislature shall be one hundred and thirty-three, to be apportioned as follows: First--The counties of Choctaw, Covington, Greene, Hancock, Issaquena, Jones, Lawrence, Leflore, Marion, Neshoba, Pearl River, Perry, Quitman, Scott, Sharkey, Simpson, Smith, Sunflower, Tallahatchie, Tishomingo, Tunica, Wayne and Webster, each shall have one representative. Second--The counties of Alcorn, Amite, Attala, Bolivar, Calhoun, Carroll, Chickasaw, Clay, Coahoma, DeSoto, Kemper, Lafayette, Madison, Newton, Pike, Pontotoc, Prentiss, Rankin, Tate, Union, Wilkinson and Yalobusha, each shall have two representatives. Third--The counties of Copiah, Holmes, Marshall, Monroe, Noxubee, Panola, Warren and Washington, each shall have three representatives. Fourth--The counties of Franklin and Lincoln each shall have one representative and a floater between them. Fifth--The counties of Tippah and Benton each shall have one representative and a floater between them. Sixth--The counties of Claiborne and Jefferson each shall have one representative and a floater between them. Seventh--The counties of Clarke and Jasper each shall have one representative and a floater between them. Eighth--The counties, of Grenada and Montgomery, each shall have one representative and a floater between them. Ninth--The counties of Leake and Winston, each shall have one representative and a floater between them. Tenth--The counties of Harrison and Jackson, each shall have one representative and a floater between them. Eleventh--The county of Yazoo shall have three representatives and the county of Hinds shall have three representatives, and they shall have a floater between them. Twelfth--The county of Lauderdale shall have three representatives, one to be elected by the city of Meridian, one by the county outside the city limits, and one by the whole county including Meridian. Thirteenth--The county of Adams outside of the city of Natchez shall have one representative and the city of Natchez one representative. Fourteenth--The county of Lowndes shall have three representatives, two of whom shall be elected by that part of the county cast of the Tombigbee river, and one by that portion of the county west of said river. Fifteenth--The county of Oktibbeha shall have two representatives, one of whom shall be elected by that portion of the county east of the line running north and south between ranges thirteen and fourteen, and the other by that portion of the county west of said line. Sixteenth--The county of Lee shall have two representatives, the county of Itawamba one, and a floater between them. Seventeenth--In counties divided into legislative districts, any citizen of the county eligible for election to the House of Representatives shall be eligible to represent any district thereof. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 255.0 013.0 0 MS 1890 *** THE SENATE SEC. 255. The number of senators shall be forty-five and are apportioned as follows: First--The counties of Hancock, Harrison and Jackson shall constitute the first district, and elect one senator. Second--The counties of Wayne, Jones, Perry and Greene the second district, and elect one senator. Third--The counties of Jasper and Clarke the third district, and elect one senator. Fourth--The counties of Simpson, Covington, Marion and Pearl River, the fourth district, and elect one senator. Fifth--The counties of Rankin and Smith the fifth district and elect one senator. Sixth--The counties of Pike and Franklin the sixth district, and elect one senator. Seventh--The counties of Amite and Wilkinson the seventh district, and elect one senator. Eighth--The counties of Lincoln and Lawrence the eighth district, and elect one senator. Ninth--The county of Adams the ninth district, and elect one senator. Tenth--The counties of Claiborne and Jefferson the tenth district, and elect one senator. Eleventh--The county of Copiah the eleventh district, and elect one senator. Twelfth--The counties of Hinds and Warren the twelfth district, and elect one senator each and a senator between them, to be chosen from the counties alternately, beginning with Hinds. Thirteenth--The counties of Scott and Newton the thirteenth district, and elect one senator. Fourteenth--The county of Lauderdale, the fourteenth district, and elect one senator. Fifteenth--The counties of Kemper and Winston the fifteenth district, and elect one senator. Sixteenth--The county of Noxubee the sixteenth district, and elect one senator. Seventeenth--The counties of Leake and Neshoba the seventeenth district, and elect one senator. Eighteenth--The county of Madison the eighteenth district, and elect one senator. Nineteenth--The county of Yazoo the nineteenth district, and elect one senator. Twentieth--The counties of Sharkey and Issaquena the twentieth district, and elect one senator. Twenty-first--The county of Holmes the twenty-first district, and elect one senator. Twenty-second--The county of Attala the twenty-second district and elect one senator. Twenty-third--The counties of Oktibbeha and Choctaw the twenty-third district, and elect one senator. Twenty-fourth--The counties of Clay and Webster the twenty-fourth district, and elect one senator. Twenty-fifth-- The county of Lowndes the twenty-fifth district, and elect one senator. Twenty-sixth--The counties of Carroll and Montgomery the twenty-sixth district, and elect one senator. Twenty-seventh--The counties of Leflore and Tallahatchie the twenty-seventh district, and elect one senator. Twenty-eighth--The counties of Yalobusha and Grenada the twenty-eighth district, and elect one senator. Twenty-ninth--The counties of Washington and Sunflower the twenty-ninth district, and the county of Washington shall elect one senator, and the counties of Washington and Sunflower a senator between them. Thirtieth--The county of Bolivar the thirtieth district, and elect one senator. Thirty-first--The counties of Chickasaw, Calhoun and Pontotoc the thirty-first district and elect two senators; both senators shall at no time be chosen from the same county. Thirty-second--The county of Lafayette the thirty-second district, and elect one senator. Thirty-third -- the county of Panola the thirty-third district, and elect one senator. Thirty-fourth --The counties of Coahoma, Tunica and Quitman the thirty-fourth district, and elect one senator. Thirty-fifth--The county of DeSoto the thirty-fifth district, and elect one senator. Thirty-sixth --The counties of Union, Tippah, Benton, Marshall and Tate the thirty-sixth district and elect three senators. The counties of Tate and Benton shall be entitled to one; the counties of Union and Tippah one; and the county of Marshall one. Thirty-seventh--The counties of Tishomingo, Alcorn and Prentiss the thirty-seventh district, and elect one senator. Thirty-eighth--The counties of Monroe, Lee and Itawamba the thirty-eighth district, and elect two senators, one of whom shall be a resident of the county of Monroe and the other a resident of Lee or Itawamba counties. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 256.0 013.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 256. The Legislature may at the first session after the State census of 1895 and decennially thereafter, make a new apportionment of Senators and Representatives. At each apportionment, each county then organized shall have at least one Representative. New counties afterwards created shall be represented as may be provided by law, until the next succeeding apportionment. The counties of Tishomingo, Alcorn, Prentiss, Lee, Itawamba, Tippah, Union, Benton, Marshall, Lafayette, Pontotoc, Monroe, Chickasaw, Calhoun, Yalobusha, Grenada, Carroll, Montgomery, Choctaw, Webster, Clay, Lowndes and Oktibbeha, or the territory now composing them, shall together never have less than forty-four representatives. The counties of Attala, Winston, Noxubee, Kemper, Leake, Neshoba, Lauderdale, Newton, Scott, Rankin, Clarke, Jasper, Smith, Simpson, Copiah, Franklin, Lincoln, Lawrence, Covington, Jones, Wayne. Greene, Perry, Marion, Pike, Pearl River, Hancock, Harrison and Jackson , or the territory now composing them, shall together never have less than forty-four representatives; nor shall the remaining counties of the State, or the territory now composing them, ever have less than forty-four representatives. A reduction in the number of senators and representatives may be made by the legislature if the same be uniform in each of the three said divisions; but the number of representatives shall not be less than one hundred, nor more than one hundred and thirty-three; nor the number of senators less than thirty, nor more than forty- five. *** SEND *** *** AEND *** *** ASTART 014.0 MS 1890 *** ARTICLE 14 GENERAL PROVISIONS *** SSTART 257.0 014.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 257. The political year of the State of Mississippi shall commence on the first Monday of January in each year. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 258.0 014.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 258. The credit of the State shall not be pledged or loaned in aid of any person, association or corporation; and the State shall not become a stockholder in any corporation or association, nor assume, redeem, secure or pay any indebtedness or pretended indebtedness alleged to be due by the State of Mississippi, to any person, association or corporation whatsoever, claiming the same as owners holders or assignee's of any bond or bonds, now generally known as "Union Bank" bonds and "Planters' Bank" bonds. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 259.0 014.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 259. No county seat shall be removed unless such removal be authorized by two-thirds of the electors of the county voting therefor; but when the proposed removal shall be towards the center of the county, it may be made when a majority of the electors participating in the election shall vote therefor. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 260.0 014.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 260. No new county shall be formed unless a majority of the qualified electors voting in each part of the county or counties proposed to be dismembered and embraced in the new county, shall separately vote therefor; nor shall the boundary of any judicial district in a county be changed unless at an election held for that purpose, two-thirds of those voting assent thereto. The elections provided for in this and the section next preceding shall not be held in any county oftener than once in four years. No new county shall contain less than four hundred square miles; nor shall any existing county be reduced below that size. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 261.0 014.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 261. The expenses of criminal prosecutions, except those before justices of the peace, shall be borne by the county in which such prosecutions shall be begun; and all net fines and forfeitures shall be paid into the treasury of such county. Defendants in cases of conviction may be taxed with the costs. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 262.0 014.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 262. The board of supervisors shall have power to provide homes or farms as asylums for those persons, who, by reason of age, infirmity, or misfortune, may have claims upon the sympathy and aid of society; and the legislature shall enact suitable laws to prevent abuses by those having the care of such persons. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 263.0 014.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 263. The marriage of a white person with a negro or mulatto, or person who shall have one- eighth or more of negro blood, shall be unlawful and void. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 264.0 014.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 264. No person shall be a grand or petit juror unless a qualified elector and able to read and write; but the want of any such qualification in any juror shall not vitiate any indictment or verdict. The legislature shall provide by law for procuring a list of persons so qualified, and the drawing therefrom of grand and petit jurors for each term of the circuit court. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 265.0 014.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 265. No person who denies the existence of a Supreme Being shall hold any office in this State. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 266.0 014.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 266. No person holding or exercising the rights or powers of any office of honor or profit, either in his own right, or as a deputy, or while otherwise acting for or in the name, or by the authority of another, under any foreign government, or under the government of the United States, shall hold or exercise in any way the rights and powers of any office of honor or profit under the laws or authority of this State, except notaries, commissioners of deeds, and United States commissioners. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 267.0 014.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 267. No person elected or appointed to any office or employed for profit under the laws of this State or by virtue of any ordinance of any municipality of this State, shall hold such office or employment without personally devoting his time to the performance of the duties thereof. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 268.0 014.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 268. All officers elected or appointed to any office in this State, except judges and members of the legislature, shall, before entering upon the discharge of the duties thereof, take and subscribe the following oath: " I ------------ do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully support the constitution of the United States, and the constitution of the State of Mississippi, and obey the laws thereof; that I am not disqualified from holding the office of -----; that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter. So help me God." *** SEND *** *** SSTART 269.0 014.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 269. Every devise or bequest of lands, tenements or hereditaments, or any interest therein, of freehold, or less than freehold, either present or future, vested or contingent, or of any money directed to be raised by the sale thereof, contained in any last will and testament, or codicil, or other testamentary writing, in favor of any religious or ecclesiastical corporation, sole or aggregate, or any association of person, or to any person or body politic, in trust, either expressed or implied, secret or resulting, either for the use and benefit of such religious corporation, society, denomination or association, or for the purpose of being given or appropriated to charitable uses or purposes, shall be null and void, and the heir-at-large shall take the same property so devised or bequeathed, as though no testamentary disposition has been made. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 270.0 014.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 270. Every legacy, gift or bequest, of money or personal property, or of any interest, benefit or use therein, either direct, implied or otherwise, contained in any last will and testament or codocil, in favor of any religious or ecclesiastical corporation, sole or aggregate, or any religious or ecclesiastical society, or to any religious denomination or association, either for its own use or benefit, or for the purpose of being given or appropriated to charitable uses, shall be null and void, and the distributees shall take the same as though no such testamentary disposition had been made. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 271.0 014.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 271. The legislature may provide for the consolidation of existing counties, if a majority of the qualified electors of such counties voting at an election held for that purpose, shall vote therefor. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 272.0 014.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 272. The legislature shall provide by law, pensions for indigent soldiers and sailors who enlisted and honorably served in the Confederate army or navy in the late civil war, who are now resident in this State, and are not able to earn a support by their own labor. Pensions shall also be allowed to the indigent widows of such soldiers or sailors now dead, when from age or disease, they cannot earn a support. Pensions shall also be allowed to the wives of such soldiers or sailors upon the death of the husband, if disabled and indigent as aforesaid. Pensions granted to widows shall cease upon their subsequent marriage. *** SEND *** *** AEND *** *** ASTART 015.0 MS 1890 *** ARTICLE 15 AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION *** SSTART 273.0 015.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 273. Whenever two-thirds of each house of the legislature shall deem any change, alteration, or amendment necessary to this constitution, such proposed change, alteration or amendment shall be read and passed by a two-third's vote of each house respectively, on each day, for three several days; public notice shall then be given by the secretary of state, at least three months preceding an election, at which the qualified electors shall vote directly for or against such change, alteration or amendment; and if more than one amendment shall be submitted at one time, they shall be submitted in such manner and form that the people may vote for or against each amendment separately; and if it shall appear that a majority of the qualified electors voting, shall have voted for the proposed change, alteration or amendment, then it shall be inserted by the next succeeding legislature as a part of this constitution, and not other wise. *** SEND *** *** AEND *** *** ASTART 9003.0 MS 1890 *** SCHEDULE *** SSTART 274.0 9003.0 0 MS 1890 *** That no inconvenience may arise from the changes in the Constitution of this State, and in order to carry the new Constitution into complete operation, it is hereby declared that SEC. 274. The laws of this State now in force, not repugnant to this constitution, shall remain in force until amended or repealed by the legislature or until they expire by limitation. All statute laws of this State repugnant to the provisions of this constitution, except as provided in the next three sections, shall continue and remain in force until the first day of April, A. D., 1892, unless sooner repealed by the legislature. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 275.0 9003.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 275. All laws of this State which are repugnant to the following portions of this constitution, shall be repeated by the adoption of this constitution, to-wit: laws repugnant to: (a) All the ordinances of this convention. (b) The provisions of section 183, prohibiting counties, cities and towns from voting subscriptions to railroad and other corporations or associations. (c) The provisions of sections 223 to 226, inclusive, of Article 10, prohibiting the leasing of penitentiary convicts. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 276.0 9003.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 276. All laws of the State which are repugnant to the Provisions of sections 240 to 253, inclusive, of Article 12, on the subject of franchise and elections, shall be and remain in force until the first day of January, A.D., 1891 and no longer. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 277.0 9003.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 277. All laws of this State which are repugnant to the provisions of Article 13, sections 254 to 256, inclusive, on the subject of the apportionment of representatives and senators in the legislature, shall be and remain in force until the first day of October, A. D., 1891, but no longer. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 278.0 9003.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 278. The governor shall as soon as practicable, appoint three suitable persons learned in the law, as commissioners whose duty it shall be to prepare and draft such general laws as are contemplated in this constitution and such other laws as shall be necessary and proper to put into operation the provisions thereof, and as may be appropriate to conform the general of the State to the constitution. Said commissioners shall present the same when prepared to the legislature at its next regular session. And the legislature shall provide reasonable compensation therefor. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 279.0 9003.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 279. All writs, actions, causes of action, proceedings, prosecutions and rights of individuals and bodies corporate and of the State, and charters of incorporation, shall continue; and all indictments which shall have been found or which shall hereafter be found, and all prosecutions begun, or that may be begun, for any crime or offense committed before the adoption of this constitution may be proceeded with and upon as if no change had taken place. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 280.0 9003.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 280. For the trial and determination of all suits, civil and criminal, begun before the adoption of this constitution, the several courts of this State shall continue to exercise in said suits, the powers and jurisdictions heretofore exercised by them; for all other matters said courts are continued as organized courts under this constitution, with such powers and jurisdiction as is herein conferred on them respectively. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 281.0 9003.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 281. All fines, penalties, forfeitures and escheats accruing to the State of Mississippi under the constitution and laws heretofore in force shall accrue to the use of the State of Mississippi under this constitution, except as herein otherwise provided. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 282.0 9003.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 282. All recognizances, bonds, obligations, and all other instruments entered into, or executed, before the adoption of this constitution, to the State of Mississippi, or to any State, county, public or municipal officer or body, hall remain binding and valid, and the rights and liabilities upon the same shall be continued and may be prosecuted as provided by law. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 283.0 9003.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 283. All crimes and misdemeanors, and penal actions shall be tried, prosecuted and punished as though no change had taken place, until otherwise provided by law. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 284.0 9003.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 284. All officers, State, district, county and municipal, now in office in this State, shall be entitled to hold the respective offices now held by them, except as otherwise herein provided, and until the expiration of the time for which they were respectively elected or appointed; and shall receive the compensation and fees now fixed by the statute laws in force when this constitution is adopted. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 285.0 9003.0 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 285. The adoption of this constitution shall not have the effect, nor shall it be construed, to revive or put in force any law heretofore abrogated or repealed. This Constitution, adopted by the people of Mississippi in convention assembled, shall be in force and effect from and after this, the first day of November, A. D., 1890. S. S. CALHOON, President and Delegate from Hinds county. ATTEST: R. E. WILSON, Secretary. R L. MARTIN, Ass't Sec'y and Recording Clerk. H. DENIO Ass't Sec'y and Journal Clerk. W. H. MADDEN, Ass't Sec'y, and Engrossing and Enrolling Clerk. *** SEND *** *** AEND *** *** ASTART 9023.0 MS 1890 *** ORDINANCES *** SSTART 001.0 9023.1 0 MS 1890 *** Election Ordinances Be it ordained by the people of Mississippi in Convention assembled- SECTION 1. All ballots in all elections held in this State shall be printed and distributed at public expense, as hereinafter provided, and shall be known as " official ballots." The expense of printing all such ballots shall be paid out of the respective county treasuries, except that in municipal elections such expenses shall be paid by the respective cities or towns. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 002.0 9023.1 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 2. The ballots printed for use under this ordinance shall contain the names of all the candidates who have been put in nomination not less than fifteen days previous to the day of election, by any convention, or other nominating body, or at a primary election of any political party in this State. It shall be the duty of one of the commissioners of election, designated for that purpose in his commission by the authority appointing said commissioner, to have printed all necessary ballots for use in said elections, except ballots in municipal elections, which shall be printed as herein provided by the authorities of the respective municipalities; and said officer shall cause to be printed by a printer, sworn to keep secret said ballots under penalties to be prescribed by law, the names of all candidates so nominated, upon the written request of any one or more of the candidates so nominated, or of any qualified elector who will affirm that he was a member of such convention or other nominating body, or participant in such primary election, and that the name presented by him was the nominee of said convention or nominating body, or primary election. Said commissioner shall also cause to be printed on said ballots the name of any qualified elector who has been requested to be a candidate for any office by a written petition signed by at least fifteen qualified electors, for any beat office or municipal office in any town of less than two hundred inhabitants, or fifty qualified electors for any other office, and when said petition or request has been presented to said commissioner not less than fifteen days before the election; but if any qualified elector has been nominated as aforesaid or has been requested to be a candidate as above specified less than fifteen says before any election, then the name of such candidates shall not be printed upon said ballots. There shall be on said ballots one blank space under the title of each office to be voted for and in the event of the death of any candidate whose name shall have been printed, on the official ballot, the name of the candidate duly substituted in place of such deceased candidate may be written in such blank space by the voter. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 003.0 9023.1 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 3. After the proper officer has been notified of the nomination, as hereinbefore specified, of any candidate for office, said officer shall not omit the name from the ballot unless upon the written request of the candidate so nominated made at least ten days before the election. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 004.0 9023.1 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 4. Every ballot printed by virtue of this ordinance shall contain the names of all candidates nominated as hereinbefore specified and not duly withdrawn. The arrangement of the names of all of the candidates and the order in which the titles of the various officers to be voted for shall be made, and the size, print and quality of the official ballot, is left to the judgement of the officer charged with printing said ballots; but the arrangement need not be uniform. It shall be the duty of the secretary of state, with the approval of the governor, to furnish the commissioners of the several counties a sample of an official ballot, the general form of which shall be followed as nearly as practicable. Whenever the question of a constitutional amendment or other question or matter, admitting of an affirmative or negative vote, is submitted to a vote of the electors, such amendment, question or matter shall be printed on said official ballot, together with the names of the candidates, if any, and also the words yea and nay, to be arranged by the proper officer so that the voter can intelligently vote his preference by making a cross-mark (x) opposite the word indicating his preference; immediately following the title of each office shall be printed the words "Vote for one," or "Vote for two," or more according to the number to be elected. On the back, and outside of the ballot hall be printed "official ballot," the name of the voting precinct or place for which said ballot is prepared and the date of the election. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 005.0 9023.1 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 5. All official ballots intended for use at any voting precinct or place of voting shall be fastened together in convenient numbers and in some secure manner, but in such way that such ballots may be detached for use. A record of the number of official ballots printed and furnished to each voting precinct or place of voting shall be kept and all such ballots accounted for by the officer or officers in each county charged with the printing of ballots. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 006.0 9023.1 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 6. The officers charged with distributing or printing and distributing the official ballots, shall ascertain from the circuit clerk or other proper officer, at least ten days before the day of election, the number of registered voters in each election district, and shall also prepare full instructions for the guidance of electors at elections as to obtaining ballots, as to the manner of marking them, and as to obtaining new ballots in place of those accidentally spoiled, and such instruction shall be printed in large, clear type, on "card of instruction," and said commissioners shall furnish the same in sufficient numbers for the use of electors, and said cards shall be preserved by all officers of elections as far as practicable, and returned by them to the commissioners of election and may be used, if applicable, in subsequent elections. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 007.0 9023.1 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 7. The said commissioner of election shall appoint one or more deputy commissioners, from the respective election districts and deliver to them the proper number of ballots and cards of instruction, not less than one day before the election, and the deputy commissioners so selected to receive said ballots, shall be conservators of the peace and shall take an oath, to be administered by said commissioner, faithfully to perform their duties and not to attempt to guide, direct or influence any voter in the exercise of his right to vote. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 008.0 9023.1 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 8. In case the official ballot prepared, shall be lost or destroyed, or in case of the death of any candidate whose name has been printed on the official ballot, the said commissioner, or his deputy shall have like ballots furnished in place of those lost or destroyed, if time remains therefor. If from any cause there should be no official ballot at a precinct and no sufficient time in which to have them printed, such ballots may be written, but if written by any one except the voter alone, for himself, the names of all candidates shall be written thereon without any special mark or device by which one name may be distinguished from another, and such tickets shall be marked by the voter as provided for printed ballots. Within three days after election day the inspectors shall report in writing to the commissioners of election, under oath, the loss of the official ballots, the number lost, and all facts connected therewith, which report the commissioners may deliver to the grand jury if deemed advisable. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 009.0 9023.1 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 9. The deputy commissioners receiving the ballots from said commissioner shall distribute the same to the electors of the proper districts in the manner herein provided; and in case the said deputy commissioner shall fail to have said ballots at the election precincts at the proper time, or, if there, he shall fail to distribute the same, the inspectors of election, or those of them present it the election, shall provide said ballots and select some suitable person to distribute the same according to law, who shall take the oath required to be taken by the person to whom the said commissioner delivered said ballots, to be administered by any one of said inspectors. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 010.0 9023.1 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 10. The sheriffs of the several counties in this State shall procure for their respective counties a sufficient number of voting compartments, shelves and tables for the use of electors, which shall be so arranged that it shall be impossible for one voter at one table, shelf or compartment to see another voter who is preparing his ballot. The number of such voting shelves, tables or compartments, shall not be less than one for every one hundred electors at each voting precinct. Each shelf, table and compartment, shall be furnished with a card of instruction posted in each compartment, and proper supplies for marking the ballots by electors. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 011.0 9023.1 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 11. The deputy commissioners having the official ballots shall remain at a place convenient to the tables, shelves and compartments, for the distribution of ballots. When requested by each of the voters, the deputy commissioners aforesaid shall hand him an official ballot. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 012.0 9023.1 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 12. On receiving his ballot the voter shall forthwith go into one of the voting compartments, and shall prepare his ballot by marking with ink in the appropriate margin or place, a cross (x) opposite the name of the candidate of his choice, for each office to be filled, or by filling in the name of the candidate substituted in the blank space as provided therefor, and marking a cross (x) opposite thereto, and likewise a cross (x) opposite the answer he desires to give in case of an election or a constitutional amendment or other question or matter. Before leaving the voting shelf, table or compartment, the voter shall fold his ballot without displaying, the marks thereon, but so that the words "official ballot," followed by the designation of the election precinct for which the ballot is prepared and the date of the election, shall be visible to the officers of the election. He shall then cast his ballot in the manner provided by law which shall be done without undue delay, and the voter shall then quit the said inclosed place as soon as he has voted. No voter shall be allowed to occupy a voting shelf, table, or compartment already occupied by another voter, nor longer than ten minutes if other voters are not waiting, nor longer than five minutes in case other voters are waiting. No person shall be allowed in the room which said ballot boxes or compartments, tables and shelves are, except the officers of election and the person distributing the ballots, and those appointed by the officers holding the election, to aid them therein. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 013.0 9023.1 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 13. No person shall take or remove any ballot from a polling place before the close of the polls. If any voter spoils a ballot he may obtain others, one at a time, not exceeding three in all, upon returning each spoiled one. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 014.0 9023.1 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 14. Any voter who declares to the person or persons having the official ballots that by reason of blindness or other physical disability he is unable to mark his ballot, shall upon request secure the assistance of said person or one of the election inspectors in the marking thereof, and such person or officer shall certify on the outside of said ballot that it was marked with his assistance and shall not otherwise, give information in regard to the same. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 015.0 9023.1 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 15. If the voter marks more names than there are persons to be elected to an office, or if for any reason it is impossible to determine from the ballot the voter's choice for any office voted for, his ballot so cast shall not be counted. No ballot not provided in accordance with this ordinance shall be deposited or counted. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 016.0 9023.1 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 16. Any voter who shall, except as herein provided, allow his ballot to be seen by any person, or who shall make a false statement as to his inability to mark his ballot, or who shall place any mark upon his ballot by which it may be afterwards identified as the one voted by him, or any person who shall interfere or attempt to interfere with any voter when inside said inclosed space or when marking his ballot, or who shall endeavor to induce any voter before voting to show how he marks or has marked his ballot, shall be punished by a fine of not less than twenty- five nor more than one hundred dollars, and the election officers shall cause any person so doing to be arrested and carried before the proper officer or tribunal for commitment and trial for such offense. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 017.0 9023.1 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 17. Any commissioner of election, or any other officer or person acting as such or performing election duty, who shall wilfully or knowingly refuse or fail to perform the duties herein required of him, or who shall violate any provision of this ordinance, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and be subject to a fine of not less than twenty-five nor more than one hundred dollars, or to imprisonment in the county jail not less than ten nor more than ninety days, or both, at the discretion of the court. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 018.0 9023.1 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 18. The legislature shall have power to enact, laws on the subjects of this ordinance, necessary for its efficiency, and not inconsistent with its true intent and meaning. After January 1st, 1896, this ordinance may be repealed or amended by the legislature; but shall not be amended so as to conflict with any provisions of this constitution. All laws and parts of laws in conflict with any of the provisions of this ordinance are hereby annulled, and this ordinance shall take effect and be in force from and after the first day of January, A. D., 1891. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 019.0 9023.1 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 19. The boards of supervisors of the several counties, and the municipal authorities of the cities and towns of the State, are authorized to allow reasonable compensation to officers for services under this ordinance. Adopted by the Convention November 1, 1890. S. S. CALHOON, President. Attest: R. E. WILSON, Secretary. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 001.0 9023.2 0 MS 1890 *** An Ordinance extending terms of State officers Be it ordained by the people of Mississippi in Convention assembled- SECTION 1. The terms of the following State officers, to-wit: governor, lieutenant-governor, attorney-general, treasurer, auditor, secretary of state, superintendent of education and clerk of the supreme court, are hereby extended until the first Monday in January, 1896; and vacancies in the offices, the terms of which are hereby extended, shall be filled by appointment by the governor except as otherwise provided in this constitution. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 002.0 9023.2 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 2. The persons whose terms of office are hereby extended shall be ineligible to immediately succeed themselves. And all bonded officers whose terms are hereby extended shall execute new official bonds on or before the date at which, but for this extension, their present terms of office would have expired; and in case of any failure to execute such bond the office shall thereby become vacant. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 003.0 9023.2 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 3. A general election shall be held under this constitution on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, 1891, for three railroad commissioners and for members of the legislature, district attorneys, and county and county district officers, whose terms shall expire on the first Monday in January, A. D., 1896. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 004.0 9023.2 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 4. There shall be a registration of the electors qualified under such provisions of this Constitution which are operative prior to the election in 1891, and such registration shall be made by the proper officers, and in the manner now prescribed by law when the same is not inconsistent with the provisions of the Constitution operative as aforesaid, and when repugnant, then according to the provisions thereof. The Board of Supervisors of the several counties shall provide proper registration books with the oath required by Section 242 of this Constitution. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 001.0 9023.3 0 MS 1890 *** An Ordinance making an appropriation to defray the expenses of the Convention Be it ordained by the people of Mississippi in Convention assembled- SECTION 1. That there is hereby appropriated out of any moneys in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, a sum sufficient to defray the expenses of the convention; and the auditor of public accounts is authorized to issue his warrants upon the treasurer, and the treasurer is authorized to pay the same for such sums as the Convention may direct and duly certify through its proper officers. Adopted by the Convention October 4, 1890. S. S. CALHOON, President. Attest : R. E. WILSON, Secretary. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 001.0 9023.4 0 MS 1890 *** An Ordinance to provide for raising money to defray the expenses of the Convention Be it ordained by the People of Mississippi in Convention assembled: SECTION 1. That the State Treasurer be authorized, with the consent and approval of the Governor, if it shall be deemed necessary, to negotiate a loan of not exceeding fifty thousand dollars, for a period of not more than four month, on such reasonable terms as the Governor shall approve, for the purpose of defraying the expenses of the Convention and for replacing moneys used for that purpose. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 002.0 9023.4 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 2. That the faith of the State be pledged for the repayment of such loan; and the Treasurer is hereby authorized to hypothecate the $46,000 of unsold bonds issued in pursuance of the act approved March 15, 1884, and to sell the same for the purpose of raising the money to pay such loans, if he and the Governor shall deem the same necessary or proper. Adopted by the Convention October 8, 1890. S. S. CALHOON, President. Attest: R. E. WILSON, Secretary. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 001.0 9023.5 0 MS 1890 *** Penitentiary Ordinance Be it ordained by the people Of Mississippi in Convention assembled- SECTION 1. With the view of enabling the legislature at its next session to have before it the necessary information upon which to act, if it should determine to establish a penitentiary farm, it is made the duty of the governor to appoint five commissioners, who shall, prior to the next session of the legislature, carefully inspect such bodies of land as may be thought suitable for such location; and who shall make report to the governor as to the several advantages of the bodies of land inspected by them and as to the propriety of establishing such farm or some other system, and as to the advantages of each, cost, and other proper matters, to be laid by the governor before the legislature with such recommendation as he may see proper to make. Adopted by the Convention November 1, 1890. S. S. CALHOON, President. Attest: R. E. WILSON, Secretary. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 001.0 9023.6 0 MS 1890 *** Land Commissioner Ordinance Be it ordained by the people of Mississippi in Convention assembled- SECTION 1. The legislature at its next regular session shall provide for the election of a land commissioner at the general election to be held in 1895 whose term of office shall be four years, and whose only compensation shall be a salary to be fixed by law. He shall have charge of the swamp and overflowed lands, the internal improvement lands, the records of the office of surveyor-general turned over by the United States to this State, the Chickasaw school lands, the sixteenth section and indemnity lands for the sixteenth section outside of the Chickasaw cession, the lands forfeited for non-payment of taxes after the time allowed for exemption shall have expired, and of all other public lands and land records in this State not otherwise provided for. The legislature shall enact such other laws as shall be necessary to fully carry this ordinance into effect; and shall have power to abolish said office when the interests of the State demand it, or may add to any of the duties assigned to such officer. Adopted by the Convention November 1, 1890. S. S. CALHOON, President. Attest: R. E. WILSON, Secretary. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 001.0 9023.7 0 MS 1890 *** Be it ordained by the people of Mississippi in Convention assembled- WHEREAS, Doubts have arisen as to the title of original purchasers of certain swamp and overflowed lands by reason of the entry of said lands with the land scrip of counties other than the county in which said lands were situated; and WHEREAS, By act of the legislature of the State of Mississippi approved February 17, 1890, "all persons now holding swamp lands under such invalid purchase shall have the right to purchase the same for a period of two years at the uniform price of 12 1/2 cents per acre" upon the terms required by said act; therefore SECTION 1. Be it ordained that the State of Mississippi hereby waives the payment of said sum named in said act, and disclaims any interest or title in and to the said lands on account of erroneous locations thereof. Adopted by the Convention November 1st, 1890. S. S. CALHOON, President. Attest: R. E. WILSON, Secretary. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 001.0 9023.8 0 MS 1890 *** Levee Ordinances Be it ordained by the people of Mississippi in Convention assembled- SECTION 1. For the purpose of raising the money necessary to repair, elevate, strengthen and complete the levees along the Mississippi river, within the Mississippi Levee District, composed of the counties of Bolivar, Washington, Issaquena and Sharkey, and a part of Warren county, the board of Mississippi levee commissioners are hereby authorized to issue lithographed or engraved bonds to the amount of five hundred thousand dollars, in such form, bearing such rate of interest and payable at such time, as it may determine, with coupons for interest attached, and to dispose of the same from time to time as may be necessary; but such bonds shall not run for a longer time than fifty years, nor bear a rate of interest exceeding six per centum per annum, payable semi-annually in the city of New York. The signatures to the said coupons may be lithographed, but all such bonds so issued shall be signed by the president of said board, coun- tersigned by its treasurer with the corporate seal of the board attached, numbered consecutively, and registered in a book to be kept for that purpose. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 002.0 9023.8 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 2. The corporate organization of the board of Mississippi levee commissioners, and the tax herein directed to be levied, together with the taxes heretofore levied or authorized by the legislature for levee purposes, shall be continued to the extent and according to the terms of the several laws levying or authorizing said taxes until all the bonds issued by virtue of and under the authority contained in the preceding section of this ordinance are paid off and discharged; and said taxes are pledged for the payment thereof and of the coupons of interest thereto attached, subject however to the provisions of this Constitution. Adopted by the Convention November 1, 1890. S. S. CALHOON, President. Attest: R. E. WILSON, Secretary. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 001.0 9023.9 0 MS 1890 *** An Ordinance to provide for representation of Pearl River county in the legislature in the event of a called session thereof Be it ordained by the people of Mississippi in Convention assembled- SECTION 1. That in case the governor shall convene the legislature in extraordinary session before the next general election to be held under this constitution, the board of supervisors of Pearl River county shall order an election therein for a member of the house of representatives, to be held not less than ten days before the assembling of the legislature, and under the rules and regulations now prescribed by law for holding such elections; and said county shall be entitled to one representative in the lower house of the legislature in such extraordinary session, if called. Adopted by the Convention November 1, 1890. S. S. CALHOON, President. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 001.0 9023.10 0 MS 1890 *** An Ordinance assigning the county of Pearl River of the Sixth Congressional District Be it ordained by the people of Mississippi in Convention assembled- SECTION 1. That the county of Pearl River as created by the act approved February 22, 1890, be and the same is hereby attached to and shall become a part of the Sixth Congressional District of this State, until otherwise provided by law; and that the qualified electors of said county be, and they are hereby authorized and empowered to vote at the next ensuing election for members of Congress from the said Sixth District, at the same time and in the same manner, as other qualified electors in the other counties now attached to, and composing the Sixth District. Adopted by the Convention August 21, 1890. S. S. CALHOON, President. Attest: R. E. WILSON, Secretary. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 001.0 9023.11 0 MS 1890 *** An Ordinance to legalize the assessment in Pearl River county, during the year 1890, and to authorize a new assessment of lands therein during the year 1891 Be it ordained by the people of Mississippi in Convention assembled- SECTION 1. That the board of supervisors of Pearl River county shall hold a meeting at the court-house of said county on the first Monday in January, 1891, for the purpose of hearing complaints against the assessment of real estate of said county; and all persons having cause of complaint against said assessment, are required to present the same on or before said day, after being considered as above provided, and all complaints passed on, and said assessment bing then approved shall be binding and conclusive. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 002.0 9023.11 0 MS 1890 *** SEC. 2. That the board of supervisors of Pearl River county is authorized, in its discretion, to have made an assessment of the lands of said county during the year 1891 in the same manner in all respects as is provided by law for a general assessment of lands; which assessment when so made, and approved by the board of supervisors, shall have the same force and effect as though made at the time fixed by law for the assessment of lands. Adopted by the Convention November 1, 1890. S. S. CALHOON, President. Attest: R. E. WILSON, Secretary. *** SEND *** *** SSTART 001.0 9023.12 0 MS 1890 *** Exemption Ordinance Be it ordained by the people of Mississippi in Convention assembled- SECTION 1. That all permanent factories hereafter established in this State while this section is in force, for working cotton, wool, silk, furs or metals, and all others manufacturing implements or articles of use in a finished state, shall be exempt from taxation for a period of ten years. Any factory which has been abandoned for not less than three years, and commencing operations within two years from the date of the adoption of this constitution, shall be entitled to such exemption. This section may be repealed or amended by the legislature after five years, and if not so repealed, shall remain in force until January 1st, 1900, and no longer. S. S. CALHOON, President. Attest : R. E. WILSON, Secretary *** SEND *** *** AEND *** *** MSTART 001 232.0 011.0 0 MS 1890 1900 *** The commissioners of said levee districts shall have supervision of the erection, repair and maintenance of the levees in their respective districts, and shall have power to cede all their rights of way and levees and the maintenance, management and control thereof to the government of the United States. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 002 206.0 008.0 0 MS 1890 1904 *** Section 206. There shall be a county common school fund, which shall consist of the poll tax to be retained in the counties where the same is collected, and a state common school fund to be taken from the general fund in the state treasury, which together shall be sufficient to maintain the common schools for a longer time than the term of four months. The state common school fund shall be distributed among the several counties and separate school districts in proportion to the number of educable children in each, to be determined from data collected through the office of the state superintendent of education in the manner prescribed by law. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 003 066.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 1908 *** Section 66. No law granting a donation or gratuity in favor of any person or object shall be enacted except by the concurrence of two-thirds of the members elect of each branch of the legislature, nor by any vote for a sectarian purpose or use. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 004 036.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 1912 *** Section 36. The Legislature shall meet at the seat of government in regular session on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in January of the year A.D. 1912, and every two years thereafter, unless sooner convened by the Governor. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 005 153.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 1912 *** Section 153. The judges of the circuit and chancery courts shall be elected by the people in a manner and at a time to be provided by the legislature and the judges shall hold their offices for a term of four years. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 006 273.0 015.0 0 MS 1890 1912 *** Section 273. Whenever two-thirds of each House of the Legislature shall deem any change, alteration or amendment necessary to this Constitution, such proposed amendment, change or alteration shall be read and passed by two-thirds votes of each House, respectively on each day, for three several days; public notice shall then be given by the Secretary of State at least three months preceding an election, at which the qualified electors shall vote directly for or against such change, alteration or amendment, and if more than one amendment shall be submitted at one time they shall be submitted in such manner and form that the people may vote for or against each amendment separately; and if it shall appear that a majority of the qualified electors voting shall have voted for the proposed change, alteration or amendment, then it shall be inserted at the next session of the Legislature as a part of the Constitution and not otherwise. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 007 145.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 1916 *** Section 145. The supreme court shall consist of three judges, any two of whom when convened shall form a quorum. The legislature shall divide the state into three supreme court districts, and there shall be elected one judge for and from each district by the qualified electors thereof at a time and in the manner provided by law; but the removal of a judge to the state capital during his term of office shall not render him ineligible as his own successor for the district from which he has removed. The present incumbents shall be considered as holding their terms of office from the state at large. The adoption of this amendment shall not abridge the terms of any of the present incumbents, but they shall continue to hold their respective offices until the expiration of the terms for which they were respectively appointed. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 008 165.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 1916 *** Sec. 165. No judge of any curt hall preside on the trial of any cause, where the parties or either of them, shall be connected with him by affinity or consanguinity, or where h may be interested in the same, except by the consent of the judge and of the parties. Whenever any judge of the supreme court or the judge or chancellor of any district in this state shall, for any reason, be unable or disqualified to preside at any term of court, or in any case where the attorneys engaged therein shall not agree upon a member of the bar to preside in his place, the governor may commissioner another, or others, of law knowledge to preside at such term or during such disability or disqualification in the place o the judge or judges so disqualified. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 009 149.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 1916 *** Sec. 149. The term of office of the judges of the supreme curt shall be eight (8) years. The legislature shall provide as near as can be conveniently done that the offices of not more than a majority of the judges of said court shall become vacant at any one time; and if necessary for the accomplishment of that purpose, it shall have power to provide that the terms of office of some of the judges first to be elected shall expire in less than eight years. The adoption of this amendment shall not abridge the terms of any of the present incumbents of the office of judge of the supreme court; but they shall continue to hold their respective offices until he expiration of the terms for which they were respectively appointed. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 010 031.0 003.0 0 MS 1890 1916 *** Sec. 31. The right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate, but the legislature may, by enactment, provide that in all civil suites tried in the circuit and chancery court, nine or more jurors may agree on the verdict and return it as the verdict of the jury. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 011 151.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 1916 *** Repealed. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 012 149.A 006.0 0 MS 1890 1916 *** The supreme court shall have power, under such rules and regulations as it may adopt, to sit in two divisions of three judges each, any two of whom when convened shall form a quorum; each division shall have full power to hear and adjudge all cases that may be assigned to it by the court. In event the judges composing any division shall differ as to the judgment to be rendered in any cause, or in event any judge of either division, within a time and in a manner to be fixed by the rules to be adopted by the court, shall certify that in his opinion any decision of any division of the court is in conflict with any prior decision of the court or of any division thereof, the cause shall then be considered and adjudged by the full court or a quorum thereof. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 013 145.A 006.0 0 MS 1890 1916 *** The supreme court shall consist of six judges, that is to say, of three judges in addition tot he three provided for by section 145 of this constitution, any four of whom when convened shall form a quorum. The additional judges herein provided for shall be selected one for and from each of the supreme court districts, in the manner provided by section 145 of this constitution, or any amendments thereto. Their terms of office shall be as provided by section 149 of this constitution, or any amendment thereto. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 014 135.0 005.0 0 MS 1890 1924 *** Sec. 135. There shall be a sheriff, coroner, assessor and surveyor for each county to be selected as elsewhere provided herein who shall hold their office for four years. The sheriff shall be ineligible to immediately succeed himself in office. The duties heretofore imposed on the county treasurer shall be discharged by some person or persons selected as required by law. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 015 170.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 1924 *** Sec. 170. Each county shall be divided into five districts, a resident freeholder of each district shall be selected, in the manner prescribed by law, and the five so chosen shall constitute the board of supervisors of the county, a majority of whom may transact business. The board of supervisors shall have full jurisdiction over roads, ferries, and bridges, to be exercised in accordance with such regulations as the legislature may prescribe, and perform such other duties as may be required by law; provided, however, that the legislature may have the power to designate certain highways as 'state highways', and place such highways under the control and supervision of the state highway commission, for construction and maintenance. The clerk of the chancery court shall be the clerk of the board of supervisors. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 016 229.0 011.0 0 MS 1890 1928 *** Sec. 229. There shall be a board of levee commissioners for the Yazoo-Mississippi delta levee district which shall consist of two members from each of the counties of Coahoma and Tunica, and one member from each of the remaining counties, or parts of counties now or hereafter embraced within the limits of said district. And there shall also be a board of levee commissioners for the Mississippi levee district which shall consist of two members from each of the counties of Bolivar and Washington and one from each of the counties of Issaquena, Sharkey, and from that part of Humphreys county now embraced within the limits of said district. In the event of the formation of a new county or counties out of the territory embraced in either or both of the said levee districts, each new county shall each be entitled to representation and membership in the proper board or boards. And in counties having two judicial districts and from which said counties two levee commissioners are to be elected, at least one of the commissioners shall reside in the judicial districts through which the line of levee runs. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 017 231.0 011.0 0 MS 1890 1928 *** Sec. 231. The levee commissioners shall be elected by the qualified electors of the respective counties, or parts of counties, from which they may be chosen, said election to be held in the manner and at the time as may be prescribed by law. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 018 201.0 008.0 0 MS 1890 1934 *** Sec. 201. It shall be the duty of the legislature to encourage by all suitable means, the promotion of intellectual, scientific, moral and agricultural improvement, by establishing a uniform system of free public schools by taxation or otherwise, for all children between the ages of six and twenty-one years, and as soon as practicable, to establish schools of higher grade. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 019 115.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 1935 *** Section 115. The fiscal year of the state of Mississippi shall commence on the first day of July and end on the thirtieth day of June of each year; and the auditor of pubic accounts and the treasurer of the state shall compile and have published a full and complete report, showing the transaction of their respective offices on or before the thirty-first day of December of each year for the preceding fiscal year. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 020 064.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 1935 *** Section 64. No bill passed after the adoption of this constitution to make appropriations of money out of the state treasury shall continue in force more than two months after the expiration of the fiscal year ending after the meeting of the legislature at its next regular session; nor shall such bill be passed except by the votes of a majority of all the members elected to each house of the legislature. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 021 241.0 012.0 0 MS 1890 1935 *** Every inhabitant of this state, except idiots, insane persons, and Indians not taxed, who is a citizen of the United States, twenty-one years old and upwards, who has resided in this state for two years, and one year in the election district, or in the incorporated city or town in which he offers to vote, and who is duly registered as provided in this article, and who has never been convicted of bribery, burglary, theft, arson, obtaining money or goods under false pretense, perjury, forgery, embezzlement, or bigamy and who has paid on or before the first day of February of the year in which he shall offer to vote, all poll taxes which may have been legally required of him, and which he has had an opportunity of paying according to law, for the two preceding years, and who shall produce to the officers holding the election satisfactory evidence that he has paid said taxes, is declared to be a qualified elector; but any minister of the gospel in charge of an organized church shall be entitled to vote after six months' residence in the election district, if otherwise qualified. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 022 269.0 014.0 0 MS 1890 1940 *** Repealed. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 023 211.0 008.0 0 MS 1890 1944 *** Section 211. The legislature shall enact such laws as may be necessary to ascertain the true condition of the title to the sixteenth section lands in this state, or lands granted in lieu thereof, in the Choctaw purchase, and shall provide that the sixteenth section lands reserved for the support of township schools shall not be sold nor shall they be leased for a longer term than ten years for lands situated outside of municipalities and for lands situated within municipalities for a longer term than 99 years, for a gross sum; provided further that existing leases of the sixteenth section lands situated in the municipalities of the state may, for a gross sum, be extended for a term of years not exceeding 99 years from the date of such extension, but the legislature may provide for the lease of any of said lands for a term not exceeding twenty-five years for a ground rental payable annually, and in the case of uncleared lands may lease them for such short terms as may be deemed proper in consideration of the improvement thereof, with right thereafter to lease for a term or to hold on payment of ground rent; provided however, that land granted in lieu of sixteenth section lands in this state and situated outside of the county holding or owning same, may be sold and the proceeds from such sale may be invested in a manner to be prescribed by the legislature. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 024 213.A 008.0 0 MS 1890 1944 *** Sec. 213-A. STATE INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING. The state institutions of higher learning now existing in Mississippi, to-wit: University of Mississippi, Mississippi State College, Mississippi State College for Women, Mississippi Southern College, Delta State Teachers' College, Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College, and Mississippi Negro Training School, and any others of like kind which may be hereafter organized or established by the state of Mississippi, shall be under the management and control of a board of trustees to be known as the board of trustees of state institutions of higher learning, the members thereof to be appointed by the governor of the state with the advice and consent of the senate. The governor shall appoint only men or women as such members as shall be qualified electors residing in the district from which each is appointed, and at least twenty-five years of age, and of the highest order of intelligence, character, learning, and fitness for the performance of such duties, to the end that such board shall perform the high and honorable duties thereof to the greatest advantage of the people of the state of such educational institutions, uninfluenced by any political considerations. There shall be appointed one member of such board from each congressional district of the state as now existing, and one member from each supreme court district, and two members shall be appointed from the state at large. The term of office of said trustees herein provided for shall begin May 8, 1944; and it shall be the duty of the governor to make such appointments during the regular session of the legislature of Mississippi in 1944; and one-third of the membership of said board shall be appointed for a period of four years; one-third for a period of eight years; and one- third for a period of twelve years; and thereafter their successors shall hold office for a period of twelve years. The members of the board of trustees as constituted at the time this amendment shall be inserted in the constitution as a part thereof shall continue to hold office until their respective terms expire under existing law, after which time the membership of the board shall consist of the number hereinabove provided for. In case of a vacancy on said board by death or resignation of a member, or from any other cause than the expiration of such member's term of office, the board shall elect his successor, who shall hold office until the end of the next session of the legislature. During such term of the session of the legislature the governor shall appoint the successor member of the board from the district from which is predecessor was appointed, to hold office until the end of the period, for which such original trustee was appointed, to the end of the period for which such original trustee was appointed, to the end that one-third of such trustee's terms will expire each four years. One trustee in addition to the above shall be appointed by the governor for the University of Mississippi, who shall have a vote only in matters pertaining to the University, and which trustee shall be a resident citizen of DeSoto county, to be known as the trustee for the La Bauve fund, and serve for a term of four years to commence from the date of appointment. Such board shall have the power and authority to elect the heads of the various institutions of higher learning, and contract with all deans, professors and other members of the teaching staff, and all administrative employees of said institutions for a term not exceeding four years; but said board shall have the power and authority to terminate any such contract at any time for malfeasance, inefficiency or contumacious conduct, but never for political reason. Nothing herein contained shall in any way limit or take away the power of the legislature had and possessed, if any, at the time of the adoption of this amendment, to consolidate or abolish any of the above named institutions. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 025 145.B 006.0 0 MS 1890 1952 *** The Supreme Court shall consist of nine judges, that is to say, of three judges in addition to the six provided for by section 145A of this Constitution, any five of whom when convened shall constitute a quorum. The additional judges herein provided for shall be selected one for and from each of the supreme court districts in the manner provided by section 145A of this Constitution or any amendment thereto. Their terms of office shall be as provided by Section 149 of this Constitution or any amendment thereto. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 026 241.0 012.0 0 MS 1890 1952 *** Section 241. Every inhabitant of this state, except idiots, insane persons and Indians not taxed, who is a citizen of the United States of America, twenty-one years old and upward, who has resided in this state for two years, and one year in the election district, or in the incorporated city or town in which he offers vote, and who is duly registered as provided in this article, and who has never been convicted of bribery, theft, arson, obtaining money or goods under false pretense, perjury, forgery, embezzlement or bigamy, and who has paid on or before the first day of February of the year in which he shall offer to vote, all poll taxes which may have been legally required of him and which he has had an opportunity of paying according to law, for the two preceding years, and who shall procure to the officers holding the election satisfactory evidence that he has paid such taxes, is declared to be a qualified elector; but any minister of the gospel in charge of an organized church, or his wife legally residing with him, shall be entitled to vote after six months' residence in the election district, incorporated city or town, if otherwise qualified. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 027 112.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 1958 *** 112. Taxation shall be uniform and equal throughout the state. Property shall be taxed in proportion to its value. The legislature may, however, impose a tax per capita upon such domestic animals as from their nature and habits are destructive of other property. Property shall be assessed for taxes under general laws, and by uniform rules, according to its true value. But the legislature may provide for a special mode of valuation and assessment for railroads, and railroad and other corporate property, or for particular species of property belonging to persons, corporations, or associations not situated wholly in one county. But the legislature may provide a special mode of assessment, fixing the taxable year, date of the tax lien, and method and date of assessing and collecting taxes on all motor vehicles. But all such property shall be assessed at its true value, and no county shall be denied the right to levy county and special taxes upon such assessment as in other cases of property situated and assessed in the county. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 028 273.0 015.0 0 MS 1890 1959 *** Section 273. Whenever two thirds of each house of the Legislature, which two thirds shall consist of not less than a majority of the members elected to each house, shall deem any change, alteration, or amendment necessary to this Constitution, such proposed amendment, change or alteration shall be read and passed by two-thirds vote of each house, as herein provided; public notice shall then be given by the secretary of state at least thirty days preceding an election, at which the qualified electors shall vote directly for or against such change, alteration or amendment, and if more than one amendment shall be submitted at one time, they shall be submitted in such manner and form that the people may vote for or against each amendment separately; and, notwithstanding the division of the Constitution into sections, the Legislature may provide in its resolution for one or more amendments pertaining and relating to the same subject or subject matter, and may provide for one or more amendments to an article of the Constitution pertaining and relating to the same subject matter, which may be included in and voted on as one amendment; and if it shall appear that a majority of the qualified electors voting directly for or against the same shall have voted for the proposed change, alteration or amendment, then it shall be inserted as a part of the Constitution by proclamation of the secretary of state certifying that it received the majority vote required by the Constitution; and the resolution may fix the date and direct the calling of elections for the purposes hereof. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 029 198.A 007.0 0 MS 1890 1960 *** Section 198-A. It is hereby declared to be the public policy of Mississippi that the right of a person or persons to work shall not be denied or abridged on account of membership or non- membership in any labor union or labor organization. Any agreement or combination between any employer and any labor union or labor organization whereby any person not a member of such union or organization shall be denied the right to work for an employer, or whereby such membership is made a condition of employment or continuation of employment by such employer, or whereby any such union or organization acquired an employment monopoly in any enterprise, is hereby declared to be an illegal combination or conspiracy and against public policy. No person shall be required by an employer to become or remain a member of any labor union or labor organization as a condition of employment or continuation of employment by such employer. No person shall be required by an employer to abstain or refrain from membership in any labor union or labor organization as a condition of employment or continuation of employment. No employer shall require any person, as a condition of employment or continuation of employment, to pay any dues, fees or other charges of any kind to any labor union or labor organization. Any person who may be denied employment or be deprived of continuation of his employment in violation of any paragraph of this section shall be entitled to recover from such employer and from any other person, firm, corporation or association acting in concert with them by appropriate action in the courts of this state such actual damages as he may be sustained by reason of such denial or deprivation of employment. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any lawful contract in force on the effective date of this section, but they shall apply to all contracts thereafter entered into and to any renewal or extension of an existing contract thereafter occurring. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any employer or employee under the jurisdiction of the Federal Railway Labor Act. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 030 241.A 012.0 0 MS 1890 1960 *** Section 241-A. In addition to all other qualifications required of a person to be entitled to register for the purpose of becoming a qualified elector, such person shall be of good moral character. The Legislature shall have the power to enforce the provisions of this section by appropriate legislation. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 031 115.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 1960 *** Section 115. The fiscal year of the State of Mississippi shall commence on the first day of July and end on the thirtieth day of June of each year; and the Auditor of Public Accounts and the Treasurer of the State shall compile, and have published, a full and complete report, showing the transactions of their respective offices on or before the thirty-first day of December of each year for the preceding fiscal year. Neither the State nor any of its direct agencies, excluding the political subdivisions and other local districts, shall incur a bonded indebtedness in excess of one and one half (1 1/2) times the sum of all the revenue collected by it for all purposes during any one of the preceding four fiscal years, whichever year might be higher. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 032 112.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 1960 *** Section 112. Taxation shall be uniform and equal throughout the state. Property shall be taxed in proportion to its value. Property shall be assessed for taxes under general laws, and by uniform rules, and in proportion to its value. But the legislature may provide for a special mode of valuation and assessment for railroads, and railroad and other corporate property, or for particular species of property belonging to persons, corporations, or associations not situated wholly in one county. But all such property shall be assessed in proportion to its value, and no country, or other taxing authority, shall be denied the right to levy county and special taxes upon such assessment as in other cases of property situated and assessed in the county. But the legislature may provide a special mode of assessment, fixing the taxable year, date of the tax lien, and method and date of assessing and collecting taxes on all motor vehicles. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 033 201.0 008.0 0 MS 1890 1960 *** Section 201. The Legislature may, in its discretion, provide for the maintenance and establishment of free public schools for all children between the ages of six (6) and twenty-one (21) years, by taxation or otherwise, and with such grades, as the Legislature may prescribe. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 034 264.0 014.0 0 MS 1890 1960 *** Section 264. The legislature shall, by law, provide for the qualifications of grand and petit jurors. The legislature shall provide by law for procuring a list of persons so qualified, and the drawing therefrom of grand and petit jurors for each term of the circuit court. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 035 182.0 007.0 0 MS 1890 1961 *** Section 182. The power to tax corporations and their property shall never be surrendered or abridged by any contract or grant to which the state or any political subdivision thereof may be a party, except that the Legislature may grant exemption from taxation in the encouragement of manufactures and other new enterprises of public utility extending for a period of not exceeding ten (10) years on each such enterprises hereafter constructed, and may grant exemptions not exceeding ten (10) years on each addition thereto or expansion thereof, and may grant exemptions not exceeding ten (10) years on future additions to or expansions of existing manufactures and other enterprises of public utility. The time of each exemption shall commence from the date of completion of the new enterprise, and from the date of completion of each addition or expansion, for which an exemption is granted. When the Legislature grants such exemptions for a period of ten (10) years or less, it shall be done by general laws, which shall distinctly enumerate the classes of manufactures and other new enterprises of public utility, entitled to such exemptions, and shall prescribe the mode and manner in which the right to such exemptions shall be determined. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 036 211.0 008.0 0 MS 1890 1961 *** Section 211. The Legislature shall enact such laws as may be necessary to ascertain the true condition of the title to the sixteenth section lands in this state, or lands granted in lieu thereof, in the Choctaw Purchase, and shall provide that the sixteenth section lands reserved for the support of township schools, except as hereinafter provided, shall not be sold nor shall they be leased for a longer term than ten (10) years for lands situated outside municipalities and for lands situated within municipalities for a longer term than ninety nine (99) years, for a gross sum; provided further that existing leases of the sixteenth section lands situated in the municipalities of the state may, for a gross sum, be extended for a term of years not exceeding ninety-nine (99) years from the date of such extension, but the Legislature may provide for the lease of said lands for a term not exceeding twenty-five (25) years for a ground rental, payable annually, and in the case of uncleared lands may lease them for such short terms as may be deemed proper in consideration of the improvement thereof, with right thereafter to lease for a term or to hold on payment of ground rent; provided, however, that land granted in lieu of sixteen section lands in this state and situated outside of the county holding or owning same, may be sold and the proceeds from such sale may be invested in a manner to be prescribed by the Legislature; but provided further, however, that the Legislature, for industrial development thereon, may authorize the sale, in whole or in part, for a gross sum or otherwise, of sixteenth section lands, or lands granted in lieu thereof situated within the county; and the Legislature shall either provide for the purchase of other land within the county to be held for the benefit of the township schools in lieu of the lands sold or shall provide for the investment of the proceeds of such sale for the benefit of the township schools, or the Legislature may provide for both purchase of other lands to be so held and investment of proceeds for the benefit of the township schools; and the Legislature, for industrial development thereon, may authorize the granting of leases on sixteenth section lands, or lands granted in lieu thereof, in whole or in part, for a gross sum or otherwise, for terms not to exceed ninety-nine (99) years, and the Legislature shall provide for the investment of the proceeds of such leases for the benefit of the township schools. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 037 135.0 005.0 0 MS 1890 1962 *** Section 135. Effective January 1, 1964, there shall be a sheriff, coroner, assessor, tax collector and surveyor for each county to be selected as elsewhere provided herein, who shall hold their office for four years and who shall be eligible to immediately succeed themselves in office, provided, however, if the offices of sheriff and tax collector are combined the holder thereof shall not be eligible to immediately succeed himself in office. The Legislature may combine any one or more of said offices in any county or counties and shall fix their compensation. The duties heretofore imposed on the county treasurer shall be discharged by some person or person selected as required by law. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 038 250.0 012.0 0 MS 1890 1962 *** All qualified electors and no others shall be eligible to office, except as otherwise provided in this Constitution; provided, however, that as to an office where no other qualification than that of being a qualified elector is provided by this Constitution, the legislature may, by law, fix additional qualifications for such office. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 039 254.0 013.0 0 MS 1890 1963 *** Section 254. The House of Representatives until the next succeeding apportionment shall be composed of one hundred and twenty-two (122) members, to be apportioned as follows: 1. The counties of Alcorn, Amite, Attala, Benton, Calhoun, Carroll, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Claiborne, Clarke, Clay, Covington, DeSoto, Franklin, George, Greene, Grenada, Hancock, Humphreys, Issaquena, Itawamba, Jasper, Jefferson, Jefferson Davis, Kemper, Lafayette, Lamar, Lawrence, Leake, Marion, Marshall, Montgomery, Neshoba, Newton, Noxubee, Oktibbeha, Pearl River, Perry, Pontotoc, Prentiss, Quitman, Scott, Sharkey, Simpson, Smith, Stone, Tallahatchie, Tate, Tippah, Tishomingo, Tunica, Union, Walthall, Wayne, Webster, Wilkinson, Winston, and Yalobusha shall each have one Representative. 2. The counties of Adams, Coahoma, Copiah, Forrest, Holmes, Lee, Leflore, Lincoln, Lowndes, Madison, Monroe, Panola, Pike, Rankin, Sunflower, Warren, and Yazoo shall each have two (2) Representatives. 3. The counties of Bolivar, Jackson, Jones, Lauderdale, and Washington shall each have three (3) Representatives. 4. The county of Harrison shall have six (6) Representatives. 5. The county of Hinds shall have nine (9) Representatives. 6,. The Legislature may, within any county having more than one Representative, provide for the election of Representatives in such county by dividing such county into districts for the election of Representatives, or by providing for the election of Representatives by posts, or by providing for the election of Representatives from election districts or posts within this county, and all existing statutes in regard thereto, where not inconsistent herewith, shall be valid and binding until further action of the Legislature in regard thereto. 7. The Legislature may, by a two-thirds (2/3) vote of all members present and voting in both Houses, within ten (10) years after the Federal Census of 1970, and within each ten-year period thereafter, make a new apportionment of the House of Representatives, provided that in each apportionment each county shall have not less than one Representative, provided, further, that the number of members in the House of Representatives shall never exceed one hundred and twenty- two (122). *** MEND *** *** MSTART 040 255.0 013.0 0 MS 1890 1963 *** The number of Senators shall be fifty-two (52) and apportioned as follows: First. The county of Hinds shall constitute the First District and elect one Senator. Second. The county of Harrison, the Second, District, and elect one Senator. Third. The county of Washington, the Third District, and elect one Senator. Fourth. The county of Lauderdale, the Fourth District, and elect one Senator. Fifth. The county of Jones, the Fifth District, and elect one Senator. Sixth. The county of Jackson, the Sixth District, and elect one Senator. Seventh. The county of Bolivar, the Seventh District, and elect one Senator. Eighth. The county of Forrest, the Eighth District, and elect one Senator. Ninth. The county of Leflore, the Ninth District, and elect one Senator. Tenth. The county of Lowndes, the Tenth District, and elect one Senator. Eleventh. The county of Coahoma, the Eleventh District, and elect one Senator. Twelfth. The county of Sunflower, the Twelfth District, and elect one Senator. Thirteenth. The county of Warren, the Thirteenth District, and elect one Senator. Fourteen. The county of Lee, the Fourteenth District, and elect one Senator. Fifteenth. The county of Adams, the Fifteenth District, and elect one Senator. Sixteenth. The County of Pike, the Sixteenth District, and elect one Senator. Seventeenth. The county of Rankin, the Seventeenth District, and elect one Senator. Eighteenth. The county of Monroe, the Eighteenth District, and elect one Senator. Nineteenth, The county of Madison, the Nineteenth District, and elect one Senator. Twentieth. The county of Yazoo, the Twentieth District, and elect one Senator. Twenty-first. The county of Panola, the Twenty-first District, and elect one Senator. Twenty-second. The county of Holmes, the Twenty-second District, and elect one Senator Twenty-third. The counties of Alcorn and Prentiss, the Twenty-third District, and elect one Senator. Twenty-fourth. The counties of Tishomingo and Itawamba, the Twenty-fourth District, and elect one Senator. Twenty-fifth. The counties of Tippah and Union, the Twenty-fifth District, and elect one Senator. Twenty-sixth. The counties of Marshall and Benton, the Twenty-sixth District, and elect one Senator. Twenty-seventh. The counties of Lafayette and Pontotoc, the Twenty-seventh District, and elect one Senator. Twenty-eighth. The counties of Tunica and Quitman, the Twenty-eighth District, and elect one Senator. Twenty-ninth The counties of DeSoto and Tate, the twenty-ninth District, ed elect one Senator. Thirtieth. The counties of Issaquena, Sharkey, and Humphreys, the Thirtieth District, and elect one Senator. Thirty-first. The counties of Tallahatchie, Yalobusha, and Grenada, the Thirty-first District, and elect two (2) Senators. Thirty-second. The counties of Calhoun and Webster, the Thirty-second District, and elect one Senator. Thirty-third. The counties of Chickasaw and Clay, the Thirty-third District, and elect one Senator. Thirty-fourth. The counties of Attala, Choctaw, and Winston, the Thirty-fourth District, and elect two (2) Senators. Thirty-fifth. The counties of Oktibbeha and Noxubee, the Thirty-fifth District, and elect one Senator. Thirty-sixth. The counties of Montgomery and Carroll, the Thirty-sixth District, and elect one Senator. Thirty-seventh. The counties of Neshoba and Kemper, the Thirty-seventh District, and elect one Senator. Thirty-eighth. The counties of Leake, Scott, and Newton, the Thirty-eight District, and elect two (2) Senators. Thirty-ninth. The counties of Smith and Jasper, the Thirty-ninth District, and elect one Senator. Fortieth. The counties of Clarke and Wayne, the Fortieth District,, and elect on Senator. Forty-first. The counties of Simpson and Covington, the Forty-first District, and elect one Senator. Forty-second. The counties of Perry, Greene, George, and Stone, the Forty-second District, and elect one Senator. Forty-third. The counties of Hancock and Pearl River, the Forty-third District, and elect one Senator. Forty-fourth. The counties of Claiborne and Jefferson, the Forty-fourth District, and elect one Senator. Forty-fifth. The counties of Wilkinson and Amite, the Forty-fifth District, and elect one Senator. Forty-sixth. The counties of Lincoln and Franklin, the Forty-sixth District, and elect one Senator. Forty-seventh. The counties of Copiah and Lawrence, the Forty-seventh District, and elect one Senator. Forty-eighth. The counties of Walthall and Marion, the Forty-eight District and elect one Senator. Forty-ninth. The counties of Jefferson Davis and Lamar, the Forty-ninth District, and elect one Senator. The Legislature may within any senatorial district having more than one Senator provide for the election of Senators in such districts by posts. The Legislature by a two-thirds (2/3) vote of all members present and voting in both Houses may within ten (10) years after the Federal Census of 1970 and within each ten-year period thereafter make a new apportionment of the Senate, provided that the total membership of the Senate shall not be less than forty-five (45) nor more than fifty-five (55). *** MEND *** *** MSTART 041 256.0 013.0 0 MS 1890 1963 *** Section 256, Mississippi Constitution of 1890, is hereby repealed. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 042 241.A 012.0 0 MS 1890 1965 *** Repealed *** MEND *** *** MSTART 043 242.0 012.0 0 MS 1890 1965 *** Section 242. The legislature shall provide by law for the registration of all persons entitled to vote at any election and shall prescribe an oath or affirmation as to the truthfulness of the statements of every applicant concerning his or her qualifications to be registered to vote. Any wilful and corrupt false statement in said affidavit shall be perjury. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 044 244.0 012.0 0 MS 1890 1965 *** Section 244. Every elector shall, in addition to the foregoing qualifications, be able to read and write. These reduced qualifications shall be required of every applicant for registration as an elector from and after the date of ratification hereof. The legislature shall have the power to enforce the provision of this section by appropriate legislation. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 045 244.A 012.0 0 MS 1890 1965 *** Section 244A. The legislature shall have the power to prescribe and enforce by appropriate legislation qualifications to be required of persons to vote and to register to vote in addition to those set forth in this Constitution. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 046 261.0 014.0 0 MS 1890 1966 *** Section 261. The expenses of criminal prosecutions shall be borne by the county in which such prosecution shall be begun; and all fines and forfeitures shall be paid into the treasury of said county. Defendants, in cases of conviction, may be taxed with the costs. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 047 134.0 005.0 0 MS 1890 1966 *** Section 134. A State Treasurer and an Auditor of Public Accounts shall be elected as herein provided, who shall hold their office for the term of four (4) years, and shall possess the same qualifications as required for the Secretary of State. They shall receive such compensation as may be provided by law. Said treasurer shall be ineligible to immediately succeed himself in office. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 048 271.0 014.0 0 MS 1890 1966 *** Section 271. The Legislature may provide by a two-thirds (2/3) vote of the elected members of the House of Representatives and of the Senate for the consolidation of existing counties of the State, provided, however, that such counties combined must be adjoining. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 049 036.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 1968 *** Section 36. The Legislature shall meet at the seat of government in regular session on the Tuesday after the first Monday of January of the year A.D. 1970, and annually thereafter, unless sooner convened by the Governor; provided, however, that such sessions shall be limited to a period of one hundred twenty-five (125) calendar days for regular 1972 session and every fourth year thereafter, but ninety (90) calendar days for every other regular session thereafter. Provided further that the House of Representatives, by resolution with the Senate concurring therein, and by a two-thirds (2/3) vote of those present and voting in each house, may extend such limited session for a period of thirty (30) days with no limit on the number of extensions to each session. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 050 081.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 1968 *** Section 81. The Legislature shall never authorize the permanent obstruction of any of the navigable waters of the State, but may provide for the removal of such obstructions as now exist, whenever the public welfare demands. This section shall not prevent the construction, under proper authority, of drawbridges for railroads, or other roads, nor the construction of booms and chutes for logs, nor the construction, operation and maintenance of facilities incident to the exploration, production or transportation of oil, gas or other minerals, nor the construction, operation and maintenance of bridges and causeways in such manner as not to prevent the safe passage of vessels or logs under regulations to be provided by law. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 051 241.0 012.0 0 MS 1890 1968 *** Section 241. Every inhabitant of this state, except idiots and insane persons, who is a citizen of the United State of America, eight5een (18) years old and upward, who has been a resident of this state for one (1) year, and for one (1) year in the county n which the he offers to vote, and for six (6) months in the election precinct or in the incorporated city or town in which he offers to vote, and who is duly registered as provided in this article, and who has never been convicted of murder, rape, bribery, theft, arson, obtaining money or goods under false pretense, perjury, forgery, embezzlement or bigamy, is declared to be a qualified elector, except that he shall be qualified to vote for President and Vice President of the United States if he meets the requirements established by Congress therefor and is otherwise a qualified elector. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 052 072.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 1970 *** Section 72. Every Bill which shall pass both Houses shall be presented to the Governor of the state. If he approve, he shall sign it; but if he does not approve, he shall return it, with his objections, to the House in which it originated, which shall enter the objections at large upon its Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such reconsideration two-thirds (2/3) of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, with the objections, to the other house, by which, likewise, it shall b e reconsidered; and if approved by two-thirds (2/3) of that House, it shall become a law; but in all such cases the votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the journal of each House respectively. If any Bill shall not be returned by the Governor within five (5) days (Sundays excepted) after it has been presented to him, it shall become a law in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Legislature, by adjournment, prevented its return, in which case such Bill shall be a law unless the Governor shall veto it within fifteen (15) days (Sundays excepted ) after it is presented to him, and such Bill shall be returned to the Legislature, with his objections, within three (3) days after the beginning of the next session of the Legislature. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 053 241.0 012.0 0 MS 1890 1972 *** Section 241. Every inhabitant of this state, except idiots and insane persons, who is a citizen of the United State of America, eight5een (18) years old and upward, who has been a resident of this state for one (1) year, and for one (1) year in the county n which the he offers to vote, and for six (6) months in the election precinct or in the incorporated city or town in which he offers to vote, and who is duly registered as provided in this article, and who has never been convicted of murder, rape, bribery, theft, arson, obtaining money or goods under false pretense, perjury, forgery, embezzlement or bigamy, is declared to be a qualified elector, except that he shall be qualified to vote for President and Vice President of the United States if he meets the requirements established by Congress therefor and is otherwise a qualified elector. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 054 264.0 014.0 0 MS 1890 1972 *** Section 264. The Legislature shall, by law, provide for the qualifications of grand and petit jurors. The Legislature shall provide, by law, for procuring a list of persons so qualified, and the drawing therefrom of grand and petit jurors. After February 1, 1973, grand jurors may serve both in termtime and vacation and any circuit judge may empanel a grand jury in termtime or in vacation. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 055 171.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 1975 *** A competent number of justice court judges and constables shall be chosen in each county in the manner provided by law, but not less than two (2) such judges in any county, who shall hold their office for the term of four (4) years. Each justice court judge shall have resided two (2) years in the county next preceding his selection and shall be high school graduate or have a general equivalency diploma unless he shall have served as a justice of the peace or been elected to the office of justice of the peace prior to January 1, 1976. All persons elected to the office of justice of the peace in November, 1975, shall take office in January, 1976, as justice court judges. The maximum civil jurisdiction of the justice court shall extend to causes in which the principal amount in controversy is Five Hundred Dollars ($500.0) or such higher amount as may be prescribed by law. The justice court shall have jurisdiction concurrent with the circuit court over all crimes whereof the punishment prescribed does not extend beyond a fine and imprisonment in the county jail; but the Legislature may confer on the justice court exclusive jurisdiction in such petty misdemeanors as the Legislature shall see proper. In all causes tried in justice court, the right of appeal shall be secured under such rules and regulation as shall be prescribed by law, and no justice court judge shall preside at the trial of any cause where he may be interested, or the parties or either of them shall be connected with him by affinity or consanguinity, except by the consent of the justice court judge and of the parties. All references in the Mississippi Code to justice of the peace shall mean justice court judge. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 056 243.0 012.0 0 MS 1890 1975 *** Repealed. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 057 244.0 012.0 0 MS 1890 1975 *** Repealed. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 058 168.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 1976 *** The clerk of the Supreme Court shall be appointed by the Supreme Court in the manner and for a term as shall be provided by the Legislature, and the clerk of the circuit court and the clerk of the chancery court shall be selected in each county in the manner provided by the law, and shall hold office for the term of four (4) years, and the Legislature shall provide by law what duties shall be performed during vacation by the clerks of the circuit and chancery courts, subject to the approval of the court. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 059 019.0 003.0 0 MS 1890 1978 *** Repealed *** MEND *** *** MSTART 060 027.0 003.0 0 MS 1890 1978 *** Section 27. No person shall, for any indictable offense, be proceeded against criminally by information, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or the military when in actual service, or by leave of the court for misdemeanor in office or where a defendant represented by counsel by sworn statement waives indictment; but the Legislature, in cases not punishable by death or by imprisonment in the penitentiary, may dispense with the inquest of the grand jury, and may authorize prosecutions before justice court judges, or such other inferior court or courts as may be established, and the proceedings in such cases shall be regulated by law. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 061 105.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 1978 *** Repealed *** MEND *** *** MSTART 062 106.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 1978 *** Section 106. There shall be a state librarian, to be chosen by the Legislature, on joint vote of the two (2) houses, to serve four (4) years, whose duties and compensation shall be prescribed by law. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 063 187.0 007.0 0 MS 1890 1978 *** Repealed *** MEND *** *** MSTART 064 207.0 008.0 0 MS 1890 1978 *** Repealed *** MEND *** *** MSTART 065 177.A 006.0 0 MS 1890 1979 *** Section 177A. There shall be a Commission on Judicial Performance of the State of Mississippi, to be composed of seven (7) members; three (3) of whom shall be judges of courts of record in the state which are trial courts of original jurisdiction, other than justice courts; one (1) member who shall be a justice court judge; two (2) lay persons who reside in the state and who have never held judicial office or been members of the bar of Mississippi; and one (1) practicing attorney who has practiced law in the state for at least ten (1) years. All judicial members are to be appointed by the judiciary of the State of Mississippi as provided by law. Restrictions on the members of the commission may be imposed by statute. Members of the Commission on Judicial Performance not subject to impeachment shall be subject to removal from the commission by two-thirds (2/3) vote of the Supreme Court sitting en banc. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 066 254.0 013.0 0 MS 1890 1979 *** Section 254. The Legislature shall at its regular session in the second year following the 1980 Decennial Census and every ten (10) years thereafter, and may, at any other time, by joint resolution, by majority vote of all members of each house, apportion the state in accordance with the Constitution of the state and of the United States into consecutively numbered senatorial and representative districts of contiguous territory. The Senate shall consist of not more than fifty- two (52) senators, and the House of Representatives shall consist of not more than one hundred twenty-two (122) representatives, the number of members of each house to be determined by the Legislature. Should the Legislature adjourn, without apportioning itself as required hereby, the Governor by proclamation shall reconvene the Legislature within thirty (30) days in special apportionment session which shall not exceed thirty (3) consecutive days, during which no other business shall be transacted, and it shall be the mandatory duty of the Legislature to adopt a joint resolution of apportionment. Should a special apportionment session not adopt a joint resolution of apportionment as required hereby, a five-member commission consisting of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court as chairman, the Attorney General, the Secretary of State, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate shall immediately convene and within one hundred eighty (180) days of the adjournment of such special apportionment session apportion the Legislature, which apportionment shall be final upon filing with the office of the Secretary of State. Each apportionment shall be effective for the next regularly scheduled elections of members of the Legislature. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 067 255.0 013.0 0 MS 1890 1977 *** Repealed. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 068 152.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 1983 *** Section 152. The Legislature shall divide the state into not more than twenty (20) circuit court districts and not more than twenty (2) chancery court districts. The Legislature shall, by statute, establish certain criteria by which the number of judges in each district shall be determined, such criteria to be based on population, the number of cases filed and other appropriate data. Following the 1980 Federal Decennial Census and following each federal decennial census thereafter, the Legislature shall redistrict the circuit and chancery court districts. Should the Legislature fail to redistrict the circuit or chancery court districts by December 31 of the fifth year following the 1980 Federal Decennial Census or by December 31 of the fifth year following any federal decennial census thereafter, the Supreme Court shall, by order, redistrict such circuit or chancery court districts. Any order by the Supreme Court which redistricts the circuit or chancery court districts shall become effective at a date to be set therein and shall, without alteration of the composition of the districts established in such order, be enacted by the next succeeding session of the Legislature. The circuit and chancery court districts established by the Legislature prior to the approval of this amendment shall remain in force and effect until such time as they are redistricted under the provisions of this amendment. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 069 203.0 008.0 0 MS 1890 1983 *** Section 203 of Article 8 was replaced by a new Section 203 with numbered subsections. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 070 203.1 008.0 0 MS 1890 1983 *** Section 203. (1) Until July 1, 1984, there shall be a board of education, consisting of the Secretary of State, the Attorney General and the Superintendent of Public Education, for the management and investment of the school funds according to law, and for the performance of such other duties as may be prescribed. The superintendent and one (1) other of said board shall constitute a quorum. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 071 203.2 008.0 0 MS 1890 1983 *** (2) From and after July 1, 1984, there shall be a State Board of Education which shall manage and invest school funds according to law, formulate policies according to law for implementation by the State Department of Education, and perform such other duties as may be prescribed by law. The board shall consist of nine (9) members of which none shall be an elected official. The Governor shall appoint one (1) member who shall be a resident of the Northern Supreme Court District and who shall serve an initial term of one (1) year, one (1) member who shall be a resident of the Central Supreme Court District and who shall serve an initial term of five (5) years, one (1) member who shall be a resident of the Southern Supreme Court District and who shall serve an initial term of nine (9) years, one (1) member who shall be employed on an active and full-time basis as a school administrator and who shall serve an initial term of three (3) years, and one (1) member who shall be employed on an active and full-time basis as a schoolteacher and who shall serve an initial term of seven (7) years. The Lieutenant Governor shall appoint two (2) members from the state at large, one (1) of whom shall serve an initial term of four (4) years and one (1) of whom shall serve an initial term of eight (8) years. The Speaker of the House of Representatives shall appoint two (2) members from the state at large, one (1) of whom shall serve an initial term of two (2) years and one (1) of whom shall serve an initial term of six (6) years. The initial terms of appointees shall begin on July 1, 1984, and all subsequent appointments shall begin on the first day of July for a term of nine (9) years and continue until their successors are appointed and qualify. An appointment to fill a vacancy which arises for reasons other than by expiration of a term of office shall be for the unexpired term only. The Legislature shall by general law prescribe the compensation which members of the board shall be entitled to receive. All members shall be appointed with the advice and consent of the Senate and no members shall be actively engaged in the educational profession except as stated above. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 072 202.0 008.0 0 MS 1890 1983 *** Section 202 of Article 8 was replaced by a new Section 202 with numbered subsections. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 073 202.1 008.0 0 MS 1890 1983 *** Section 202. (1) Until July 1, 1984, there shall be a Superintendent of Public Education elected at the same time and in the same manner as the Governor, who shall have the qualifications required of the Secretary of State, and hold his office for four (4) years, and until his successor shall be elected and qualified, who shall have the general supervision of the common schools and of the educational interests of the state, and who shall perform such other duties and receive such compensation as shall be prescribed by law. However, an election for the Superintendent of Public Education shall not be held at the general election in 1983, and the term of the Superintendent of Public Education who was elected at the general election in 1979 shall be extended to July 1, 1984, on which date it shall expire. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 074 202.2 008.0 0 MS 1890 1983 *** (2) From and after July 1, 1984, there shall be a State Superintendent of Public Education who shall be appointed by the State Board of Education, with the advice and consent of the Senate, and serve at the board's will and pleasure. He shall possess such qualifications as may be prescribed by law. He shall be the chief administrative officer for the State Department of Education and shall administer the department in accordance with the policies established by the State Board of Education. He shall perform such other duties and receive such compensation as shall be prescribed by law. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 075 140.0 005.0 0 MS 1890 1983 *** Section 140. The Governor of the state shall be chosen in the following manner: On the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November of A.D. 1895, and on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November in every fourth year thereafter, until the day shall be changed by law, an election shall be held in the several counties and districts created for the election of members of the House of Representatives in this state, for Governor, and the person receiving in any county or such legislative district the highest number of votes cast therein, for said office, shall be holden to have received as many votes as such county or district is entitled to members in the House of Representatives, which last named votes are hereby designated "electoral votes." In all cases where a representative is apportioned to two (2) or more counties or districts, the electoral vote, based on such representative, shall be equally divided among such counties or districts. The returns of said election shall be certified by the election commissioners, or a majority of them, of the several counties, and transmitted, sealed, to the seat of government, directed to the Secretary of State, and shall be by him safely kept and delivered to the Speaker of the House of Representatives on the first day of the next ensuing session of the Legislature. The Speaker shall, on the same day he shall have received said returns, open and publish them in the presence of the House of Representatives, and said House shall ascertain and count the vote of each county and legislative district and decide any contest that may be made concerning the same, and said decision shall be made by a majority of the whole number of members of the House of Representatives concurring therein by a viva voce vote, which shall be recorded in its journal; provided, in case the two (2) highest candidates have an equal number of votes in any county or legislative district, the electoral vote of such county or legislative district shall be considered as equally divided between them. The person found to have received a majority of all the electoral votes, and also a majority of the popular vote, shall be declared elected. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 076 146.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 1984 *** Section 146. The Supreme Court shall have such jurisdiction as properly belongs to a court of appeals and shall exercise no jurisdiction on matters other than those specifically provided by this Constitution or by general law. The Legislature may by general law provide for the Supreme Court to have original and appellate jurisdiction as to any appeal directly from an administrative agency charged by law with the responsibility for approval or disapproval of rates sought to be charged the public by any public utility. The Supreme Court shall consider cases and proceedings for modification of public utility rates in an expeditious manner regardless of their position on the court docket. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 077 206.A 008.0 0 MS 1890 1986 *** Section 206A. There is hereby created an established in the State Treasury a trust fund which may be used, as hereinafter provided, for the improvement of education within the State of Mississippi. There shall be deposited to such trust fund: (a) The state's share of oil severance taxes and gas severance taxes derived from oil and gas resources under state-owned lands or from several state-owned minerals; (b) Any and all monies received by the state from the development, production and utilization of oil and gas resources under state-owned lands or from severed state-owned minerals, except for the following portions of such monies: (i) All mineral leasing revenues specifically reserved by general law in effect at the time of the ratification of this amendment for the following purposes: (A) management of a state leasing program; (B) clean-up, remedial or abatement actions involving pollution as a result of oil or gas exploration or production; (C) management or protection of state waters, land and wildlife; or (D) acquisition of additional water and land; and (ii) Monies derived from sixteenth section lands and lands held in lieu thereof or from minerals severed from sixteenth section lands and held in lieu thereof; and (iii) Monies derived from lands or minerals administered in trust for any state institution of higher learning or administered therefor by the head of any such institution; (c) Any gift, donation, bequest, trust, grant, endowment, or transfer of money or securities designated for said trust fund; and (d) All such monies from any other source whatsoever as the Legislature shall, in its discretion, so appropriate or shall, by general law, so direct. The principal of the trust fund shall remain inviolate and shall be invested as provided by general law. Interest and income derived from investment of the principal of the trust fund may be appropriated by the Legislature by a majority vote of the elected membership of each house of the Legislature and expended exclusively for the education of the elementary and secondary school students and/or vocational and technical training in this state. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 078 272.A 014.0 0 MS 1890 1985 *** Section 272A. (1) All of the assets, proceeds or income of the Public Employees' Retirement System of Mississippi and the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol Retirement System or any successor systems, and all contributions and payments made to the systems to provide for retirement and related benefits shall be held, invested as authorized by law, or disbursed as in trust for the exclusive purpose of providing for such benefits, refunds and administrative expenses under the management of the board of trustees of the systems, and shall not be encumbered for or diverted to any other purposes. (2) Legislation shall not be enacted increasing benefits under the Public Employees' Retirement System of Mississippi and the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol Retirement System in any manner unless funds are available therefor, or unless concurrent provisions are made for funding any such increase in accordance with a prior certification of the cost by the board of trustees of the systems based on accepted actuarial standards. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 079 112.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 1986 *** Section 112. Taxation shall be uniform and equal throughout the state. All property not exempt from ad valorem taxation shall be taxed at its assessed value. Property shall be assessed for taxes under general laws, and by uniform rules, and in proportion to its true value according to the classes defined herein. The Legislature may, by general laws, exempt particular species of property from taxation, in whole or in part. The Legislature shall provide, by general laws, the method by which the true value of taxable property shall be ascertained; provided, however, in arriving at the true value of Class I and Class II property, the appraisal shall be made according to current use, regardless of location. The Legislature may provide for a special mode of valuation and assessment for railroads, and railroad and other corporate property, or for particular species of property belonging to persons, corporations or associations not situated wholly in one (1) county. All such property shall be assessed in proportion to tits value according to its class, and no county, or other taxing authority, shall be denied the right to levy county and/or special taxes upon such assessment as in other cases of property situated and assessed in the county, except that the Legislature, by general law, may deny or limit a county or other taxing authority the right to levy county and/or special taxes on nuclear-powered electrical generating plants. In addition to or in lieu of any such county and/or special taxes on nuclear-powered electrical generating plants, the Legislature, by general law enacted by a majority vote of the members of each house present and voting, may provide for a special mode of valuation, assessment and levy upon nuclear-powered electrical generating plants and provide for the distribution of the revenue derived therefrom. The Legislature may provide a special mode of assessment, fixing the taxable year, date of the tax lien, and method and date of assessing and collecting taxes on all motor vehicles. The assessed value of property shall be a percentage of its true value, which shall be known as its assessment ratio. The assessment ratio on each class of property as defined herein shall be uniform throughout the state upon the same class of property, provided that the assessment ratio of any one (1) class of property shall not be more than three (3) times the assessment ratio on any other class of property. For purposes of assessment for ad valorem taxes, taxable property shall be divided into five (5) classes and shall be assessed at a percentage of its true value as follows: Class I. Single-family, owner-occupied, residential real property, at ten percent (10%) of true value. Class II. All other real property, except for real property included in Class I or IV, at fifteen percent (15%) of true value. Class III. Personal property, except for motor vehicles and for personal property included in Class IV, at fifteen percent (15%) of true value. Class IV. Public utility property, which is property owned or used by public service corporations required by general laws to be appraised and assessed by the state or the county, excluding railroad and airline property and motor vehicles, at thirty percent (30%) of true value. Class V. Motor vehicles, at thirty percent (30%) of true value. The Legislature may, by general law, establish acreage limitations on Class I property. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 080 134.0 005.0 0 MS 1890 1986 *** Section 134. A State Treasurer and an Auditor of Public Accounts shall be elected as herein provided, who shall hold their office for the term of four (4) years, and shall possess the same qualifications as required for the Secretary of State. They shall receive such compensation as may be provided by law. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 081 116.0 005.0 0 MS 1890 1986 *** Section 116. The chief executive power of this state shall be vested in a Governor, who shall hold his office for four (4) years. Any person elected to the office of Governor shall be eligible to succeed himself in office. However, no person shall be elected to the office of Governor more than twice, and no person who has held the office of Governor or has acted as Governor for more than two (2) years of a term to which another person was elected shall be elected to the office of Governor more than once. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 082 211.0 008.0 0 MS 1890 1986 *** 211. The Legislature shall enact such laws as may be necessary to ascertain the true condition of the title to the sixteenth section lands in this state, or lands granted in lieu thereof, in the Choctaw Purchase, and shall provide that the sixteenth section lands reserved for the support of township schools, except as hereinafter provided, shall not be sold nor shall they be leased for a longer term than ten (10) years for lands situated outside municipalities and for lands situated within municipalities for a longer term than ninety-nine (99) years, for a gross sum; provided further, that existing leases of the sixteenth section lands situated in the municipalities of the state may, for a gross sum, be extended for a term of years not exceeding ninety-nine (9) years from the date of such extension, but the Legislature may provide for the lease of sixteenth section lands for a term of years not exceeding twenty-five (25) years for forest and agricultural lands and not exceeding forty (40) years for all other classifications of such lands for a ground rental, payable annually, and in the case of uncleared lands may lease them for such short terms as may be deemed proper in consideration of the improvement thereof, with right thereafter to lease for a term or to hold on payment of ground rent; provided, however, that land granted in lieu of sixteenth section lands in this state and situated outside of the county holding or owning same may be sold and the proceeds from such sale may be invested in a manner to be prescribed by the Legislature; but provided further, however, that the Legislature, for industrial development thereon, may authorize the sale, in whole or in part for a gross sum or otherwise, of sixteenth section lands, or lands granted in lieu thereof situated within the county; and the Legislature shall either provide for the purchase of other lands within the county to be held for the benefit of the township schools in lieu of the lands sold or shall provide for the investment of the proceeds of such sale for the benefit of the township schools, or the Legislature may provide for both purchase of other lands to be so held and investment of proceeds for the benefit of the township schools; and the Legislature, for industrial development thereon, may authorize the granting of leases on sixteenth section lands, or lands granted in lieu thereof, in whole or in part, for a gross sum or otherwise, for terms not to exceed ninety-nine (99) years, and the Legislature shall provide for the investment of the proceeds of such leases for the benefit of the township schools. The Legislature may authorize the lease of not more than three (3) acres of sixteenth section lands or lands granted in lieu thereof for a term not exceeding ninety-nine (99) years for a ground rental, payable annually, to any church, having its principal place of worship situated on such lands, which has been in continuous operation at that location for not less than twenty-five (25) years at the time of the lease. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 083 029.0 003.0 0 MS 1890 1987 *** Section 29. Excessive bail shall not be required, and all persons shall, before conviction, be bailable by sufficient sureties, except for capital offenses when the proof is evident or presumption great. In the case of offenses punishable by imprisonment for a maximum of twenty (20) years or more or by life imprisonment, a county or circuit court judge may deny bail for such offenses when the proof s evident or the presumption great upon making a determination that the release of the person or persons arrested for such offenses would constitute a special danger to any other person or to the community or that no condition or combination of conditions will reasonably assure the appearance of the person as required. In any case where bail is denied before conviction the judge shall place in the record his reasons for denying bail. Any person who is charged with an offense punishable by imprisonment for a maximum of twenty (20) years or more by life imprisonment and who is denied bail prior to conviction shall be entitled to an emergency hearing before a justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 084 270.0 014.0 0 MS 1890 1987 *** Section 270. Any person may, by will, bequeath or devise all or any portion of his estate to any charitable, religious, education, or civil institutions, subject to any statutory rights of surviving spouses and minor children and such other exceptions as may be prescribed by general law; provided that, in all cases, the will containing such bequest or devise much be executed at least one hundred and eighty (180) days before the death of the testator, or such bequest or devise shall be void. Provided, however, that any land devised, not in violation of this section, to any charitable, religious, educational, or civil institution may be legally owned, and further may be held by the devisee for a period of not longer than ten (10) years after such devise becomes effective as a fee simple or possessory interest, during which time such land and improvements thereon shall be taxed as any other land held by any other person, unless exempted by some specific statute. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 085 201.0 008.0 0 MS 1890 1987 *** Section 201. The Legislature shall, by general law, provide for the establishment, maintenance and support of free public schools upon such conditions and limitations as the Legislature may prescribe. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 086 205.0 008.0 0 MS 1890 1987 *** Repealed. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 087 213.B 008.0 0 MS 1890 1987 *** Repealed *** MEND *** *** MSTART 088 263.0 014.0 0 MS 1890 1987 *** Repealed *** MEND *** *** MSTART 089 213.A 008.0 0 MS 1890 1987 *** Section 213-A. The state institutions of higher learning now existing in Mississippi, to-wit: University of Mississippi, Mississippi State University of Agriculture and Applied Science, Mississippi University for Women, University of Southern Mississippi, Delta State University, Alcorn State University, Jackson State University, Mississippi Valley State University, and any others of like kind which may be hereafter organized or established by the State of Mississippi, shall be under the management and control of a board of trustees to be known as the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning, the members thereof to be appointed by the Governor of the state with the advice and consent of the Senate. The Governor shall appoint only men or women as such members as shall be qualified electors residing in the district from which each is appointed, and at least twenty-five (25) years of age, and of the highest order of intelligence, character, learning, and fitness for the performance of such duties, to the end that such board shall perform the high and honorable duties thereof to the greatest advantage of the people of the state of such educational institutions, uninfluenced by any political considerations. There shall be appointed one (1) member of such board from each congressional district of the state as now existing and one (1) member from each Supreme Court district, and two (2) members shall be appointed from the state at large. The term of office of said trustees herein provided for shall begin May 8, 1944; and it shall be the duty of the Governor to make such appointments during the regular session of the Legislature of Mississippi in 1944; and one-third (1/3) of the membership of said board shall be appointed for a period of four (4) years; one-third (1/3) for a period of eight (8) years; and one-third (1/3) for a period of twelve (12) years; and thereafter their successors shall hold office for a period of twelve (12) years. The members of the board of trustees as constituted at the time this amendment shall be inserted in the Constitution as a part thereof shall continue to hold office until their respective terms expire under existing law, after which time the membership of the board shall consist of the number hereinabove provided for. In case of a vacancy on said board by death or resignation of a member, or from any other cause than the expiration of such member's term of office, the board shall elect his successor, who shall hold office until the end of the next session of the Legislature. During such term of the session of the Legislature the Governor shall appoint the successor member of the board from the district from which his predecessor was appointed, to hold office until the end of the period for which such original trustee was appointed, to the end that one-third (1/3) of such trustee's terms will expire each four (4) years. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 090 041.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 1987 *** 41. No person shall be a member of the House of Representatives who shall not have attained the age of twenty-one (21) years, and who shall not be a qualified elector of the state, and who shall not have been a resident citizen of the state for four (4) years, and within the district such person seeks to serve for two (2) years, immediately preceding his election. The seat of a member of the House of Representatives shall be vacated on his removal from the district from which he was elected. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 091 196.0 007.0 0 MS 1890 1987 *** Repealed *** MEND *** *** MSTART 092 178.0 007.0 0 MS 1890 1987 *** Repealed *** MEND *** *** MSTART 093 194.0 007.0 0 MS 1890 1987 *** Repealed *** MEND *** *** MSTART 094 189.0 007.0 0 MS 1890 1987 *** Repealed *** MEND *** *** MSTART 095 197.0 007.0 0 MS 1890 1989 *** Section 197. The Legislature shall not grant to any foreign corporation or association a license to build, operate, or lease any railroad in this state; but in all cases where a railroad is built or operated, and the same shall be partly in this state an partly in another state or in other states, the owners or projectors thereof shall first become incorporated under the laws of this state; nor shall any foreign corporation or association lease or operate any railroad in this state, or purchase the same or any interest therein. Consolidation of any railroad lines and corporations in this state with others shall be allowed only where the consolidated company shall become a domestic corporation of this state. No general or special law shall ever be passed for the benefit of any foreign corporation operating a railroad under an existing license from this state, or under an existing lease; and no grant of any right or privilege, and no exemption from any burden, shall be made to any such foreign corporation except upon the condition that the owners or stockholders thereof shall first organize a corporation in this state under the laws thereof, and shall thereafter operate and manage the same, and the business thereof, under said domestic charter. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 096 206.0 008.0 0 MS 1890 1989 *** Section 206. There shall be a state common-school fund, to be taken from the General Fund in the State Treasury, which shall be used for the maintenance and support of the common schools. Any county or separate school district may levy an additional tax, as prescribed by general law, to maintain its schools. The state common-school fund shall be distributed among the several counties and separate school districts in proportion to the number of educable children in each, to be determined by data collected through the office of the State Superintendent of Education in the manner to be prescribed by law. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 097 273.0 015.0 0 MS 1890 1989 *** Section 273. By a concurrent resolution adopted by a two-thirds (2/3) vote of each house of the Legislature, which two-thirds (2/3) shall consist of not less than a majority of the members elected to each house, the Legislature may propose an amendment to this Constitution. Public notice shall then be given by the Secretary of State at least thirty (30) days preceding an election, at which the qualified electors shall vote directly for or against such proposed amendment. If at the election more than one proposed amendment is submitted, the proposed amendments shall be submitted in such manner and form that the people may vote for or against each proposed amendment separately. Any proposed amendment may be unlimited in scope. A proposed amendment may amend and/or repeal one or more sections or articles. A proposed amendment may propose one or more new sections or articles. The Legislature may provide that any proposed amendment may be divided into separate portions for the purpose of permitting the people to vote separately on such portions, or the Legislature may provide that the people shall vote for or against the entire proposed amendment. The manner and form of submission to the people shall be specified in the resolution of the Legislature proposing the amendment. If it shall appear that a majority of the qualified electors voting directly for or against the proposed amendment or portions thereof, as the case may be, shall have voted for the proposed amendment or portions thereof, as the case may be, then the proposed amendment or portions thereof, as the case may be, shall be inserted as a part of the Constitution by proclamation of the Secretary of State certifying that the proposed amendment or portions thereof, as the case may be, received the majority vote required by the Constitution. The resolution may fix the date and direct the calling of elections for the purposes thereof. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 098 225.0 010.0 0 MS 1890 1990 *** Section 225. The Legislature may place the convicts on a state farm or farms and have them worked thereon or elsewhere. It may also provide for the creation of a non-profit corporation for the purpose of managing and operating a state prison industries program which may make use of state prisoners in its operation. It may establish a reformatory school or schools, and provide for keeping of juvenile offenders from association with hardened criminals. It may provide for the commutation of the sentence of convicts for good behavior, and for the constant separation of the sexes, and for religious worship for the convicts. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 099 223.0 010.0 0 MS 1890 1990 *** Repealed. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 100 272.0 014.0 0 MS 1890 1990 *** Repealed. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 101 003.0 001.0 0 MS 1890 1990 *** Repealed. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 102 099.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 1990 *** Section 99. The Legislature shall not elect any other than its own officers and State Librarian. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 103 137.0 005.0 0 MS 1890 1990 *** Repealed. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 104 059.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 1990 *** Section 59. Bills may originate in either house, and be amended or rejected in the other, and every bill shall be read by its title on three (3) different days in each house, unless two-thirds (2/3) of the house where the same is pending shall dispense with the rules; and every bill shall be read in full immediately before the vote on its final passage upon the demand of any member; and every bill, having passed both houses, shall be signed by the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives during the legislative session. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 105 044.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 1992 *** Section 44 of Article 4 was replaced by a new Section 4 with numbered subsections. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 106 044.1 004.0 0 MS 1890 1992 *** Section 44. (1) No person shall be eligible to a seat in either house of the Legislature, or to any office of profit or trust, who shall have been convicted of bribery, perjury, or other infamous crime; and any person who shall have been convicted of giving or offering, directly, or indirectly, any bribe to procure his election or appointment, and any person shall give or offer any bribe to procure the election or appointment of any person to office, shall, on conviction thereof, be disqualified from holding any office of profit or trust under the laws of this state. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 107 044.2 004.0 0 MS 1890 1992 *** (2) No person who is convicted after ratification of this amendment in another state of any offense which is a felony under the laws of this state, and no person who is convicted after ratification of this amendment of any felony in a federal court, shall be eligible to hold any office of profit or trust in this state. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 108 044.3 004.0 0 MS 1890 1992 *** (3) This section shall not disqualify a person from holding office if he has been pardoned for the offense or if the offense of which the person was convicted was manslaughter, any violation of the United States Internal Revenue Code or any violation of the tax laws of this state unless such offense also involved misuse or abuse of his office or money coming into his hands by virtue of his office. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 109 273.0 015.0 0 MS 1890 1992 *** Section 273 of Article 15 was replaced by a new Section 273 with numbered subsections on December 8, 1992. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 110 273.1 015.0 0 MS 1890 1992 *** (1) Amendments to the Constitution may be proposed by the Legislature or by initiative of the people. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 111 273.2 015.0 0 MS 1890 1992 *** (2) Whenever two-thirds (2/3) of each house of the Legislature, which two-thirds (2/3) shall consist of not less than a majority of the members elected to each house, shall deem any change, alteration or amendment necessary to this Constitution, such proposed amendment, change or alteration shall be read and passed by two-thirds (2/3) vote of each house, as herein provided; public notice shall then be given by the Secretary of State at least thirty (30) days preceding an election, at which the qualified electors shall vote directly for or against such change, alteration or amendment, and if more than one (1) amendment shall be submitted at one (1) time, they shall be submitted in such manner and form that the people may vote for or against each amendment separately; and, notwithstanding the division of the Constitution into sections, the Legislature may provide in its resolution for one or more amendments pertaining and relating tot eh same subject or subject matter, and may provide for one or more amendments to an article of the Constitution pertaining and relating to the same subject or subject matter, which may be included in and voted on as one (1) amendment; and if it shall appear that a majority of the qualified electors voting directly for or against the same shall have voted for the proposed change, alteration or amendment, then it shall be inserted as a part of the Constitution by proclamation of the Secretary of State certifying that it received the majority vote required by the Constitution; and the resolution may fix the date and direct the calling of elections for the purposes hereof. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 112 273.3 015.0 0 MS 1890 1992 *** (3) The people reserve until themselves the power to propose and enact constitutional amendments by initiative. An initiative to amend the Constitution may be proposed by a petition signed over a twelve-month period by qualified electors equal in number to at least twelve percent (12%) of the votes for all candidates for Governor in the last gubernatorial election. The signatures of the qualified electors from any congressional district shall not exceed one-fifth (1/5) of the total number of signatures required to qualify an initiative petition for placement upon the ballot. If an initiative petition contains signatures from a single congressional district which exceed one-fifth (1/5) of the total number of required signatures, the excess number of signatures from that congressional district shall not be considered by the Secretary of State in determining whether the petition qualifies for placement on the ballot. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 113 273.4 015.0 0 MS 1890 1992 *** (4) The sponsor of an initiative shall identify in the text of the initiative the amount and source of revenue required to implement the initiative. If the initiative requires a reduction in any source of government revenue, or a reallocation of funding from currently funded programs, the sponsor shall identify in the text of the initiative the program or programs whose funding must be reduced or eliminated to implement the initiative. Compliance with this requirement shall not be a violation of the subject matter requirements of this section of the Constitution. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 114 273.5 015.0 0 MS 1890 1992 *** (5) The initiative process shall not be used: (a) For the proposal, modification or repeal of any portion of the Bill of Rights of this Constitution; (b) To amend or repeal any law or any provision of the Constitution relating to the Mississippi Public Employees' Retirement System; (c) To amend or repeal the constitutional guarantee that the right of any person to work shall not be denied or abridged on account of membership or nonmembership in any labor union or organization; or (d) To modify the initiative process for proposing amendments to this Constitution. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 115 273.6 015.0 0 MS 1890 1992 *** (6) The Secretary of State shall file with the Clerk of the House and the Secretary of the Senate the complete text of the certified initiative on the first day of the regular session. A constitutional initiative may be adopted by a majority vote of each house of the Legislature. If the initiative is adopted, amended or rejected by the Legislature; or if no action is taken within four (4) months of the date that the initiative is filed with the Legislature, the Secretary of State shall place the initiative on the ballot for the next statewide general election. The chief legislative budget officer shall prepare a fiscal analysis of each initiative and each legislative alternative. A summary of each fiscal analysis shall appear on the ballot. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 116 273.7 015.0 0 MS 1890 1992 *** (7) If the Legislature amends an initiative, the amended version and the original initiative shall be submitted to the electors. An initiative or legislative alternative must receive a majority of the votes thereon and not less than forty percent (40%) of the total votes cast at the election at which the measure was submitted to be approved. If conflicting initiatives or legislative alternatives are approved at the same election, the initiative or legislative alternative receiving the highest number of affirmative votes shall prevail. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 117 273.8 015.0 0 MS 1890 1992 *** (8) If an initiative measure proposed to the Legislature has been rejected by the Legislature and an alternative measure is passed by the Legislature in lieu thereof, the ballot titles of both such measures shall be so printed on the official ballots that a voter can express separately two (2) preferences: First, by voting for the approval of either measure or against both measures, and, secondly, by voting for one measure or the other measure. If the majority of those voting on the first issue is against both measures, then both measures fail, but in that case the votes on the second issue nevertheless shall be carefully counted and made public. If a majority voting on the first issue is for the approval of either measure, then the measure receiving a majority of the votes on the second issue and also receiving not less than forty percent (40%) of the total votes cast at the election at which the measure was submitted for approval shall be law. Any person who votes for the ratification of either measure on the first issue must vote for one (1) of the measures on the second issue in order for the ballot to be valid. Any person who votes against both measures on the first issue may vote but shall not be required to vote for any of the measures on the second issue in order for the ballot to be valid. Substantially the following form shall be a compliance with this subsection: INITIATED BY PETITION AND ALTERNATIVE BY LEGISLATURE Initiative Measure No. , entitled (here insert the ballot title of the initiative measure). Alternative Measure No. A, entitled (here insert the ballot title of the alternative measure). VOTE FOR APPROVAL OF EITHER, OR AGAINST BOTH: FOR APPROVAL OF EITHER Initiative No. OR Alternative No. A......................................................................................................( ) AGAINST Both Initiative No. AND Alternative No. A...................................................................................................( ) AND VOTE FOR ONE: FOR Initiative Measure No. .......................................................................................................( ) FOR Alternative Measure No. A................................................................................................( ) *** MEND *** *** MSTART 118 273.9 015.0 0 MS 1890 1992 *** (9) No more than five (5) initiative proposals shall be submitted to the voters on a single ballot, and the first five (5) initiative proposals submitted to the Secretary of State with sufficient petitions shall be the proposals which are submitted to the voters. The sufficiency of petitions shall be decided in the first instance by the Secretary of State, subject to review by the Supreme Court of the state, which shall have original and exclusive jurisdiction over all such cases. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 119 273.10 015.0 0 MS 1890 1992 *** (10) An initiative approved by the electors shall take effect thirty (30) days from the date of the official declaration of the vote by the Secretary of State, unless the measure provides otherwise. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 120 273.11 015.0 0 MS 1890 1992 *** (11) If any amendment to the Constitution proposed by initiative petition is rejected by a majority of the qualified electors voting thereon, no initiative petition proposing the same, or substantially the same, amendment shall be submitted to the electors for at least two (2) years after the date of the election on such amendment. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 121 273.12 015.0 0 MS 1890 1992 *** (12) The Legislature shall provide by law the manner in which initiative petitions shall be circulated, presented, and certified. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 122 273.13 015.0 0 MS 1890 1992 *** (13) The Legislature may enact laws to carry out the provisions of this section but shall in no way restrict or impair the provisions of this section or the powers herein reserved to the people. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 123 098.0 004.0 0 MS 1890 1992 *** Repealed *** MEND *** *** MSTART 124 128.0 005.0 0 MS 1890 1992 *** Section 128. There shall be a Lieutenant Governor who shall be elected at the same time, in the same manner, and for the same term, and who shall possess the same qualifications as required of the Governor. Any person elected to the office of Lieutenant Governor shall be eligible to succeed himself in office, but no person who has been elected to the office of Lieutenant Governor for two successive terms shall be eligible to hold that office until one term has intervened. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 125 152.0 006.0 0 MS 1890 1992 *** Section 152. The Legislature shall divide the state into an appropriate number of circuit court districts and chancery court districts. The Legislature shall, by statute, establish certain criteria by which the number of judges in each district shall be determined, such criteria to be based on population, the number of cases filed and other appropriate data. Following the 1980 Federal Decennial Census and following each federal decennial census thereafter, the Legislature shall redistrict the circuit and chancery court districts. Should the Legislature fail to redistrict the circuit or chancery court districts by December 31 of the fifth year following the 1980 Federal Decennial Census or by December 31 of the fifth year following any federal decennial census thereafter, the Supreme Court shall, by order, redistrict such circuit or chancery court districts. Any order by the Supreme Court which redistricts the circuit or chancery court districts shall become effective at a date to be set therein and shall, without alteration of the composition oft he districts established in such order, be enacted by the next succeeding session of the Legislature. The circuit and chancery court districts established by the Legislature prior to the approval of this amendment shall remain in fore and effect until such time as they are redistricted under the provisions of this amendment. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 126 131.0 005.0 0 MS 1890 1992 *** Section 131. When the office of the Governor shall become vacant, by death or otherwise, the Lieutenant Governor shall possess the powers and discharge the duties of the office. When the Governor shall be absent from the state, or unable, from protracted illness, to perform the duties of the office, the Lieutenant Governor shall discharge the duties of said office until the Governor be able to resume his duties; but if, from disability or otherwise, the Lieutenant Governor shall be incapable of performing said duties, or if he be absent from the state, the President of the Senate pro Tempore shall act in his stead; but if there be no such president, or if he be disqualified by like disability, or be absent from the state, then the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall assume the office of Governor and perform the duties; and in case of the inability of the foregoing officers to discharge the duties of Governor, the Secretary of State shall convene the Senate to elect a President Pro Tempore. The officer discharging the duties of Governor shall receive as compensation while performing such duties, the compensation to which he is regularly entitled by law for service in the position to which he was elected and, in addition thereto, an amount equal to the difference between such regular compensation and the compensation of the Governor. Should a doubt arise as to whether a vacancy has occurred in the office of Governor or as to whether any one of the disabilities mentioned in this section exists or shall have ended, then the Secretary of State shall submit the question in doubt to the judges of the Supreme Court, who, or a majority of whom, shall investigate and determine the question and shall furnish to the Secretary of State an opinion, in writing, determining the question submitted to them, which opinion, when rendered as aforesaid, shall be final and conclusive. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 127 270.0 014.0 0 MS 1890 1992 *** Section 270. Any person may, by will, bequeath or devise all or any portion of his estate to any charitable, religious, educational, or civil institutions, subject to any statutory rights of surviving spouses and minor children and such other exceptions as may be prescribed by general law; provided that, in all cases, the will containing such bequest or devise must be executed at least one hundred and eighty (180) days before the death of the testator, or such bequest or devise shall be void. Provided, however, that any land devised, not in violation of this section, to any charitable, religious, educational, or civil institution may be legally owned, and further may be held by the devisee for a period of not longer than ten (10) years after such devise becomes effective as a fee simple or possessory interest, during which time such land and improvements thereon shall be taxed as any other land held by any other person, unless exempted by some specific statute. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 128 026.0 003.0 0 MS 1890 1992 *** Section 26. In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall have a right to be heard by himself or counsel, or both, to demand the nature and cause of the accusation, to be confronted by the witnesses against him, to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and, in all prosecutions by indictment or information, a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury of the county where the offense was committed; and he shall not be compelled to give evidence against himself; but in prosecutions for rape, adultery, fornication, sodomy or crime against nature the court may, in its discretion, exclude from the courtroom all persons except such as are necessary in the conduct of the trial. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Constitution, the Legislature may enact laws establishing a state grand jury with the authority to return indictments regardless of the county where the crime was committed. The subject matter jurisdiction of a state grand jury is limited to criminal violations of the Mississippi Uniform Controlled Substances Law or any other crime involving narcotics, dangerous drugs or controlled substances, or any crime arising out of or in connection with a violation of the Mississippi Uniform Controlled Substances Law or a crime involving narcotics, dangerous drugs or controlled substances if the crime occurs within more than one (1) circuit court district of the state or transpires or has significance in more than one (1) circuit court district of the state. The venue for the trial of indictments returned by a state grand jury shall be as prescribed by general law. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 129 211.0 008.0 0 MS 1890 1992 *** Section 211 of Article 8 was replaced by a new Section 211 with numbered subsections. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 130 211.1 008.0 0 MS 1890 1992 *** (1) The Legislature shall enact such laws as may be necessary to ascertain the true condition of the title to the sixteenth section lands in this state, or lands granted in lieu thereof, in the Choctaw Purchase, and shall provide that the sixteenth section lands reserved for the support of township schools, except as hereinafter provided, shall not be sold nor shall they be leased for a longer term than ten (10) years for lands situated outside municipalities and for lands situated within municipalities for a longer term than ninety-nine (99) years, for a gross sum; provided further, that existing leases of the sixteenth section lands situated in the municipalities of the state may, for a gross sum, be extended for a term of years not exceeding ninety-nine (99) years from the date of such extension, but the Legislature may provide for the lease of sixteenth section lands for a term of years not exceeding twenty-five (25) years for forest and agricultural lands and not exceeding forty (40) years for all other classifications of such lands for a ground rental, payable annually, and in the case of uncleared lands may lease them for such short terms as may be deemed proper in consideration of the improvement thereof, with right thereafter to lease for a term or to hold on payment of ground rent; provided however, that land granted in lieu of sixteenth section lands in this state and situated outside of the county holding or owning same may be sold and the proceeds from such sale may be invested in a manner to be prescribed by the Legislature; but provided further, however, that the Legislature, for industrial development thereon, may authorize the sale, in whole or in part for a gross sum or otherwise, of sixteenth section lands, or lands granted in lieu thereof situated within the county; and the Legislature shall either provide for the purchase of other lands within the county to be held for the benefit of the township schools in lieu of the lands sold or shall provide for the investment of the proceeds of such sale for the benefit of the township schools, or the Legislature may provide for both purchase of other lands to be so held and investment of proceeds for the benefit of the township schools; and the Legislature, for industrial development thereon, may authorize the granting of leases on sixteenth section lands, or lands granted in lieu thereof, in whole or in part, for a gross sum or otherwise, for terms not to exceed ninety-nine (99) years, and the Legislature shall provide for the investment of the proceeds of such leases for the benefit of the township schools. The Legislature may authorize the lease of not more than three (3) acres of sixteenth section lands or lands granted in lieu thereof for a term not exceeding ninety-nine (99) years for a ground rental, payable annually, to any church, having its principal place of worship situated on such lands, which has been in continuous operation at that location for not less than twenty-five (25) years at the time of the lease. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 131 211.2 008.0 0 MS 1890 1992 *** (2) Notwithstanding any limitation on the terms of leases provided in subsection (l) of this section, the Legislature may provide, by general law, for leases on liquid, solid or gaseous minerals with terms coextensive with the operations to produce such minerals. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 132 172.A 006.0 0 MS 1890 1995 *** Section 172A. Neither the Supreme Court nor any inferior court of this state shall have the power to instruct or order the state or any political subdivision thereof, or an official of the state or a political subdivision, to levy or increase taxes. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 133 029.0 003.0 0 MS 1890 1995 *** Section 29 of Article 3 was replaced by a new Section 29 with numbered subsections. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 134 029.1 003.0 0 MS 1890 1995 *** Section 29. (1) Excessive bail shall not be required, and all persons shall, before conviction, be bailable by sufficient sureties, except for capital offenses (a) when the proof is evident or presumption great; or (b) when the person previously has been convicted of a capital offense or any other offense punishable by imprisonment for a maximum of twenty (20) years or more. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 135 029.2 003.0 0 MS 1890 1995 *** (2) If a person charged with committing any offense that is punishable by death, life imprisonment or imprisonment for one (1) year or more in the penitentiary or any other state correctional facility is granted bail and (a) if that person is indicted for a felony committed while on bail; or (b) if the court, upon hearing, finds probable cause that the person has committed a felony while on bail, then the court shall revoke bail and shall order that the person be detained, without further bail, pending trial of the charge for which bail was revoked. For the purposes of this subsection (2) only, the term "felony" means any offense punishable by death, life imprisonment or imprisonment for more than five (5) years under the laws of the jurisdiction in which the crime is committed. In addition, grand larceny shall be considered a felony for the purposes of this subsection. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 136 029.3 003.0 0 MS 1890 1995 *** (3) In the case of offenses punishable by imprisonment for a maximum of twenty (20) years or more or by life imprisonment, a county or circuit court judge may deny bail for such offenses when the proof is evident or the presumption great upon making a determination that the release of the person or persons arrested for such offenses would constitute a special danger to any other person or to the community or that no condition or combination of conditions will reasonably assure the appearance of the person as required. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 137 029.4 003.0 0 MS 1890 1995 *** (4) In any case where bail is denied before conviction, the judge shall place in the record his reasons for denying bail. Any person who is charged with an offense punishable by imprisonment for a maximum of twenty (20) years or more or by life imprisonment and who is denied bail prior to conviction shall be entitled to an emergency hearing before a justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court. The provisions of this subsection (4) do not apply to bail revocation orders. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 138 273.1 015.0 0 MS 1890 1998 *** (1) Amendments to this Constitution may be proposed by the Legislature or by initiative of the people. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 139 273.2 015.0 0 MS 1890 1998 *** (2) Whenever two-thirds (2/3) of each house of the Legislature, which two-thirds (2/3) shall consist of not less than a majority of the members elected to each house, shall deem any change, alteration or amendment necessary to this Constitution, such proposed amendment, change or alteration shall be read and passed by two-thirds (2/3) vote of each house, as herein provided; public notice shall then be given by the Secretary of State at least thirty (30) days preceding an election, at which the qualified electors shall vote directly for or against such change, alteration or amendment, and if more than one (1) amendment shall be submitted at one (1) time, they shall be submitted in such manner and form that the people may vote for or against each amendment separately; and, notwithstanding the division of the Constitution into sections, the Legislature may provide in its resolution for one or more amendments pertaining and relating to the same subject or subject matter, and may provide for one or more amendments to an article of the Constitution pertaining and relating to the same subject or subject matter, which may be included and voted on as one (1) amendment; and if it shall appear that a majority of the qualified electors voting directly for or against the same shall have voted for the proposed change, alteration or amendment, then it shall be inserted as a part of the Constitution by proclamation of the Secretary of State certifying that it received the majority vote required by the Constitution; and the resolution may fix the date and direct the calling of elections for the purposes hereof. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 140 273.3 015.0 0 MS 1890 1998 *** (3) The people reserve unto themselves the power to propose and enact constitutional amendments by initiative. An initiative to amend the Constitution may be proposed by a petition signed over a twelve-month period by qualified electors equal in number to at least twelve percent (12%) of the votes for all candidates for Governor in the last gubernatorial election. The signatures of the qualified electors from any congressional district shall not exceed one-fifth (1/5) of the total number of signatures required to qualify an initiative petition for placement upon the ballot. If an initiative petition contains signatures from a single congressional district which exceed one-fifth (1/5) of the total number of required signatures, the excess number of signatures from that congressional district shall not be considered by the Secretary of State in determining whether the petition qualifies for placement on the ballot. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 141 273.4 015.0 0 MS 1890 1998 *** (4) The sponsor of an initiative shall identify in the text of the initiative the amount and source of revenue required to implement the initiative. If the initiative requires a reduction in any source of government revenue, or a reallocation of funding from currently funded programs, the sponsor shall identify in the text of the initiative the program or programs whose funding must be reduced or eliminated to implement the initiative. Compliance with this requirement shall not be a violation of the subject matter requirements of this section of the Constitution. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 142 273.5 015.0 0 MS 1890 1998 *** (5) The initiative process shall not be used: (a) For the proposal, modification or repeal of any portion of the Bill of Rights of the Constitution; (b) To amend or repeal any law or any provision of the Constitution relating to the Mississippi Public Employees' Retirement System; (c) To amend or repeal the constitutional guarantee that the right of any person to work shall not be denied or abridged on account of membership or nonmembership in any labor union or organization; or (d) To modify the initiative process for proposing amendments to this Constitution. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 143 273.6 015.0 0 MS 1890 1998 *** (6) The Secretary of State shall file with the Clerk of the House and the Secretary of the Senate the complete text of the certified initiative on the first day of the regular session. A constitutional initiative may be adopted by a majority vote of each house of the Legislature. If the initiative is adopted, amended or rejected by the Legislature; or of no action is taken within four (4) months of the date that the initiative is filed with the Legislature, the Secretary of State shall place the initiative on the ballot for the next statewide general election. The chief legislative budget officer shall prepare a fiscal analysis of each initiative and each legislative alternative. A summary of each fiscal analysis shall appear on the ballot. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 144 273.7 015.0 0 MS 1890 1998 *** (7) If the Legislature amends an initiative, the amended version and the original initiative shall be submitted to the electors. An initiative or legislative alternative must receive a majority of the votes thereon and not less than forty percent (40%) of the total votes cast at the election at which the measure was submitted to be approved. If conflicting initiatives or legislative alternatives are approved at the same election, the initiative or legislative alternative receiving the highest number of affirmative votes shall prevail. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 145 273.8 015.0 0 MS 1890 1998 *** (8) If an initiative measure proposed to the Legislature has been rejected by the Legislature and an alternative measure is passed by the Legislature in lieu thereof, the ballot titles of both such measures shall be so printed on the official ballots that a voter can express separately two (2) preferences: First, by voting for the approval of either measure or against both measures, and secondly, by voting for one measure or the other measure. If the majority of those voting on the first issue is against both measures, then both measures fail, but in that case the votes on the second issue nevertheless shall be carefully counted and made public. If a majority voting on the first issue is for the approval of either measure, then the measure receiving a majority of the votes on the second issue and also receiving not less than forty percent (40%) of the total votes cast at the election at which the measure was submitted for approval shall be law. Any person who votes for the ratification of either measure on the first issue must vote for one (1) of the measures on the second issue in order for the ballot to be valid. Any person who votes against both measures on the first issue may vote but shall not be required to vote for any of the measures on the second issue in order for the ballot to be valid. Substantially the following form shall be a compliance with this subsection: INITIATED BY PETITION AND ALTERNATIVE BY LEGISLATURE Initiative Measure No. , entitled (here insert the ballot title of the initiative measure). Alternative Measure No. A, entitled (here insert the ballot title of the alternative measure). VOTE FOR APPROVAL OF EITHER, OR AGAINST BOTH: FOR APPROVAL OF EITHER Initiative No. OR, Alternative No. A ....................................................... ( ) AGAINST Both Initiative No. AND Alternative No. A ...................................................... ( ) AND VOTE FOR ONE: FOR Initiative Measure No. .......................................................... ( ) FOR Alternative Measure No. A ................................................... ( ) *** MEND *** *** MSTART 146 273.9 015.0 0 MS 1890 1998 *** (9) No more than five (5) initiative proposals shall be submitted to the voters on a single ballot, and the first five (5) initiative proposals to the Secretary of State with sufficient petitions shall be the proposals which are submitted to the voters. The sufficiency of petitions shall be decided on the first instance by the Secretary of State, subject to review by the Supreme Court of the state, which shall have original and exclusive jurisdiction over all such cases. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 147 273.10 015.0 0 MS 1890 1998 *** (10) An initiative approved by the electors shall take effect thirty (30) days from the date of the official declaration of the vote by the Secretary of State, unless the measure provides otherwise. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 148 273.11 015.0 0 MS 1890 1998 *** (11) If any amendment to the Constitution proposed by initiative petition is rejected by a majority of the qualified electors voting thereon, no initiative petition proposing the same, or substantially the same, amendment shall be submitted to the electors for at least two (2) years after the date of the election on such amendment. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 149 273.12 015.0 0 MS 1890 1998 *** (12) The Legislature shall provide by the law the manner in which initiative petitions shall be circulated, presented and certified. To prevent signature fraud and to maintain the integrity of the initiative process the state has a compelling interest in insuring that no person shall circulate an initiative petition or obtain signatures on an initiative petition unless the person is a resident of this state at the time of circulation. For the purposes of this subsection the term "resident" means a person who is domiciled in Mississippi as evidenced by an intent to maintain a principal dwelling place in Mississippi indefinitely and to return to Mississippi if temporarily absent, coupled with an act or acts consistent with that intent. Every person who circulates an initiative petition shall print and sign his name on each page of an initiative petition, or on a separate page attached to each page, certifying that he was a resident of this state at the time of circulating the petition. The Secretary of State shall refuse to accept for filing any page of an initiative petition upon which the signatures appearing thereon were obtained by a person who was not a resident of this state at the time of circulating the petition, and an initiative measure shall not be placed on the ballot if the Secretary of State determines that without such signatures the petition clearly bears an insufficient number of signatures. The provisions of this subsection (12) shall be applicable to all initiative measures that have not been placed on the ballot at the time this proposed amendment is ratified by the electorate. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 150 273.13 015.0 0 MS 1890 1998 *** (13) The Legislature may enact laws to carry out the provisions of this section but shall in no way restrict or impair the provisions of this section or the powers herein reserved to the people. *** MEND *** *** MSTART 151 026.A 003.0 0 MS 1890 1998 *** (1) Victims of crime, as defined by law, shall have the right to be treated with fairness, dignity and respect throughout the criminal justice process; and to be informed, to be present and to be heard, when authorized by law, during public hearings. (2) Nothing in this section shall provide grounds for the accused or convicted to obtain any form of relief nor shall this section impair the constitutional rights of the accused. Nothing in this section or any enabling statute shall be construed as creating a cause of action for damages against the state or any of its agencies, officials, employees or political subdivisions. (3) The Legislature shall have the authority to enact substantive and procedural laws to define, implement, preserve and protect the rights guaranteed to victims by this section. *** MEND *** *** CEND ***