USA > Kentucky > A history of Kentucky > Part 18
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SEC. 210. No corporation engaged in the business of common carrier shall, directly or indirectly, own, manage, operate, or engage in, any other business than that of a common carrier, or hold, own, lease, or acquire, directly or indirectly, mines, factories, or timber, except such as shall be necessary to carry on its business ; and the General
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Assembly shall enact laws to give effect to the provisions of this section.
SEC. 211. No railroad corporation organized under the laws of any other State, or of the United States, and doing business, or pro- posing to do business, in this State, shall be entitled to the benefit of the right of eminent domain, or have power to acquire the right of way or real estate for depot or other uses, until it shall have become a body corporate pursuant to and in accordance with the laws of this Commonwealth.
SEC. 212. The rolling stock and other movable property belonging to any railroad corporation or company in this State shall be considered personal property, and shall be liable to execution and sale in the same manner as the personal property of individuals. The earnings of any railroad company or corporation, and choses in action, money and personal property of all kinds belonging to it, in the hands or under the control of any officer, agent, or employee of such corpora- tion or company, shall be subject to process of attachment to the same extent, and in the same manner, as like property of individuals when in the hands or under the control of other persons. Any such earnings, choses in action, money or other personal property, may be subjected to the payment of any judgment against such corporation or company in the same manner and to the same extent as such property of individuals in the hands of third persons.
SEC. 213. All railroad, transfer, belt lines, and railway bridge com- panies, organized under the laws of Kentucky, or operating, maintain- ing, or controlling any railroad, transfer, belt lines, or bridges, or doing a railway business in this State, shall receive, transfer, deliver, and switch empty or loaded cars, and shall move, transport, receive, load, or unload all the freight in car-loads or less quantities, coming to or going from any railroad, transfer, belt line, bridge, or siding thereon, with equal promptness and dispatch, and without any dis- crimination as to charges, preference, drawback, or rebate in favor of any person, corporation, consignee, or consignor, in any matter as to payment, transportation, handling, or delivery ; and shall so receive, deliver, transfer, and transport all freight as above set forth, from and to any point where there is a physical connection between the tracks of said companies. But this section shall not be construed as requiring any such common carrier to allow the use of its tracks for the trains of another engaged in like business.
SEC. 214. No railway, transfer, belt line, or railway bridge com- pany shall make any exclusive or preferential contract or arrangement with any individual, association, or corporation, for the receipt, trans- fer, delivery, transportation, handling, care, or custody of any freight, or for the conduct of any business as a common carrier.
SEC. 215. All railway, transfer, belt lines, or railway bridge com- panies shall receive, load, unload, transport, haul, deliver, and handle freight of the same class for all persons, associations, or corporations from and to the same points and upon the same conditions, in the same manner and for the same charges, and for the same method of payment.
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SEC. 216. All railway, transfer, belt lines, and railway bridge com- panies shall allow the tracks of each other to unite, intersect, and cross at any point where such union, intersection, and crossing is reasonable or feasible.
SEC. 217. Any person, association, or corporation, willfully or knowingly violating any of the provisions of sections two hundred and thirteen, two hundred and fourteen, two hundred and fifteen, or two hundred and sixteen, shall, upon conviction by a court of competent jurisdiction, for the first offense be fined two thousand dollars ; for the second offense, five thousand dollars ; and for the third offense, shall thereupon, ipso facto, forfeit its franchises, privileges, or charter rights ; and if such delinquent be a foreign corporation, it shall, ipso facto, forfeit its right to do business in this State ; and the attorney- general of the Commonwealth shall forthwith, upon notice of the violation of any of said provisions, institute proceedings to enforce the provisions of the aforesaid sections.
SEC. 218. It shall be unlawful for any person or corporation own- ing or operating a railroad in this State, or any common carrier, to charge or receive any greater compensation in the aggregate for the transportation of passengers, or of property of like kind, under sub- stantially similar circumstances and conditions, for a shorter than for a longer distance over the same line, in the same direction, the shorter being included within the longer distance ; but this shall not be con- strued as authorizing any common carrier, or person or corporation, owning or operating a railroad in this State, to receive as great com- pensation for a shorter as for a longer distance : provided, that, upon application to the railroad commission, such common carrier, or person, or corporation owning or operating a railroad in this State, may in special cases, after investigation by the commission, be authorized to charge less for longer than for shorter distances for the transportation of passengers or property ; and the commission may from time to time prescribe the extent to which such common carrier or person, or corporation owning or operating a railroad in this State, may be relieved from the operations of this section.
THE MILITIA.
SEC. 219. The militia of the Commonwealth of Kentucky shall consist of all able-bodied male residents of the State between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years, except such persons as may be exempted by the laws of the State or of the United States.
SEC. 220. The General Assembly shall provide for maintaining an organized militia, and may exempt from military service persons having conscientious scruples against bearing arms ; but such persons shall pay an equivalent for such exemption.
SEC. 221. The organization, equipment, and discipline of the militia shall conform as nearly as practicable to the regulations for the government of the armies of the United States.
SEC. 222. All militia officers whose appointment is not herein otherwise provided for shall be elected by persons subject to military
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duty within their respective companies, battalions, regiments, or other commands, under such rules and regulations, and for such terms, not exceeding four years, as the General Assembly may from time to time direct and establish. The governor shall appoint an adjutant-general and his other staff officers; the generals and commandants of regiments and battalions shall respectively appoint their staff officers ; and the commandants of companies shall, subject to the approval of their regimental or battalion commanders, appoint their non-commissioned officers. The governor shall have power to fill vacancies that may occur in elective offices by granting commissions, which shall expire when such vacancies have been filled according to the provisions of this Constitution.
SEC. 223. The General Assembly shall provide for the safe-keeping of the public arms, military records, relics, and banners of the Com- monwealth of Kentucky.
GENERAL PROVISIONS.
SEC. 224. The General Assembly shall provide by a general law what officers shall execute bond for the faithful discharge of their duties, and fix the liability therein.
SEC. 225. No armed person or bodies of men shall be brought into this State for the preservation of the peace or the suppression of do- mestic violence, except upon the application of the General Assembly, or of the governor when the General Assembly may not be in session.
SEC. 226. Lotteries and gift enterprises are forbidden, and no privi- leges shall be granted for such purposes, and none shall be exercised, and no schemes for similar purposes shall be allowed. The General Assem- bly shall enforce this section by proper penalties. All lottery privi- leges or charters heretofore granted are revoked.
SEC. 227. Judges of the county court, justices of the peace, sheriffs. coroners, surveyors, jailers, assessors, county attorneys, and constables shall be subject to indictment or prosecution for misfeasance or malfea- sance in office, or willful neglect in discharge of official duties, in such mode as may be prescribed by law ; and upon conviction, his office shall become vacant, but such officer shall have the right of appeal to the Court of Appeals.
SEC. 228. Members of the General Assembly and all officers, before they enter upon the execution of the duties of their respective offices, and all members of the bar before they enter upon the practice of their profession, shall take the following oath or affirmation : " I do solemnly swear (or affirm, as the case may be) that I will support the Constitu- tion of the United States and the Constitution of this Commonwealth, and be faithful and true to the Commonwealth of Kentucky so long as I continue a citizen thereof, and that I will faithfully execute, to the best of my ability, the office of ---- according to law; and I do further sol- emnly swear (or affirm) that since the adoption of the present Constitu- tion, I, being a citizen of this State, have not fought a duel with deadly weapons within this State nor out of it, nor have I sent or accepted a challenge to fight a duel with deadly weapons, nor have I acted as
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second in carrying a challenge, nor aided or assisted any person thus offending, so help me God !"
SEC. 229. Treason against the Commonwealth shall consist only in levying war against it, or in adhering to its enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason except on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or his own confession in open court.
SEC. 230. No money shall be drawn from the State treasury, except in pursuance of appropriations made by law ; and a regular statement and account of the receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be published annually.
SEC. 231. The General Assembly may by law direct in what manner and in what courts suits may be brought against the Commonwealth.
SEC. 232. The manner of administering an oath or affirmaton shall be such as is most consistent with the conscience of the deponent, and shall be esteemed by the General Assembly the most solemn appeal to God.
SEC. 233. All laws which, on the first day of June, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-two, were in force in the State of Virginia, and which are of a general nature and not local to that State, and not repugnant to this Constitution, nor to the laws which have been enacted by the General Assembly of this Commonwealth, shall be in force within this State until they shall be altered or repealed by the General Assembly.
SEC. 234. All civil officers for the State at large shall reside within the State, and all district, county, city, or town officers shall reside within their respective districts, counties, cities, or towns, and shall keep their offices at such places therein as may be required by law.
SEC. 235. The salaries of public officers shall not be changed during the terms for which they were elected ; but it shall be the duty of the General Assembly to regulate, by a general law, in what cases and what deductions shall be made for neglect of official duties. This section shall apply to members of the General Assembly also.
SEC. 236. The General Assembly shall by law prescribe the time when the several officers authorized or directed by this Constitution to be elected or appointed shall enter upon the duties of their respective offices, except where the time is fixed by this Constitution.
SEC. 237. No member of Congress, or person holding or exercising an office of trust or profit under the United States, or any of them, or under any foreign power, shall be eligible to hold or exercise any office of trust or profit under this Constitution, or the laws made in pursuance thereof.
SEC. 238. The General Assembly shall direct by law how persons who now are, or may hereafter become, sureties for public officers, may be relieved of or discharged from suretyship.
SEC. 239. Any person who shall, after the adoption of this Consti- tution, either directly or indirectly, give, accept, or knowingly carry, a challenge to any person or persons to fight in single combat, with a citizen of this State, with a deadly weapon, either in or out of the State, shall be deprived of the right to hold any office of honor or
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profit in this Commonwealth ; and if said acts, or any of them, be committed within this State, the person or persons so committing them shall be further punished in such manner as the General Assem- bly may prescribe by law.
SEC. 240. The governor shall have power, after five years from the time of the offense, to pardon any person who shall have participated in a duel as principal, second, or otherwise, and to restore him to all the rights, privileges, and immunities to which he was entitled before such participation. Upon presentation of such pardon, the oath prescribed in section two hundred and twenty-eight shall be varied to suit the case.
SEC. 241. Whenever the death of a person shall result from an injury inflicted by negligence or wrongful act, then, in every such case, damages may be recovered for such death, from the corpora- tions and persons so causing the same. Until otherwise provided by law, the action to recover such damages shall in all cases be prosecuted by the personal representative of the deceased person. The General Assembly may provide how the recovery shall go, and to whom belong ; and, until such provision is made, the same shall form part of the personal estate of the deceased person.
SEC. 242. Municipal and other corporations, and individuals in- vested with the privilege of taking private property for public use, shall make just compensation for property taken, injured, or destroyed by them ; which compensation shall be paid before such taking, or paid or secured, at the election of such corporation or individual, before such injury or destruction. The General Assembly shall not deprive any person of an appeal from any preliminary assessment of damages against any such corporation or individual made by commis- sioners or otherwise ; and, upon appeal from such preliminary assess- ment, the amount of such damages shall in all cases be determined by a jury, according to the course of the common law.
SEC. 243. The General Assembly shall by law fix the minimum ages at which children may be employed in places dangerous to life or health, or injurious to morals, and shall provide adequate penalties for violations of such law.
SEC. 244. All wage-earners in this State employed in factories, mines, workshops, or by corporations, shall be paid for their labor in lawful money. The General Assembly shall prescribe adequate pen- alties for violations of this section.
SEC. 245. Upon the promulgation of this Constitution, the governor shall appoint three persons, learned in the law, who shall be commis- sioners to revise the statute laws of this Commonwealth, and prepare amendments thereto, to the end that the statute laws shall conform to and effectuate this Constitution. Such revision and amendments shall be laid before the next General Assembly for adoption or rejection, in whole or in part. The said commissioners shall be allowed ten dollars each per day for their services, and also necessary stationery for the time during which they are actually employed ; and upon their certificate the auditor shall draw his warrant upon the treasurer. They shall have the power to employ clerical assistants, at a compen-
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sation not exceeding ten dollars per day in the aggregate. If the com- missioners, or any of them, shall refuse to act, or a vacancy shall oc- cur, the governor shall appoint another or others in his or their place.
SEC. 246. No public officer, except the governor, shall receive more than five thousand dollars per annum as compensation for official ser- vices, independent of the compensation of legally authorized deputies and assistants, which shall be fixed and provided for by law. The General Assembly shall provide for the enforcement of this section by suitable penalties, one of which shall be forfeiture of office by any person violating its provisions.
SEC. 247. The printing and binding of the laws, journals, depart- ment reports, and all other public printing and binding, shall be per- formed under contract, to be given to the lowest responsible bidder, below such maximum and under such regulations as may be prescribed by law. No member of the General Assembly, or officer of the Com- monwealth, shall be in any way interested in any such contract ; and all such contracts shall be subject to the approval of the governor.
SEC. 248. A grand jury shall consist of twelve persons, nine of whom, concurring, may find an indictment. In civil and misdemeanor cases, in courts inferior to the circuit courts, a jury shall consist of six persons. The General Assembly may provide, that, in any or all trials of civil actions in the circuit courts, three-fourths or more of the jurors concurring may return a verdict, which shall have the same force and effect as if rendered by the entire panel ; but where a verdict is ren- dered by a less number than the whole jury, it shall be signed by all the jurors who agree to it.
SEC. 249. The House of Representatives of the General Assembly shall not elect, appoint, employ, or pay for, exceeding one chief clerk, one assistant clerk, one enrolling clerk, one sergeant-at-arms, one door-keeper, one janitor, two cloak-room keepers, and four pages ; and the Senate shall not elect, appoint, employ, or pay for, exceeding one chief clerk, one assistant clerk, one enrolling clerk, one sergeant- at-arms, one door-keeper, one janitor, one cloak-room keeper, and three pages ; and the General Assembly shall provide by general law for fixing the per diem or salary of all of said employees.
SEC. 250. It shall be the duty of the General Assembly to enact such laws as shall be necessary and proper to decide differences by arbitrators, the arbitrators to be appointed by the parties who may choose that summary mode of adjustment.
SEC. 251. No action shall be maintained for possession of any lands lying within this State, where it is necessary for the claimant to rely for his recovery on any grant or patent issued by the Common- wealth of Virginia, or by the Commonwealth of Kentucky prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and twenty, against any person claiming such lands by possession to a well-defined boundary, under a title of record, unless such action shall be instituted within five years after this Constitution shall go into effect, or within five years after the occupant may take possession ; but nothing herein shall be construed to affect any right, title, or interest in lands acquired by virtue of adverse possession under the laws of this Commonwealth.
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SEC. 252. It shall be the duty of the General Assembly to provide by law, as soon as practicable, for the establishment and maintenance of an institution or institutions for the detention, correction, instruc- tion, and reformation of all persons under the age of eighteen years, convicted of such felonies and such misdemeanors as may be desig- nated by law. Said institution shall be known as the "House of Reform."
SEC. 253. Persons convicted of felony and sentenced to confinement in the penitentiary shall be confined at labor within the walls of the penitentiary ; and the General Assembly shall not have the power to authorize employment of convicts elsewhere, except upon the public works of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, or when, during pestilence or in case of the destruction of the prison buildings, they cannot be confined in the penitentiary.
SEC. 254. The Commonwealth shall maintain control of the disci- pline, and provide for all supplies, and for the sanitary condition of the convicts, and the labor only of convicts may be leased.
SEC. 255. The seat of government shall continue in the city of Frankfort, unless removed by a vote of two-thirds of each House of the first General Assembly which convenes after the adoption of this Constitution.
MODE OF REVISION.
SEC. 256. Amendments to this Constitution may be proposed in either House of the General Assembly at a regular session ; and if such amendment or amendments shall be agreed to by three-fifths of all the members elected to each House, such proposed amendment or amendments, with the yeas and nays of the members of each House taken thereon, shall be entered in full in their respective journals. Then such proposed amendment or amendments shall be submitted to the voters of the State for their ratification or rejection at the next general election for members of the House of Representatives, the vote to be taken thereon in such manner as the General Assembly may provide, and to be certified by the officers of election to the secretary of state in such manner as shall be provided by law, which vote shall be compared and certified by the same board authorized by law to compare the polls and give certificates of election to officers for the State at large. If it shall appear that a majority of the votes cast for and against an amendment at said election was for the amendment, then the same shall become a part of the Constitution of this Common- wealth, and shall be so proclaimed by the governor, and published in such manner as the General Assembly may direct. Said amendments shall not be submitted at an election which occurs less than ninety days from the final passage of such proposed amendment or amend- ments. Not more than two amendments shall be voted upon at any one time, nor shall the same amendment be again submitted within five years after a submission. Said amendments shall be so submitted as to allow a separate vote on each, and no amendment shall relate to more than one subject ; but no amendment shall be proposed by the
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first General Assembly which convenes after the adoption of this Con- stitution. The approval of the governor shall not be necessary to any bill, order, resolution, or vote of the General Assembly, proposing an amendment or amendments to this Constitution.
SEC. 257. Before an amendment shall be submitted to a vote, the secretary of state shall cause such proposed amendment, and the time that the same is to be voted upon, to be published at least ninety days before the vote is to be taken thereon in such manner as may be pre- scribed by law.
SEC. 258. When a majority of all the members elected to each House of the General Assembly shall concur by a yea and nay vote, to be entered upon their respective journals, in enacting a law to take the sense of the people of the State as to the necessity and expediency of calling a convention for the purpose of revising or amending this Constitution and such amendments as may have been made to the same, such law shall be spread upon their respective journals. If the next General Assembly shall in like manner concur in such law, it shall provide for having a poll opened in each voting precinct in this State by the officers provided by law for holding general elections at the next ensuing regular election to be held for State officers or mem- bers of the House of Representatives, which does not occur within ninety days from the final passage of such law, at which time and places the votes of the qualified voters shall be taken for and against calling the convention, in the same manner provided by law for taking votes in other State elections. The vote for and against said proposi- tion shall be certified to the secretary of state by the same officers and in the same manner as in State elections. If it shall appear that a majority voting on the proposition was for calling a convention, and if the total number of votes cast for the calling of the convention is equal to one-fourth of the number of qualified voters who voted at the last preceding general election in this State, the secretary of state shall certify the same to the General Assembly at its next regular session, at which session a law shall be enacted calling a convention to readopt, revise, or amend this Constitution and such amendments as may have been made thereto.
SEC. 259. The convention shall consist of as many delegates as there are members of the House of Representatives ; and the delegates shall have the same qualifications and be elected from the same dis- tricts as said Representatives.
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