And, provided, That no soldier, sailor or marine, in the military or naval service of the United States shall acquire a residence by being stationed in this State.

2. All elections by the people shall be by ballot, and all elections by persons in a representative capacity shall be viva voce. 3. The following classes shall not be permitted to register, vote or hold office: First. Those who shall have been convicted of treason, embezzlement of public funds, malfeasance in office, larceny, bribery, or other crime, punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary. Second. Those who are idiots or insane.

4. Electors shall in all cases, except treason, felony, or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at elections, or while going to or returning therefrom.

5. The General Assembly shall pass laws, not inconsistent with the Constitution, to regulate and govern elections in this State, and all such laws shall be uniform throughout the State. The General Assembly may, when necessary, provide by law for the registration of electors throughout the State, or in any incorporated city or town thereof, and when it is so provided no person shall vote at any election unless he shall have registered, as required by law.

6. It shall be the duty of the General Assembly to pass adequate laws giving protection against the evils arising from the use of intoxicating liquors at all elections.

7. Returns of elections for all civil officers who are to be commissioned by the Governor, except Secretary of State, State Auditor, State Treasurer and Attorney-General, and for the members of the General Assembly, shall be made to the Secretary of State.

ARTICLE IX.

Representation.

1. The whole number of Senators shall be not less than onefourth, or more than one-third, of the whole number of representatives.

2. The House of Representatives shall consist of not more than one hundred members, who shall be apportioned by the General Assembly among the several counties of the State, according to the number of inhabitants in them respectively, as ascertained by the decennial census of the United States

for the year eighteen hundred and eighty; which apportionment, when made, shall be subject to alteration until the first session of the General Assembly after the next decennial census of the United States shall have been taken.

It shall be the duty of the General Assembly, at its first session after the taking of the decennial census of the United States in the year eighteen hundred and eighty, and after each subsequent decennial census, to fix by law the number of representatives and apportion them among the several counties. of the State: Provided, That each county shall be entitled to at least one representative.

4. It shall be the duty of the General Assembly at its first session after the taking of the decennial census of the United States in the year eighteen hundred and eighty, and after each subsequent decennial census, to fix by law the number of Senators and to divide the State into as many Senatorial Districts as there are Senators, which districts shall be as nearly equal to each other in the number of inhabitants as may be, and each shall be entitled to one Senator and no more; and which districts when formed, shall not be changed until the next apportioning session of the General Assembly after the next decennial census of the United States shall have been taken. No county shall be divided between two districts and no district shall be made of two or more counties not contiguous to each other.

5. Should the decennial census of the United States, from any cause, not be taken, or if when taken, the same as to this State is not full and satisfactory, the General Assembly shall have power, at its first session after the time shall have elapsed for the taking of said census, to provide for an enumeration of all the inhabitants of this State, and once in each ten years thereafter, upon which it shall be the duty of the General Assembly to make the apportionment of Representatives and Senators as provided for in this article.

6. Until the General Assembly shall make an apportionment of Representatives among the several counties, after the first decennial census of the United States, as herein provided, the counties of Autauga, Baldwin, Bibb, Blount, Calhoun, Chilton, Cherokee, Choctaw, Clarke, Clay, Cleburne, Coffee, Colbert, Conecuh, Coosa, Covington, Crenshaw, Dale, DeKalb, Elmore, Etowah, Escambia, Fayette, Franklin, Geneva, Henry, Lauder

dale, Marion, Morgan, Monroe, Marshall, Randolph, Sanford, Shelby, St. Clair, Walker, Washington and Winston shall each have one Representative; the counties of Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Chambers, Greene, Hale, Jackson, Jefferson, Limestone, Lawrence, Lowndes, Lee, Macon, Marengo, Perry, Pickens, Pike, Russell, Sumter, Talladega, Tallapoosa, Tuskaloosa, and Wilcox shall have each two Representatives; the county of Madison shall have three Representatives; the counties of Dallas and Montgomery shall have each four Representatives.

7. Until the General Assembly shall divide the State into senatorial districts, the senatorial districts shall be as follows:

First district, Lauderdale and Limestone; second district, Colbert and Lawrence; third district, Morgan, Winston and Blount; fourth district, Madison; fifth district, Marshall, Jackson and DeKalb; sixth district, Cherokee, Etowah, and St. Clair; seventh district, Calhoun and Cleburne; eighth district, Talladega and Clay; ninth district, Randolph and Chambers; tenth district, Macon and Tallapoosa; eleventh district, Bibb and Tuskaloosa; twelfth district, Franklin, Marion, Fayette and Sanford; thirteenth district, Walker, Jefferson and Shelby; fourteenth district, Greene and Pickens; fifteenth district, Coosa, Elmore and Chilton; sixteenth district, Lowndes and Autauga; seventeenth district, Butler and Conecuh; eighteenth district, Perry; nineteenth district, Choctaw, Clarke and Washington; twentieth district, Marengo; twenty-first district, Monroe, Escambia and Baldwin; twenty-second district, Wilcox, twenty-third district, Henry, Coffee, Dale and Geneva; twentyfourth district, Barbour; twenty-fifth district, Pike, Crenshaw, and Covington; twenty-sixth district, Bullock; twenty-seventh district, Lee; twenty-eighth district, Montgomery; twenty-ninth district, Russell; thirtieth district, Dallas; thirty-first district, Sumter; thirty-second district, Hale; thirty-third district, Mobile.

ARTICLE X.

Exempted Property.

1. The personal property of any resident of this State to the value of one thousand dollars, to be selected by such resident, shall be exempted from sale on execution, or other process of any court, issued for the collection of any debt contracted, since

the thirteenth day of July, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, or after the ratification of this Constitution.

2. Every homestead, not exceeding eighty acres, and the dwelling and appurtenances thereon, to be selected by the owner thereof, and not in any city, town or village, with the dwelling and appurtenances thereon, owned or occupied by any resident of this State, and not exceeding the value of two thousand dollars, shall be exempted from sale, on execution or any other process from a court, for any debt contracted since the thirteenth day of July, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, or after the ratification of this Constitution. Such exemption, however, shall not extend to any mortgage, lawfully obtained, but such mortgage or other alienation of such homestead, by the owner thereof, if a married man, shall not be valid without the voluntary signature and assent of the wife to the same.

3. The homestead of a family after the death of the owner thereof, shall be exempt from the payment of any debts contracted since the thirteenth day of July eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, or after the ratification of this Constitution, in all cases, during the minority of the children.

4. The provisions of section one and two of this article shall not be so construed as to prevent a laborer's lien for work done and performed for the person claiming such exemption, or a mechanic's lien for work done on the premises.

5. If the owner of a homestead die, leaving a widow, but no children, such homestead shall be exempt, and the rents and profits thereof shall inure to her benefit.

6. The real or personal property of any female in this State, acquired before marriage, and all property, real and personal, to which she may afterwards be entitled by gift, grant, inheritance, or devise, shall be and remain the separate estate and property of such female, and shall not be liable for any debts, obligations, and engagements of her husband, and may be devised or bequeathed by her, the same as if she was a femme sole.

7. The right of exemption hereinbefore secured, may be waived by an instrument in writing, and when such waiver relates to realty, the instrument must be signed by both the husband and the wife, and attested by one witness.

ARTICLE XI.
Taxation.

1. All taxes levied on property in this State, shall be assessed in exact proportion to the value of such property: Provided, however, The General Assembly may levy a poll tax not to exceed one dollar and fifty cents on each poll, which shall be applied exclusively in aid of the public school fund, in the county so paying the same.

2. No power to levy taxes shall be delegated to individuals or private corporations.

3. After the ratification of this Constitution, no new debt shall be created against, or incurred by, this State or its authority, except to repel invasion, or suppress insurrection, and then only by a concurrence of two-thirds of the members of each house of the General Assembly, and the vote shall be taken by yeas and nays, and entered on the journals; and any act creating or incurring any new debt against this State, except as herein provided for, shall be absolutely void: Provided, The Governor may be authorized to negotiate temporary loans, never to exceed one hundred thousand dollars, to meet deficiencies in the treasury; and until the same is paid, no new loan shall be negotiated: Provided, further, That this section shall not be so construed as to prevent the issuance of bonds in adjustment of the existing State indebtedness.

4. The General Assembly shall not have the power to levy, in any one year, a greater rate of taxation than three-fourths of one per centum on the value of the taxable property within this State.

5. No county in this State shall be authorized to levy a larger rate of taxation, in any one year, on the value of the taxable property therein than one-half one per centum: Provided, That to pay debts existing at the ratification of this Constitution, an additional rate of one-fourth of one per centum may be levied and collected, which shall be exclusively appropriated to the payment of such debts, or the interest thereon: Provided, further, That to any debt or liability now existing against any county, incurred for the erection of the necessary public buildings, or other ordinary county purposes, or that may hereafter be created for the erection of the necessary public