Part 27 (2/2)
SEC. 51. There shall be a joint committee of the General a.s.sembly, consisting of seven members appointed by the House of Delegates, and five members appointed by the Senate, which shall be a standing committee on special, private, and local legislation.
Before reference to a committee, as provided by section Fifty, any special, private, or local bill introduced in either house shall be referred to and considered by such joint committee and returned to the house in which it originated with a statement in writing whether the object of the bill can be accomplished under general law or by court proceeding; whereupon, the bill, with the accompanying statement, shall take the course provided by section Fifty. The joint committee may be discharged from the consideration of a bill by the house in which it originated in the manner provided in section Fifty for the discharge of other committees.
SEC. 52. No law shall embrace more than one object, which shall be expressed in its t.i.tle; nor shall any law be revived or amended with reference to its t.i.tle, but the act revived or the section amended shall be re-enacted and published at length.
SEC. 53. No law, except a general appropriation law, shall take effect until at least ninety days after the adjournment of the session of the General a.s.sembly at which it is enacted, unless in case of an emergency (which emergency shall be expressed in the body of the bill), the General a.s.sembly shall otherwise direct by a vote of four-fifths of the members voting in each house, such vote to be taken by the yeas and nays, and the names of the members voting for and against entered on the journal.
SEC. 54. The Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, Attorney-General, judges, members of the State Corporation Commission, and executive officers at the seat of government, and all officers appointed by the Governor or elected by the General a.s.sembly, offending against the State by malfeasance in office, corruption, neglect of duty, or other high crime or misdemeanor, may be impeached by the House of Delegates, and prosecuted before the Senate which shall have the sole power to try impeachment. When sitting for that purpose, the senators shall be on oath or affirmation, and no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the senators present. Judgment in case of impeachment shall not extend further than removal from office and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the State; but the person convicted shall nevertheless be subject to indictment, trial, judgment, and punishment according to law. The Senate may sit during the recess of the General a.s.sembly for the trial of impeachments.
SEC. 55. The General a.s.sembly shall by law apportion the State into districts, corresponding with the number of representatives to which it may be ent.i.tled in the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States; which districts shall be composed of contiguous and compact territory containing, as nearly as practicable, an equal number of inhabitants.
SEC. 56. The manner of conducting and making returns of elections, of determining contested elections, and of filling vacancies in office, in cases not specially provided for by this Const.i.tution, shall be prescribed by law, and the General a.s.sembly may declare the cases in which any office shall be deemed vacant where no provision is made for that purpose in this Const.i.tution.
SEC. 57. The General a.s.sembly shall have power, by a two-thirds vote, to remove disabilities incurred under section Twenty-three, of Article Two, of this Const.i.tution, with reference to duelling.
SEC. 58. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended unless when in cases of invasion or rebellion, the public safety may require. The General a.s.sembly shall not pa.s.s any bill of attainder, or any ex post facto law, or any law impairing the obligation of contracts, or any law abridging the freedom of speech or of the press. It shall not enact any law whereby private property shall be taken or damaged for public uses, without just compensation. No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious wors.h.i.+p, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief; but all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities. And the General a.s.sembly shall not prescribe any religious test whatever, or confer any peculiar privileges or advantages on any sect or denomination, or pa.s.s any law requiring or authorizing any religious society, or the people of any district within this State, to levy on themselves or others any tax for the erection or repair of any house of public wors.h.i.+p, or for the support of any church or ministry; but it shall be left free to every person to select his religious instructor, and to make for his support such private contract as he shall please.
SEC. 59. The General a.s.sembly shall not grant a charter of incorporation to any church or religious denomination, but may secure the t.i.tle to church property to an extent to be limited by law.
SEC. 60. No lottery shall hereafter be authorized by law; and the buying, selling, or transferring of tickets or chances in any lottery shall be prohibited.
SEC. 61. No new county shall be formed with an area of less than six hundred square miles; nor shall the county or counties from which it is formed be reduced below that area; nor shall any county be reduced in population below eight thousand. But any county, the length of which is three times its mean breadth, or which exceeds fifty miles in length, may be divided at the discretion of the General a.s.sembly.
SEC. 62. The General a.s.sembly shall have full power to enact local option or dispensary laws, or any other laws controlling, regulating, or prohibiting the manufacture or sale of intoxicating liquors.
SEC. 63. The General a.s.sembly shall confer on the courts power to grant divorces, change the names of persons, and direct the sale of estates belonging to infants and other persons under legal disabilities, and shall not, by special legislation, grant relief in these or other cases of which the courts or other tribunals may have jurisdiction. The General a.s.sembly may regulate the exercise by courts of the right to punish for contempt. The General a.s.sembly shall not enact any local, special, or private law in the following cases:--
1. For the punishment of crime.
2. Providing a change of venue in civil or criminal cases.
3. Regulating the practice in, or the jurisdiction of, or changing the rules of evidence in any judicial proceedings or inquiry before, the courts or other tribunals, or providing or changing the methods of collecting debts or enforcing judgments, or prescribing the effect of judicial sales of real estate.
4. Changing or locating county seats.
5. For the a.s.sessment and collection of taxes, except as to animals which the General a.s.sembly may deem dangerous to the farming interests.
6. Extending the time for the a.s.sessment or collection of taxes.
7. Exempting property from taxation.
8. Remitting, releasing, postponing, or diminis.h.i.+ng any obligation or liability of any person, corporation, or a.s.sociation, to the State or to any political subdivision thereof.
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