Part 33 (1/2)
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.