CONSTITUTION OF 1852.

PREAMBLE.

WE, the People of the State of Louisiana, do ordain and establish this Constitution.

TITLE I.-DISTRIBUTION OF POWERS.

ART. 1. The powers of the Government of the State of Louisiana shall be divided into three distinct departments, and each of them be confined to a separate body of magistracy, to wit: those which are legislative to one; those which are executive to another; and those which are judicial to another.

ART. 2. No one of these departments, nor any person holding office in one of them, shall exercise power properly belonging to either of the others, except in the instances hereinafter expressly directed or permitted.

TITLE II.-LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT.

ART. 3. The Legislative power of the State shall be vested in two distinct branches, the one to be styled the "House of Representatives," the other "The Senate," and both, the "General Assembly of the State of Louisiana."

ART. 4. The members of the House of Representatives shall continue in service for the term of two years from the day of the closing of the general elections.

ART. 5. Representatives shall be chosen on the first Monday in November, every two years; and the election shall be completed in one day. The General Assembly shall meet annually, on the third Monday in January, unless a different day be appointed by law, and their sessions shall be held at the seat of government.

ART. 6. Every duly qualified elector under this Constitution shall be eligible to a seat in the General Assembly; provided that no person shall be a Representative or Senator, unless he be at the time of his election, a duly qualified voter of the Representative or Senatorial District from which he is elected.

ART. 7. Elections for members of the General Assembly shall be held at the several election precincts established by law. The Legislature may delegate the power of establishing election precincts to the parochial or municipal authorities.

ART. 8. Representation in the House of Representatives shall be equal and uniform, and shall be regulated and ascertained by the total population of each of the several parishes of the State. Each parish shall have at least one Representative; no new parish shall be created with a territory less than six hundred and twenty-five, square miles, nor with a population less than the full number entitling it to a representative, nor when the creation of such new parish would leave any other parish without the said extent of territory and amount of population.

The first enumeration by the State authorities under this Constitution shall be made in the year 1853, the second in the year 1858, the third in the year 1865; after which time the General Assembly shall direct in what manner the census shall be taken, so that it be made at least once in every period of ten years, for the purpose of ascertaining the total population in each Parish and election district.

At the first regular session of the Legislature after the making of each enumeration, the Legislature shall apportion the representation amongst the several parishes and election districts on the basis of the total population as aforesaid. A representative number shall be fixed, and each parish and election district shall have as many representatives as the aggregate population shall entitle it to, and an additional representative for any fraction exceeding one-half the representative number. The number of representatives shall not be more than one hundred, nor less than seventy.

Until an apportionment shall be made, and elections held under the same, in accordance with the first enumeration to be made as directed in this article, the representation in the Senate and House of Representatives shall be and remain as at present established by law.

The limits of the parish of Orleans are hereby extended, so as to embrace the whole of the present city of New Orleans, including that part of the Parish of Jefferson, formerly known as the City of Lafayette.

All that part of the Parish of Orleans which is situated on the left bank of the Mississippi river, shall be divided by the Legislature into not more than ten Representative Districts, and until a new apportionment shall be made according to the first census to be taken under this Constitution, that part of the City of New Orleans which was comprised within the former limits of the City of Lafayette, shall vote for Senators from the Parish of Orleans, and form the Tenth Representative District, and shall elect two out of the three Reprensatives now apportioned by law to the Parish of Jefferson; the other Representative Districts shall remain as they are now established.

ART. 9. The House of Representatives shall choose its Speaker and other officers.

ART. 10. Every free white male who has attained the age of twenty-one years, and who has been a resident of the State twelve SIG. 8.

months next preceding the election, and the last six months thereof in the Parish in which he offers to vote, and who shall be a citizen of the United States, shall have the right of voting, but no voter, on removing from one Parish to another, within the State, shall lose the right of voting in the former, until he shall have acquired it in the latter. Electors shall, in all cases, except treason, felony, or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at, going to, or returning from elections.

ART. 11. The Legislature shall provide by law, that the names and residence of all qualified electors of the City of New Crleans shall be registered, in order to entitle them to vote; but the registry shall be free of cost to the elector.

ART. 12. No soldier, seaman, or marine in the Army or Navy of the United States, no pauper, no person under interdiction, nor under conviction of any crime punishable with hard labor, shall be entitled to a vote at any election in this State.

ART. 13. No person shall be entitled to vote at any election held in this State, except in the parish of his residence, and in cities and towns divided into election precincts, in the election precinct in which he resides.

ART. 14. The members of the Senate shall be chosen for the term of four years. The Senate, when assembled, shall have the power to choose its officers.

ART. 15. The Legislature, in every year in which they shall apportion representation in the House of Representatives, shall divide the State into Senatorial districts. No parish shall be divided in the formation of a Senatorial district, the parish of Orleans excepted. And whenever a new parish shall be created, it shall be attached to the Senatorial district from which most of its territory was taken, or to another contiguous district, at the discretion of the Legislature; but shall not be attached to more than one district. The number of Senators shall be thirty-two, and they shall be apportioned among the Senatorial districts according to the total population contained in the several districts: Provided, That no parish shall be entitled to more than five Senators.

ART. 16. In all apportionments of the Senate, the population of the city of New Orleans shall be deducted from the population of the whole State, and the remainder of the population divided by the number twenty-seven, and the result produced by this division shall be the Senatorial ratio entitling a Senatorial district to a Senator. Single or contiguous parishes shall be formed into districts having a population the nearest possible to the number entitling a district to a Senator; and if, in the apportionment to be made, a parish or district fall short of or exceed the ratio one-fifth, then a district may be formed having not more than two Senators, but not otherwise. No new apportionment shall have the effect of abridging the term of service of any Senator already elected at the time of making the portionment. After an enumeration has been made as directed in the eighth article, the Legislature shall not pass any law until an apportionment of representation in both houses of the General Assembly be made.

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ART. 17. At the first session of the General Assembly after this Constitution takes effect, the Senators shall be equally divided by lot into two classes; the seats of the Senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration of the second year; of the second class, at the expiration of the fourth year; so that one-half shall be chosen every two years, and a rotation thereby kept up perpetually. In case any district shall have elected two or more Senators, said Senators shall vacate their seats respectively at the end of two and four years, and lots shall be drawn between them.

ART. 18. The first election for Senators shall be general throughout the State, and at the same time that the general election for Representatives is held; and thereafter there shall be biennial elections to fill the places of those whose time of service may have expired.

ART. 19. Not less than a majority of the members of each House of the General Assembly shall form a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and shall be authorized by law to compel the attendance of absent members.

ART. 20. Each House of the General Assembly shall judge of the qualification, election, and returns of its members; but a contested election shall be determined in such manner as shall be directed by law.

ART. 21. Each House of the General Assembly may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish a member for disorderly behaviour, and with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member, but not a second time for the same offence.

ART. 22, Each House of the General Assembly shall keep and publish a weekly journal of its proceedings; and the yeas and nays of the members on any question, shall, at the desire of any two of them, be entered on the journal.

ART. 23. Each House may punish by imprisonment, any person not a member, for disrespectful and disorderly behaviour in its presence, or for obstructing any of its proceedings. Such imprisonment shall not exceed ten days for any one offence.

ART. 24. Neither House, during the sessions of the General Assembly, shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which they may be sitting.

ART. 25. The members of the General Assembly shall receive from the public treasury a compensation for their services, which shall be four dollars per day during their attendance, going to and returning from the session of their respective Houses. The compensation may be increased or diminished by law; but no alteration shall take effect during the period of service of the members of the House of Representatives by whom such alteration shall have been made.No session shall extend to a period beyond sixty days, to date from its commencement, and any legislative action had after the expiration of the said sixty days, shall be null and void. This provision shall not apply to the first legislature which is to convene after the adoption of this Constitution.

ART. 26. The members of the General Assembly shall, in all cases except treason, felony, breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the sesssions of their respective Houses, and going to or returning from the same, and for any speech or debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other place.

ART. 27. No Senator or Representative shall, during the term for which he is elected, nor for one year thereafter, be appointed or elected to any civil office of profit under this State, which shall have been created, or the emoluments of which shall have been increased during the time such Senator or Representative was in office, except to such offices or appointments as may be filled by the elections of the people.

ART. 28. No person who at any time may have been a Collector of Taxes, whether State, Parish or Municipal, or who may have been otherwise entrusted with public money, shall be eligible to the General Assembly, or to any office of profit or trust under the State Government, until he shall have obtained a discharge for the amount of such collections, and for all public moneys with which he may have been entrusted.

ART. 29. No bill shall have the force of a law until on three several days it be read over in each House of the General Assembly, and free discussion allowed thereon, unless in case of urgency, fourfifths of the House where the bill shall be pending, may deem it expedient to dispense with this rule.

ART. 30. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives, but the Senate may propose amendments as in other bills; provided they shall not introduce any new matter under color of an amendment, which does not relate to raising

revenue.

ART. 31. The General Assembly shall regulate by law by whom, and in what manner writs of elections shall be issued to fill the vacancies which may happen in either branch thereof.

ART. 32. The Senate shall vote on the corfirmation or rejection of office, to be appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, by yeas and nays, and the names of the Senators voting for and against the appointments respectfully, shall be entered on a journal to be kept for that purpose, and made public at the end of each session, or before.

ART. 33. Returns of all elections for members of the General Assembly shall be made to the Secretary of State.

ART. 34. In the year in which a regular election for a Senator of the United States is to take place, the members of the General Assembly shall meet in the Hall of the House of Representatives, on the Monday following the meeting of the Legislature, and proceed to the said election.

TITLE III. -EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT.

ART. 35. The Supreme Executive power of the State shall be