tify against any person or persons, who may have committed any of said offences: Provided, that any person so compelled to testify, shall be exempted from trial and punishment for the offence of which he may have been guilty, and concerning which he is compelled to testify; and any person convicted of any of the offences specified in this section, shall, as a part of the punishment thereof, be forever disqualified from holding any office or position of honor, trust, or profit in this State. 46. Laws may be passed regulating or prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquors within the limits of this State. 47. No charter of incorporation shall be granted to any church, or religious denomination. Provision may be made by general laws for securing the title to church property, and for the sale and transfer thereof, so that it shall be held, used, or transferred for the purposes of such church, or religious denomination. 18. Any husband or parent, residing in this State, or the infant children of deceased parents, may hold a homestead of the value of one thousand dollars, and personal property to the value of two hundred dollars, exempt from forced sale subject to such regulations as shall be prescribed by law: Provided, that such homestead exemption shall in nowise affect debts or liabilities existing at the time of the adoption of this Constitution; and provided further, that no property shall be exempt from sale for taxes due thereon, or for the payment of purchase money due upon said property, or for debts contracted for the erection of improvements thereon. 49. The Legislature shall pass such laws as may be necessary to protect the property of married women from the debts, liabilities and control of their husbands. 50. The Legislature may provide for submitting to a vote of the people at the general election to be held in 1876, or at any general election thereafter, a plan or scheme of proportional representation. in the Senate of this State; and if a majority of the votes cast at such election be in favor of the plan submitted to them, the Legislature shall, at its session succeeding said election, re-arrange the Senatorial Districts in accordance with the plan so approved by the people. ARTICLE VII. EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. 1. The Executive Department shall consist of a Governor, Secretary of State, State Superintendent of Free Schools, Auditor, Treasarrand Attorney-General, who shall be, ex officio, Reporter of the Court of Appeals. Their terms of office, respectively, shall be four years, and shall commence on the fourth day of March, next after their election. They shall, except the Attorney-General, reside at the seat of government during their terms of office, and keep there the public records, books and papers pertaining to their respective offices and shall perform such duties as may be prescribed by law. ELECTION. 2. An election for Governor, State Superintendent of Free Schools, Auditor, Treasurer and Attorney-General, shall be held at such times and places as may be prescribed in this Constitution or by general law. 3. The returns of every election for the above named officers shall be sealed up and transmitted by the returning officers to the Secretary of State, directed "to the Speaker of the House of Delegates," who shall, immediately after the organization of the House and before proceeding to business, open and publish the same, in the presence of a majority of each House of the Legislature, which shall for that purpose, assemble in the Hall of the House of Delegates. The person having the highest number of votes for either of said offices, shall be declared duly elected thereto; but if two or more have an equal and the highest number of votes for the same office, the Legislature shall, by joint vote, choose one of such persons for said office. Contested elections for the office of Governor, shall be determined by both Houses of the Legislature by joint vote, in such manner as may be prescribed by law. The Secretary of State shall be appointed by the Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and shall continue in office, unless sooner removed, until the expiration of the official term of the Governor by whom he shall have been appointed. ELIGIBILITY. 4. Neither the Governor, State Superintendent of Free Schools, Auditor, Treasurer, nor Attorney General, shall hold any other office during the term of his service. The Governor shall be ineligible to said office for the four years next succeeding the term for which he was elected. 5. The chief executive power shall be vested in the Governor, who shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed. 6. The Governor shall at the commencement of each session, give to the Legislature information by message, of the condition of the State, and shall recommend such measures as he shall deem expedient. He shall accompany his message with a statement of all money received and paid out by him, from any funds, subject to his order with vouchers therefor; and at the commencement of each regular session present estimates of the amount of money required by taxation for all purposes. 7. The Governor may, on extraordinary occasions convene, at his own instance, the Legislature; but when so convened it shall enter upon no business except that stated in the proclamation by which it was called together. 8. The Governor shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, (a majority of all the Senators elected concurring by yeas and nays,) appoint all officers whose offices are established by this Constitution, or shall be created by law, and whose appoint ment or election is not otherwise provided for; and no such officers shall be appointed or elected by the Legislature. 9. In case of a vacancy, during the recess of the Senate, in any office which is not elective, the Governor shall, by appointment, fill such vacancy, until the next meeting of the Senate, when he shall make a nomination for such office, and the person so nominated, when confirmed by the Senate, (a majority of all the Senators elected concurring by yeas and nays,) shall hold his office during the remainder of the term, and until his successor shall be appointed and qualified. No person, after being rejected by the Senate, shall be again nominated for the same office, during the same session, unless at the request of the Senate; nor shall such person be appointed to the same office during the recess of the Senate. 10. The Governor shall have power to remove any officer whom he may appoint in case of incompetency, neglect of duty, gross immorality, or malfeasance in office; and he may declare his office vacant and fill the same as herein provided in other cases of vacancy. 11. The Governor shall have power to remit fines and penalties in such cases and under such regulations as may be prescribed by law; to commute capital punishment and, except where the prosecution has been carried on by the House of Delegates, to grant reprieves and pardons after conviction; but he shall communicate to the Legislature at each session the particulars of every case of fine or penalty remitted, of punishment commuted and of reprieve or pardon granted, with his reasons therefor. 12. The Governor shall be commander-in-chief of the military forces of the State, (except when they shall be called into the service of the United State,) and may call out the same to execute the laws, suppress insurrection and repel invasion, 13. When any State officer has executed his official bond, the Governor shall, for such causes and in such manner as the Legislature may direct, require of such officer reasonable additional security; and if the security is not given as required his office shall be declared vacant, in such manner as may be provided by law. 14. Every bill passed by the Legislature shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the Governor. If he approve, he shall sign it, and thereupon it shall become a law; but if not, he shall return it, with his objections, to the House in which it originated which House shall enter the objections at large upon its journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration, a majority of the members elected to that House, agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other House, by which it it shall likewise, be reconsidered, and if approved by a majority of the members elected to that House, it shall become a law, notwithstanding the objections of the Governor. But in all such cases, the vote of each House shall be determined by yeas and nays to be entered on the journal. Any bill which shall not be returned by the Governor within five days (Sunday excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, shall be a law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Legislature shall, by their adjournment. prevent its return, in which case it shall be filed, with his objections, in the office of the Secretary of State, within five days after such adjournment, or become a law. 15. Every bill passed by the Legislature making appropriations of money, embracing distinct items, shall before it becomes a law, be presented to the Governor; if he disapprove the bill, or any item or appropriation therein contained, he shall communicate such disapproval with his reasons therefor to the House in which the bill originated; but all items not disapproved shall have the force and effect of law according to the original provisions of the bill. Any item or items so disapproved shall be void, unless re-passed by a majority of each House according to the rules and limitations prescribed in the preceding section in reference to other bills. 16 In case of the death, conviction on impeachment, failure to qualify, resignation, or other disability of the Governor, the President of the Senate shall act as Governor until the vacancy is filled, or the disability removed; and if the President of the Senate, for any of the above named causes, shall become incapable of performing the duties of Governor, the same shall devolve upon the Speaker of the House of Delegates; and in all other cases where there is no one to act as Governor, one shall be chosen by joint vote of the Legislature. Whenever a vacancy shall occur in the office of Governor before the first three years of the term shall have expired, a new election for Governor shall take place to fill the vacancy. 17. If the office of Auditor, Treasurer, State Superintendent of Free Schools or Attorney General shall become vacant by death, resignation, or otherwise, it shall be the duty of the Governor to fill the same by appointment, aud the appointee shall hold his office until his successor shall be elected and qualified in such manner as may be provided by law. The subordinate officers of the Executive Department and the officers of all public institutions of the State shall keep an account of all moneys received or disbursed by them respectively, from all sources, and for every service performed and make a semi-annual report thereof to the Governor under oath or affirmation; and any officer who shall wilfully make a false report shall be deemed guilty of perjury. 18. The subordinate officers of the Executive Department and the officers of all the public institutions of the State, shall, at least ten days preceding each regular session of the Legislature, severally report to the Governor, who shall transmit such report to the Legislature; and the Governor may at any time require information in writing, under oath, from the officers of his department, and all officers and managers of State institutions, upon any subject relating to the condition, management and expenses of their respective offices. 19. The Governor shall receive for his services a salary of twenty seven hundred dollars per annum and no additional emolument, allowance or perquisite shall be paid or made to him, on any account. Any person acting as Governor shall receive the emoluments of that office. The Secretary of State shall receive one thousand; the State Superintendent of Free Schools, fifteen hundred; the Treasurer, fourteen hundred; the Auditor two thousand, and the AttorneyGeneral thirteen hundred dollars per annum; and no additional emolument or allowance, except as herein otherwise provided, shall be paid or made out of the treasury of the State to any of the foregoing executive officers on any account. ARTICLE VIII. [As amended-see Acts 1879, p. 176.1 JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT. 1. The judicial power of the State shall be vested in a supreme court of appeals, in circuit courts and the judges thereof, in such inferior tribunals as are herein authorized and in justices of the peace. SUPREME COURT OF APPEALS. 2. The supreme court of appeals shall consist of four judges, any three of whom shall be a quorum for the transaction of business. They shall be elected by the voters of the State and hold their office for the term of twelve years, unless sooner removed in the manner prescribed by this constitution, except that the judges in office when this article takes effect shall remain therein until the expiration of their present term of office. 3. It shall have original jurisdiction in cases of habeas corpus, mandemus, and prohibition. It shall have appellate jurisdiction in civil esses where the matter in controversy, exclusive of costs, is of greater value or amount than one hundred dollars; in controversies Concerning the title or boundaries of land, the probate of wills, the appointment or qualification of a personal representative, guardian, amittee or curator; or concerning a mill, road, way, ferry or landing; or the right of a corporation or county to levy tolls or taxes; and, also, in cases of quo warranto, habeas corpus, mandamus, tiorari and prohibition, and in cases involving freedom or the Constitutionality of a law. It shall have appellate jurisdiction in criminal cases where there has been a conviction for felony or misdemeanor in a circuit court, and where a conviction has been had in any inferior court and been affirmed in a circuit court, and in cases relating to the public revenue, the right of appeal shall belong to the State as well as the defendant, and such other appellate jurisdiction, in both civil and criminal cases, as may be prescribed by law. 4. No decision rendered by the supreme court of appeals shall be considered as binding authority upon any of the inferior courts of this State, except in the particular case decided, unless such decision is concurred in by at least three judges of said court. |