Constitution of the State of North Carolina and Copy of the Act of the General Assembly Entitled Part 2

SEC. 6. In making the apportionment in the House of Representatives, the ratio of representation shall be ascertained by dividing the amount of the population of the State, exclusive of that comprehended within those counties which do not severally contain the one hundred and twentieth part of the population of the State, by the number of Representatives, less the number a.s.signed to such counties; and in ascertaining the number of the population of the State, aliens and Indians not taxed shall not be included. To each county containing the said ratio and not twice the said ratio, there shall be a.s.signed one Representative; to each county containing two but not three times the said ratio, there shall be a.s.signed two Representatives, and so on progressively, and then the remaining representatives shall be a.s.signed severally to the counties having the largest fractions.

[Sidenote: Qualifications for senators.]

SEC. 7. Each member of the Senate shall not be less than twenty-five years of age, shall have resided in the State as a citizen two years, and shall have usually resided in the district for which he is chosen one year immediately preceding his election.

[Sidenote: Qualifications for representatives.]

SEC. 8. Each member of the House of Representatives shall be a qualified elector of the State, and shall have resided in the county for which he is chosen for one year immediately preceding his election.

[Sidenote: Election of officers.]

SEC. 9. In the election of all officers, whose appointment shall be conferred upon the General a.s.sembly by the Const.i.tution, the vote shall be _viva voce_.

[Sidenote: Powers in relation to divorce and alimony.]

SEC. 10. The General a.s.sembly shall have the power to pa.s.s general laws regulating divorce and alimony, but shall not have power to grant a divorce or secure alimony in any individual case.

[Sidenote: Private laws in relation to names of persons, etc.]

SEC. 11. The General a.s.sembly shall not have power to pa.s.s any private law to alter the name of any person, or to legitimate any person not born in lawful wedlock, or to restore to the rights of citizens.h.i.+p any person convicted of an infamous crime, but shall have power to pa.s.s general laws regulating the same.

[Sidenote: Thirty days' notice shall be given anterior to pa.s.sage of private laws.]

SEC. 12. The General a.s.sembly shall not pa.s.s any private law, unless it shall be made to appear that thirty days' notice of application to pa.s.s such a law shall have been given, under such direction and in such manner as shall be provided by law.

[Sidenote: Vacancies.]

SEC. 13. If vacancies shall occur in the General a.s.sembly by death, resignation or otherwise, writs of election shall be issued by the Governor under such regulations as may be prescribed by law.

[Sidenote: Revenue.]

SEC. 14. No law shall be pa.s.sed to raise money on the credit of the State, or to pledge the faith of the State, directly or indirectly, for the payment of any debt, or to impose any tax upon the people of the State, or allow the counties, cities or towns to do so, unless the bill for the purpose shall have been read three several times in each House of the General a.s.sembly and pa.s.sed three several readings, which readings shall have been on three different days, and agreed to by each House respectively, and unless the yeas and nays on the second and third readings of the bill shall have been entered on the journal.

[Sidenote: Entails.]

SEC. 15. The General a.s.sembly shall regulate entails in such manner as to prevent perpetuities.

[Sidenote: Journals.]

SEC. 16. Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, which shall be printed and made public immediately after the adjournment of the General a.s.sembly.

[Sidenote: Protest.]

SEC. 17. Any member of either House may dissent from and protest against any act or resolve, which he may think injurious to the public, or any individual, and have the reasons of his dissent entered on the journal.

[Sidenote: Officers of the House.]

SEC. 18. The House of Representatives shall choose their own Speaker and other officers.

[Sidenote: President of the Senate.]

SEC. 19. The Lieutenant-Governor shall preside in the Senate, but shall have no vote unless it may be equally divided.

[Sidenote: Other senatorial officers.]

SEC. 20. The Senate shall choose its other officers and also a Speaker (_pro tempore_) in the absence of the Lieutenant-Governor, or when he shall exercise the office of Governor.

[Sidenote: Style of the acts.]

SEC. 21. The style of the acts shall be: "The General a.s.sembly of North Carolina do enact."

[Sidenote: Powers of the General a.s.sembly.]

SEC. 22. Each House shall be judge of the qualifications and election of its own members, shall sit upon its own adjournment from day to day, prepare bills to be pa.s.sed into laws; and the two Houses may also jointly adjourn to any future day or other place.

[Sidenote: Bills and resolutions to be read three times, etc.]

SEC. 23. All bills and resolutions of a legislative nature shall be read three times in each House, before they pa.s.s into laws; and shall be signed by the presiding officers of both Houses.

[Sidenote: Oath of members].

SEC. 24. Each member of the General a.s.sembly, before taking his seat, shall take an oath or affirmation that he will support the Const.i.tution and laws of the United States, and the Const.i.tution of the State of North Carolina, and will faithfully discharge his duty as a member of the Senate or House of Representatives.

[Sidenote: Terms of office.]

SEC. 25. The terms of office for Senators and members of the House of Representatives shall commence at the time of their election.

[Sidenote: Yeas and nays.]

SEC. 26. Upon motion made and seconded in either House by one-fifth of the members present, the yeas and nays upon any question shall be taken and entered upon the journals.

[Sidenote: Election for members of the General a.s.sembly.]

SEC. 27. The election for members of the General a.s.sembly shall be held for the respective districts and counties, at the places where they are now held, or may be directed hereafter to be held, in such manner as may be prescribed by law, on the first Thursday in August, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy, and every two years thereafter. But the General a.s.sembly may change the time of holding the elections.

[Sidenote: Pay of members and officers of the General a.s.sembly.]

[Sidenote: Extra session.]

SEC. 28. The members of the General a.s.sembly for the term for which they have been elected shall receive as a compensation for their services the sum of _four dollars_ per day for each day of their session, for a period not exceeding sixty days; and should they remain longer in session they shall serve without compensation. They shall also be ent.i.tled to receive ten cents per mile, both while coming to the seat of government and while returning home, the said distance to be computed by the nearest line or route of public travel. The compensation of the presiding officers of the two Houses shall be six dollars per day and mileage. Should an extra session of the General a.s.sembly be called, the members and presiding officers shall receive a like rate of compensation for a period not exceeding twenty days.

ARTICLE III.

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT.

[Sidenote: Officers of the Executive Department.]