Constitution of the State of North Carolina and Copy of the Act of the General Assembly Entitled Part 5

[Sidenote: Removal of clerks of the various courts for inability.]

SEC. 32. Any clerk of the Supreme Court or of the Superior Courts, or of such courts inferior to the Supreme Court as may be established by law, may be removed from office for mental or physical inability; the Clerk of the Supreme Court by the judges of said Court, the clerks of the Superior Courts by the judge riding the district, and the clerks of such courts inferior to the Supreme Court as may be established by law by the presiding officers of said courts. The clerk against whom proceedings are inst.i.tuted shall receive notice thereof, accompanied by a copy of the causes alleged for his removal, at least ten days before the day appointed to act thereon, and the clerk shall be ent.i.tled to an appeal to the next term of the Superior Court, and thence to the Supreme Court as provided in other cases of appeals.

[Sidenote: Amendments not to vacate existing offices.]

SEC. 33. The amendments made to the Const.i.tution of North Carolina by this Convention shall not have the effect to vacate any office or term of office now existing under the Const.i.tution of the State and filled or held by virtue of any election or appointment under the said Const.i.tution and the laws of the State made in pursuance thereof.

ARTICLE V.

REVENUE AND TAXATION.

[Sidenote: Capitation tax.]

[Sidenote: Exemptions.]

SECTION 1. The General a.s.sembly shall levy a capitation tax on every male inhabitant in the State over twenty-one and under fifty years of age, which shall be equal on each to the tax on property valued at three hundred dollars in cash. The commissioners of the several counties may exempt from capitation tax in special cases, on account of poverty and infirmity, and the State and county capitation tax combined shall never exceed two dollars on the head.

[Sidenote: Application of proceeds of State and county capitation tax.]

SEC. 2. The proceeds of the State and county capitation tax shall be applied to the purposes of education and the support of the poor, but in no one year shall more than twenty-five per cent thereof be appropriated to the latter purpose.

[Sidenote: Taxation shall be by uniform rule and ad valorem.]

SEC. 3. Laws shall be pa.s.sed taxing, by a uniform rule, all moneys, credits, investments in bonds, stocks, joint-stock companies, or otherwise; and, also, all real and personal property, according to its true value in money. The General a.s.sembly may also tax trades, professions, franchises, and incomes: _Provided_, that no income shall be taxed when the property from which the income is derived is taxed.

[Sidenote: Restrictions upon the increase of the public debt, except in certain contingencies.]

SEC. 4. Until the bonds of the State shall be at par, the General a.s.sembly shall have no power to contract any new debt or pecuniary obligation in behalf of the State, except to supply a casual deficit, or for suppressing invasions or insurrections, unless it shall in the same bill levy a special tax to pay the interest annually. And the General a.s.sembly shall have no power to give or lend the credit of the State in aid of any person, a.s.sociation or corporation, except to aid in the completion of such railroads as may be unfinished at the time of the adoption of this Const.i.tution, or in which the State has a direct pecuniary interest, unless the subject be submitted to a direct vote of the people of the State, and be approved by the majority of those who shall vote thereon.

[Sidenote: Property exemptions from taxation.]

SEC. 5. Property belonging to the State, or to munic.i.p.al corporations, shall be exempt from taxation. The General a.s.sembly may exempt cemeteries and property held for educational, scientific, literary, charitable or religious purposes; also wearing apparel, arms for muster, household and kitchen furniture, the mechanical and agricultural implements of mechanics and farmers, libraries and scientific instruments, or any other personal property, to a value not exceeding three hundred dollars.

[Sidenote: Taxes levied by county commissioners.]

SEC. 6. The taxes levied by the commissioners of the several counties for county purposes shall be levied in like manner with the State taxes, and shall never exceed the double of the State tax, except for a special purpose, and with the special approval of the General a.s.sembly.

[Sidenote: Acts levying taxes shall state objects, etc.]

SEC. 7. Every act of the General a.s.sembly levying a tax shall state the special object to which it is to be applied, and it shall be applied to no other purpose.

ARTICLE VI.

SUFFRAGE AND ELIGIBILITY TO OFFICE.

[Sidenote: Qualifications of elector.]

SECTION 1. Every male person born in the United States, and every male person who has been naturalized, twenty-one years of age, and possessing the qualifications set out in this article, shall be ent.i.tled to vote at any election by the people in the State, except as herein otherwise provided.

[Sidenote: Qualifications of elector.]

SEC. 2. He shall have resided in the State of North Carolina for two years, in the county six months, and in the precinct, ward or other election district, in which he offers his vote, four months next preceding the election: _Provided_, that removal from one precinct, ward or other election district, to another in the same county, shall not operate to deprive any person of the right to vote in the precinct, ward or other election district from which he has removed until four months after such removal. No person who has been convicted, or who has confessed his guilt in open court upon indictment, of any crime, the punishment of which now is or may hereafter be imprisonment in the State's Prison, shall be permitted to vote unless the said person shall be first restored to citizens.h.i.+p in the manner prescribed by law.

[Sidenote: Qualification of elector.]

[Sidenote: General a.s.sembly to provide registration laws.]

SEC. 3. Every person offering to vote shall be at the time a legally registered voter as herein prescribed and in the manner hereafter provided by law, and the General a.s.sembly of North Carolina shall enact general registration laws to carry into effect the provisions of this article.

[Sidenote: Qualifications of elector to register and vote.]

[Sidenote: Registration of persons ent.i.tled to vote without educational qualification.]

[Sidenote: Permanent record.]

SEC. 4. Every person presenting himself for registration shall be able to read and write any section of the Const.i.tution in the English language; and before he shall be ent.i.tled to vote he shall have paid, on or before the first day of May of the year in which he proposes to vote, his poll tax for the previous year as prescribed by Article V, sec. 1, of the Const.i.tution. But no male person who was on January 1, 1867, or at any time prior thereto, ent.i.tled to vote under the laws of any State in the United States wherein he then resided, and no lineal descendant of any such person shall be denied the right to register and vote at any election in this State by reason of his failure to possess the educational qualifications herein prescribed: _Provided_, he shall have registered in accordance with the terms of this section prior to December 1, 1908. The General a.s.sembly shall provide for the registration of all persons ent.i.tled to vote without the educational qualifications herein prescribed, and shall, on or before November 1, 1908, provide for making of a permanent record of such registration, and all persons so registered shall forever thereafter have the right to vote in all elections by the people in this State, unless disqualified under section 2 of this article: _Provided_, such person shall have paid his poll tax as above required.

[Sidenote: Amendment indivisible.]

SEC. 5. That this amendment to the Const.i.tution is presented and adopted as one indivisible plan for the regulation of the suffrage, with the intent and purpose to so connect the different parts and to make them so dependent upon each other that the whole shall stand or fall together.

[Sidenote: Elections by people and General a.s.sembly.]

SEC. 6. All elections by the people shall be by ballot, and all by the General a.s.sembly shall be _viva voce_.

[Sidenote: Oath of office.]

SEC. 7. Every voter in North Carolina, except as in this article disqualified, shall be eligible to office, but before entering upon the duties of the office he shall take and subscribe the following oath:

"I, ____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and maintain the Const.i.tution and laws of the United States and the Const.i.tution and laws of North Carolina not inconsistent therewith, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of my office as ____ So help me, G.o.d."

[Sidenote: Disqualification for office.]

SEC. 8. The following cla.s.ses of persons shall be disqualified for office: _First_, all persons who shall deny the being of Almighty G.o.d.

_Second_, all persons who shall have been convicted or confessed their guilt on indictment pending, and whether sentenced or not, or under judgment suspended, of any treason or felony, or of any other crime for which the punishment may be imprisonment in the penitentiary, since becoming citizens of the United States, or of corruption or malpractice in office, unless such person shall be restored to the rights of citizens.h.i.+p in a manner prescribed by law.

[Sidenote: When amendment to take effect.]

SEC. 9. That this amendment to the Const.i.tution shall go into effect on the first day of July, nineteen hundred and two, if a majority of votes cast at the next general election shall be cast in favor of this suffrage amendment.

ARTICLE VII.

MUNIc.i.p.aL CORPORATIONS.

[Sidenote: County officers.]