Civil Government of Virginia Part 33

ARTICLE XIV.

MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS.

HOMESTEAD AND OTHER EXEMPTIONS.

SEC. 190. Every householder or head of a family shall be ent.i.tled, in addition to the articles now exempt from levy or distress for rent, to hold exempt from levy, seizure, garnishment, or sale under any execution, order, or other process issued on any demand for a debt hereafter contracted, his real and personal property, or either, including money and debts due him, to the value of not exceeding two thousand dollars, to be selected by him: provided, that such exemption shall not extend to any execution, order, or other process issued on any demand in the following cases:

First. For the purchase price of said property, or any part thereof. If the property purchased, and not paid for, be exchanged for, or converted into, other property by the debtor, such last- named property shall not be exempted from the payment of such unpaid purchase money under the provisions of this article;

Second. For services rendered by a laboring person or mechanic;

Third. For liabilities incurred by any public officer, or officer of a court, or any fiduciary, or any attorney-at-law for money collected;

Fourth. For a lawful claim for any taxes, levies, or a.s.sessments accruing after the first day of June, eighteen hundred and sixty- six;

Fifth. For rent;

Sixth. For the legal or taxable fees of any public officer or officer of a court.

SEC. 191. The said exemption shall not be claimed or held in a s.h.i.+fting stock of merchandise, or in any property, the conveyance of which by the homestead claimant has been set aside on the ground of fraud or want of consideration.

SEC. 192. The General a.s.sembly shall prescribe the manner and the conditions on which a householder or head of a family shall set apart and hold for himself and family a homestead in any of the property hereinbefore mentioned. But this section shall not be construed as authorizing the General a.s.sembly to defeat or impair the benefits intended to be conferred by the provisions of this article.

SEC. 193. Nothing contained in this article shall invalidate any homestead exemption heretofore claimed under the provisions of the former Const.i.tution; or impair in any manner the right of any householder or head of a family existing at the time that this Const.i.tution goes into effect, to select the exemption, or any part thereof, to which he was ent.i.tled under the former Const.i.tution; provided that such right, if hereafter exercised, be not in conflict with the exemptions set forth in sections One Hundred and Ninety and One Hundred and Ninety-one. But no person who has selected and received the full exemption allowed by the former Const.i.tution shall be ent.i.tled to select an additional exemption under this Const.i.tution; and no person who has selected and received part of the exemption allowed by the former Const.i.tution shall be ent.i.tled to select an additional exemption beyond the difference between the value of such part and a total valuation of two thousand dollars. So far as necessary to accomplish the purposes of this section the provisions of chapter One Hundred and Seventy-eight of the Code of Virginia, and the acts amendatory thereof, shall remain in force until repealed by the General a.s.sembly. The provisions of this article shall be liberally construed.

SEC. 194. The General a.s.sembly is hereby prohibited from pa.s.sing any law staying the collection of debts, commonly known as "stay laws"; but this section shall not be construed as prohibiting any legislation which the General a.s.sembly may deem necessary to fully carry out the provisions of this article.

HEIRS OF PROPERTY.

SEC. 195. The children of parents, one or both of whom were slaves at and during the period of cohabitation, and who were recognized by the father as his children, and whose mother was recognized by such father as his wife, and was cohabited with as such, shall be as capable of inheriting any estate whereof such father may have died seized, or possessed, or to which he was ent.i.tled, as though they had been born in lawful wedlock.

ARTICLE XV.

FUTURE CHANGES IN THE CONSt.i.tUTION.

SEC. 196. Any amendment or amendments to the Const.i.tution may be proposed in the Senate or House of Delegates, and if the same shall be agreed it by a majority of the members elected to each of the two houses, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be entered on their journals, with the ayes and noes taken thereon, and referred to the General a.s.sembly at its first regular session held after the next general election of members of the House of Delegates, and shall be published for three months previous to the time of such election. If, at such regular session the proposed amendment or amendments shall be agreed to by a majority of all the members elected to each house, then it shall be the duty of the General a.s.sembly to submit such proposed amendment or amendments to the people, in such manner and at such times as it shall prescribe; and if the people shall approve and ratify such amendment or amendments by a majority of the electors, qualified to vote for members of the General a.s.sembly, noting thereon, such Amendment or amendments shall become part of the Const.i.tution.

SEC. 197. At such time as the General a.s.sembly may provide, a majority of the members elected to each house being recorded in the affirmative, the question, "shall there be a convention to revise the Const.i.tution and amend the same?" shall be submitted to the electors qualified to vote for members of the General a.s.sembly; and in case a majority of the electors so qualified, voting thereon, shall vote in favor of a convention for such purpose, the General a.s.sembly, at its next session, shall provide for the election of delegates to such convention; and no convention for such purpose shall be otherwise called.

SCHEDULE.

That no inconvenience may arise from the adoption of this Const.i.tution, and in order to provide for carrying it into complete operation, it is hereby ordained that:

SECTION 1. The common law and the statute laws in force at the time this Const.i.tution goes into effect, so far as not repugnant thereto or repealed thereby, shall remain in force until they expire by their own limitation, or are altered or repealed by the General a.s.sembly.

SEC. 2. All ordinances adopted by this Contention and appended to the official original draft of the Const.i.tution delivered to the Secretary of the Commonwealth shall have the same force and effect, as if they were parts of this Const.i.tution.

SEC. 3. Except as modified by this Const.i.tution, all writs, actions and causes of action, prosecutions, lights of individuals, of bodies corporate or politic, and of the State, shall continue.

All legal proceedings, civil and criminal, pending at the time this Const.i.tution goes into effect, or inst.i.tuted prior to the first day of February, nineteen hundred and four, in any county or circuit court as now existing, shall be prosecuted therein: provided, that all such matters, which are not finally terminated before the day last above mentioned, shall, on that date, by operation of this Const.i.tution and Schedule, be transferred to the circuit court of the county or city created under this Const.i.tution, and shall be proceeded with therein. All such matters pending in the city courts, preserved by this Const.i.tution, when the same goes into effect, or thereafter inst.i.tuted therein, shall continue in said courts, and be therein proceeded with, until otherwise provided by law. All matters before justices of the peace or police justices at the time this Const.i.tution goes into effect, shall be proceeded with before them, until otherwise provided by law. All legal proceedings prosecuted after this Const.i.tution goes into effect, whether in any of the courts now existing, or in those created by this Const.i.tution, shall be proceeded with in the manner now or hereafter provided by law, except as otherwise required by this Const.i.tution.

SEC. 4. All taxes, fines, penalties, forfeitures and escheats, accrued or accruing to the Commonwealth, or to any political subdivision thereof, under the present Const.i.tution, or under the laws now in force, shall, under this Const.i.tution, enure to the use of the Commonwealth, or of such subdivision thereof

SEC 5 All recognizances, and other obligations, and all other instruments entered into or executed before the adoption of this Const.i.tution, or before the complete organization of the departments thereunder, to the Commonwealth, or to any county, or political subdivision thereof, city, town board, or other public corporation, or inst.i.tution therein, or to any public officer, shall remain binding and valid, and rights and liabilities thereunder shall continue and may be enforced or prosecuted in the courts of this State as now or here after provided by law

SEC 6 From the day this Const.i.tution goes into effect, the present judges of the Supreme Court of Appeals, or their successors then in office, shall be the judges of the Supreme Court of Appeals created by this Const.i.tution, and continue in office, unless sooner removed, until February the first, nineteen hundred and seven. The jurisdiction of the court shall be as now or hereafter provided by law, subject to the provisions of this Const.i.tution.

All proceedings, then pending in the court as now organized, shall, by virtue of this Const.i.tution, be transferred to and disposed of by the court created by this Const.i.tution.

SEC 7 The present judicial system of county and circuit courts of the Commonwealth is continued, and the terms of the several judges thereof, with the powers and duties now possessed by them respectively, are continued, until the first day of February, nineteen hundred and four, as if this Const.i.tution had not been adopted, on which day the judicial system of circuit courts created by this Const.i.tution shall go into operation. The terms of the judges of the city courts, as preserved by this Const.i.tution, of the cities of Alexandria, Charlottesville, Danville, Fredericksburg, Lynchburg, Petersburg, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Richmond, Staunton, Manchester, Roanoke, Winchester, and Newport News, shall continue until the first day of February, nineteen hundred and seven, and the terms of the judges of the city courts, as preserved by this Const.i.tution, of the cities of Bristol, Radford and Buena Vista, shall continue until the first day of February, nineteen hundred and four, unless the said courts shall be sooner abolished The privilege now allowed by statute to judges of county courts and to judges of certain city courts to practice law, shall continue during the terms of the judges whose terms are continued by the Schedule, unless otherwise provided by-law

SEC 8 The terms of the clerks of the county and circuit courts now in office, or their successors, shall continue until the first day of February, nineteen hundred and four, and thereupon, the several clerks of the county courts in those counties in which such clerks are now ex-officio clerks of the circuit courts of said counties shall be and become the county clerks of their respective counties, and the clerks of all the other county courts of the State, except the counties of Accomac, Augusta, Bedford, Campbell, Elizabeth City, Fairfax, Lee, Loudoun Hanover Henrico, Rockingham, Nansemond, Southampton, Pittsylvania, Nelson and Fauquier, and, as such, the clerks of the circuit courts created therefor by this Const.i.tution, and shall hold office as such until the first day of January, nineteen hundred and six, unless sooner removed, and then successors shall be elected on Tuesday after the first Monday in November, nineteen hundred and five, provided that the first term of the clerks so elected be for six years. In the counties of Accomac, Augusta, Bedford, Campbell, Elizabeth City, Fairfax, Lee, Loudoun, Hanover, Henrico, Rockingham, Nansemond, Southampton, Pittsylvania, Nelson and Fauquier, in which there are now separate clerks for the county and circuit courts thereof, there shall be elected on Tuesday after the first Monday in November nineteen hundred and three, county clerks for such counties. The terms of the clerks now in office, or their successors, of the several city courts preserved by this Const.i.tution, shall continue until the first day of January, nineteen hundred and seven, and their successors shall be elected on Tuesday after the first Monday in November, nineteen hundred and five, but if any of such city courts shall be sooner abolished as provided in this Const.i.tution or by law, then the term of the clerk of any such court shall thereupon determine.

SEC 9 The first election of the Governor and of all officers required by this Const.i.tution, to be chosen by the qualified voters of the State at large, shall be held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, nineteen hundred and five, and their terms of office shall begin on the first day of February following their election. The present inc.u.mbents of said offices, or their successors, shall continue in office until the last named day.

SEC 10 The first election of members of the House of Delegates, and of all county and district officers, to be elected by the people under this Const.i.tution, except as otherwise provided in this Schedule, shall be held on Tuesday after the first Monday in November, in the year nineteen hundred and three, and the terms of office of the several officers elected at that or any subsequent election shall begin on the first day of January, next after their election, except as otherwise provided in this Const.i.tution or in this Schedule. And the terms of the office of the sheriff, commonwealth's attorney, treasurer, commissioners of the revenue, superintendents of the poor, supervisors of the several counties, justices of the peace, and overseers of the poor, and of any inc.u.mbent of any other county or district office not abolished by this Const.i.tution, nor herein specifically mentioned, now in office, or their successors, or whose terms of office shall begin on the first day of July, nineteen hundred and two, are continued until January the first, nineteen hundred and four.

The terms of the present members of the House of Delegates, and the terms of the senators now in office, or (in case of vacancies therein), their successors, representing the senatorial districts bearing even numbers, are extended until the second Wednesday in January, nineteen hundred and four, provided, that the term of the senator, now residing m the city of Richmond, who by the provisions of the apportionment act, approved April the second, nineteen hundred and two, is continued in office as one of the senators from the thirty-eighth senatorial district thereby created, be extended until the second Wednesday in January, nineteen hundred and six. The terms of the senators now in office, or (in case of vacancies therein), their successors, representing the senatorial districts bearing odd numbers are extended until the second Wednesday in January, nineteen hundred and six.

In the senatorial districts bearing even numbers, there shall be elected, on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, nineteen hundred and three, for a term of four years, to begin on the second Wednesday in January succeeding their election, members of the Senate to represent such districts; in the senatorial districts bearing odd numbers, and in the city of Richmond to fill the vacancy, which will, as above provided, occur on the second Wednesday in January, nineteen hundred and six, there shall be elected, on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, nineteen hundred and five, for a term of two years, to begin on the second Wednesday in January succeeding their election, members of the Senate to represent such districts; and on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, nineteen hundred and seven, there shall be elected, for the term of four years, to begin on the second Wednesday in January succeeding their election, a senator from each senatorial district in the State.

SEC. 11. All other state, county, and district officers, and their successors, who may be in office at the time this Const.i.tution goes into effect, except the Auditor of Public Accounts, the Second Auditor, the Register of the Land Office, the Superintendent of Public Printing, the Commissioner of Labor and Industrial Statistics, Railroad Commissioner, notaries public, the Adjutant-General, the Superintendent and the Surgeon of the Penitentiary, the Manager and the Surgeon of the State Prison Farm, the superintendents of the several state hospitals, and the school superintendents for counties and cities, and school trustees, shall, unless their respective offices be abolished, or unless otherwise provided by this Const.i.tution or Schedule, hold their respective offices, and discharge the respective duties and exercise the respective powers thereof, until January the first, nineteen hundred and four. The terms of the present inc.u.mbents in the offices of Auditor of Public Accounts, Second Auditor, Register of the Land Office, Superintendent of Public Printing, and Commissioner of Labor and Industrial Statistics, shall continue until March the first, nineteen hundred and four. The term of the Railroad Commissioner shall end as soon as the State Corporation Commission shall be organized. Notaries public shall continue in office until their respective commissions shall expire. The term of the office of Adjutant-General shall expire March the first, nineteen hundred and six. The Superintendent and the Surgeon of the Penitentiary, the Manager and the Surgeon of the State Prison Farm, the superintendents of the several state hospitals, shall continue in office until their successors shall be appointed by the respective boards empowered under this Const.i.tution to make the several appointments. The school superintendents for counties and cities shall remain in office for their respective terms, and until their successors are appointed.

School trustees now in office, or their successors, shall remain in office until otherwise provided by law. Electoral boards with the powers conferred by existing laws, except the appointment of registrars, shall remain in office until March, the first, nineteen hundred and four.

SEC. 12. The terms of the State Board of Education, the State Corporation Commission, and the Board of Agriculture and Immigration, the directors of public inst.i.tutions and prisons, and of each state hospital, and the Commissioner of State Hospitals, to be first elected, or appointed, under this Const.i.tution, shall begin on March the first, nineteen hundred and three. The board of any of the above-named departments and inst.i.tutions as now const.i.tuted shall continue until the boards created under this Const.i.tution for such departments and inst.i.tutions respectively are duly organized. And the terms of the members of the Board of Fisheries are continued until March the first, nineteen hundred and six. The terms of the trustees or visitors of the state educational inst.i.tutions, and other honorary appointments made by the Governor, are continued until otherwise provided by law.

SEC. 13. Charters of incorporation may, until the first day of April, nineteen hundred and three, be granted or amended by the courts of the State in accordance with the laws in force when this Const.i.tution goes into effect, unless the General a.s.sembly shall sooner provide for the creation of corporations as required by this Const.i.tution.

SEC. 14. The terms of all officers elected by the qualified voters of a city, and of their successors, in office at the time this Const.i.tution goes into effect, or whose terms of office begin on the first day of July, nineteen hundred and two, except the terms of mayors, of members of city councils and of the clerks of city courts, are continued until January the first, nineteen hundred and six; and their successors shall be elected on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, nineteen hundred and five. The terms of all city officers, not so elected, shall expire as provided in the charters of the several cities, or as may be provided by law.

SEC. 15. Until otherwise provided by law, the mayors of the several cities shall continue in office until September the first, nineteen hundred and four, and their successors shall be elected the second Tuesday in June, nineteen hundred and four. Until otherwise provided by law, the members of the several city councils shall continue in office for the terms prescribed in the charters of their respective cities, except that where their terms are prescribed as ending on the first day of July of any year, they shall be extended until the first day of September following.

SEC. 16. Vacancies in any office, the term of which is confirmed or extended by this Schedule, occurring during such term or extension thereof, shall be filled in the manner prescribed by law.

Sec. 17. All officers, whose terms of office are extended by this Schedule, required by law or munic.i.p.al ordinance to give bond for the faithful discharge of the duties of their respective offices, shall, prior to the expiration of the terms for which they were respectively chosen, before the court or other authority before whom such officer was required by law or munic.i.p.al ordinance to give such bond, enter into a new bond, in the same penalty and with such security as was prescribed by law or munic.i.p.al ordinance in respect to his former bond, and with like conditions as therein prescribed, for the faithful discharge of the duties of his office for the extended term herein provided for, and until his successor shall have been duly chosen, and shall have qualified according to law. Upon failure to give such bond within the time above prescribed, the office shall, upon the expiration of the term for which the inc.u.mbent thereof was chosen, become vacant,

SEC. 18. In all elections held after this Const.i.tution goes into effect, the qualifications of electors shall be those required by Article Two of this Const.i.tution.