USA > Louisiana > A history of Louisiana, revised edition > Part 22
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the removal, death, resignation, permanent disability, or refusal to qualify, of the President pro tempore, the Secretary of State shall act as Governor until a President pro tempore be elected, either in regu- lar session, or in specially called session, should the vacancy have occurred during recess; and in the event of the impeachment, or temporary disability, of the President pro tempore, acting Governor, the Secretary of State shall likewise act as Governor until the disa- bility be removed, or the impeachment proceedings be terminated in acquittal, or until another President pro tempore of the Senate be chosen.
Art. 66. The Lieutenant Governor, or President pro tempore, or Secretary of State, discharging the duties of the Governor, shall, during his administration, receive the same compensation to which the Governor would have been entitled had he continued in office.
Art. 67. The Lieutenant Governor shall be ex-officio President of the Senate, but shall only have a casting vote therein. The Senate shall elect one of its members as President pro tempore of the Senate.
Art. 68. The Lieutenant Governor shall receive for his services a salary of fifteen hundred dollars, payable monthly on his own war- rant. In the event of a vacancy in the office of Lieutenant Governor by death, resignation, or any other cause, the President pro tempore of the Senate shall fill the office of Lieutenant Governor, performing all the duties incident to the office, and receiving its emoluments.
Art. 69. The Governor shall have power to grant reprieves for all offenses against the State; and, except in cases of impeachment, or treason, shall, upon the recommendation in writing of the Lieu- tenant Governor, Attorney-General, and presiding Judge of the court before which the conviction was had, or of any two of them, have power in his discretion to grant pardons, commute sentences and remit fines and forfeitures, after conviction. In case of treason he may grant reprieves until the end of the next session of the Gen- eral Assembly, in which body the power of pardoning is vested.
Art. 70. The Governor shall receive a salary of five thousand dol- lars per annum, payable monthly, on his own warrant.
Art. 71. He shall nominate and, by and with the advice and con- sent of the Senate, appoint all officers whose offices are established by this Constitution and whose appointments, or elections, are not herein otherwise provided for; provided, however, that the General Assembly shall have the right to prescribe the mode of appoint- ment or election to all offices created by it.
Art. 72. The Governor shall have the power to fill vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate, in cases not otherwise provided for in this Constitution, by granting commissions which shall expire at the end of the next session; but no person who has been nominated for office and rejected shall be appointed to the same office during the recess of the Senate. The failure of the Governor to send into the Senate the name of any person appointed for office, as herein provided, shall be equivalent to a rejection.
Art. 73. He may require information in writing from the officers in the executive departments upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices. He shall be Commander-in-Chief of the
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militia of the State, except, when they shall be called into the actual service of the United States.
Art. 74. He shall, from time to time, give to the General Assembly information respecting the situation of the State, and recommend to its consideration snch measures as he may deem expedient.
Art. 75. Ile shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed, and he may, on extraordinary occasions, convene the General As- senibly at the seat of government, or, if that should have become dangerons from an enemy or from an epidemic, at a different place. The power to legislate shall be limited to the objects specially enu- merated in the proclamation convening such extraordinary session ; therein the Governor shall also limit the time such session may con- tinne; provided it shall not exceed thirty days. Any legislative ac- tion had after the time so limited or as to objects not enumerated in said proclamation, shall be null and void.
Art. 76. Every bill which shall have passed both houses shall be presented to the Governor. If he approves it, he shall sign it; if not, he shall return it, with his objections in writing, to the house in which it originated, which house shall enter the objections at large upon the Journal, and proceed to reconsider the bill. If, after such reconsideralion, two-thirds of all the members elected to that house shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, with the objections to the other house, by which likewise it shall be reconsidered; and if passed by two-thirds of the members elected to that house, it shall be a law; but in sneh cases the votes of both houses shall be taken by yeas and nays, and the names of the members voting for and against the bill shall be entered on the Journal of each house respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the Governor within five days after it shall be presented to him, it shall be a law in like manner as if he signed it, unless the General Assembly, by adjournment, shall prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law.
Art. 77. The Governor shall have power to disapprove of any item or items of any bill making appropriations of money, enibrae- ing distinct items, and the part or parts of the bill approved shall be law, and the item or items of appropriation disapproved shall be void, unless repassed according to the rules and limitations pre- scribed for the passage of other bills over the executive veto.
Art. 78. Every order, resolution, or vote, to which the concurrence of both houses may be necessary, except on a question of adjourn- ment, or matters of parliamentary proceedings, or an address for re- mnoval from office, shall be presented to the Governor, and before it shall take effect, be approved by him, or, being disapproved, shall be repassed according to the rules and limitations prescribed for the passage of bills over the executive veto.
Art. 79. The Treasurer, Auditor, Attorney General and Secretary of State shall be elected by qualifled electors of the State, at the time and place of voting for Representatives, for the term of four years; and in case of vacancy caused by death, resignation, perma- nent absence or otherwise, of any of said officers, the Governor shall fill the vacancy by appointment, with the advice and con- sent of the Senate; provided, the Secretary of State shall have
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authority to appoint an assistant, who shall be known as Assistant Secretary of State, sic or in case of his disability to act, or under the directions of the Secretary of State, the Assistant Secretary of State shall have authority to perform all the aets and duties of the office of Secretary of State. The Secretary of State shall have authority to remove the Assistant Secretary of State at pleasure.
Art. 80. The Treasurer shall not be eligible as his own immediate successor.
Art. 81. The Auditor of Public Accounts shall receive a salary of two thousand five hundred dollars per annum. The Treasurer shall receive a salary of two thousand dollars per annum. The secretary of State shall receive a salary of one thousand eight hundred dollars per annum. Each of the said officers shall be paid monthly, and no fees, or perquisites, or other compensation shall be allowed them; provided, that the Secretary of State may be allowed fees, as may be provided by law, for copies and certificates furnished to private persons.
Art. 82. Appropriations for the clerical expenses of the officers named in the preceding article shall specify each item of appropri- ation; and shall not exceed in any one year, for the Treasurer, the sum of two thousand dollars; for the Secretary of State, the sum of two thousand five hundred dollars, and the salary of the Assistant Secretary of State shall be included in this amount; and for the Auditor of Public Accounts the sum of four thousand dollars.
Art. 83. All commissions shall be in the name and by the author- ity of the State of Louisiana; and shall be sealed with the State seal. signed by the Governor and countersigned by the Secretary of State
JUDICIARY DEPARTMENT.
Art. 84. The judicial power of the State shall be vested in a Supreme Court, in Courts of Appeal, in District Courts, in justices of the peace and in such other courts as are hereinafter provided for.
Art. 85. The Supreme Court, except as hereinafter provided, shall have appellate jurisdiction only, which jurisdiction shall extend to all cases where the matter in dispute, or the fund to be distributed, whatever may be the amount therein claimed, shall exceed two thou- sand dollars, exclusive of interest; to suits for divorce and separa- tion from bed and board, and to all matters arising therein; to suits involving alimony, for the nullity of marriage, or for interdiction; to all matters of adoption, emancipation, legitimacy and custody of children; to suits involving homestead exemptions, and to all cases in which the constitutionality or legality of any tax, toll or impost whatever, or of any fine, forfeiture or penalty imposed by a munici- pal corporation shall be in contestation, whatever may be the amount thereof, and to all cases wherein an ordinance of a munici- pal corporation or a law of this State has been declared unconstitu- tional, and in such cases the appeal on the law and the facts shall be directly from the court in which the case originated to the Supreme Court; and to criminal cases on questions of law alone, whenever the punishment of death or imprisonment at hard labor may be
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inflicted or a fine exceeding three hundred dollars, or imprisonment exceeding six months, is actually imposed. Said court shall have such original jurisdiction as may be necessary to enable it to deter- mine questions of fact affecting its own jurisdiction in any case pend- ing before it, or it may remand the case; and shall have exclusive original jurisdiction in all matters touching professional misconduct of members of the bar, with power to disbar under such rules as may be adopted by the court.
Art. 86. The Supreme Court shall be composed of one Chief Jus- tice and four Associate Justices, a majority of whom shall constitute a quorum. The Chief Justice and Associate Justices shall each re- ceive a salary of not less than five thousand dollars per annum, payable monthly on his own warrant. They shall be appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, for the term of twelve years. In case of death, resignation or removal from office of any justice, the vacancy shall be filled by appointment for the unexpired term of such justice. They shall be citizens of the United States and of this State, over thirty-five years of age, learned in the law, and shall have practiced law in this State for ten years preceding their appointment.
Art. 87. The State shall be divided into four Supreme Court districts, and the Supreme Court shall always be composed of justices appointed from said districts. The parishes of Orleans, St. John the Baptist, St. Charles, St. Bernard, Plaquemines, and Jefferson shall compose the first district, from which two justices shall be appointed.
The parishes of Caddo, Bossier, Webster, Bienville, Claiborne, Union, Lincoln, Jackson, Caldwell, Ouachita, Morehouse, Richland, Franklin, West Carroll, East Carroll, Madison, Tensas, Concordia, and Catahoula, shall compose the second district, from which one justice shall be appointed.
The parishes of DeSoto, Red River, Winn, Grant, Natchitoches, Sabine, Vernon, Caleasien, Cameron, Rapides, Avoyelles, Pointe Coupee, West Baton Rouge, Iberville, St. Landry, Acadia, Lafayette. and Vermillion, shall compose the third district, from which one justice shall be appointed.
The parishes of St. Martin, Iberia, St. Mary, Terrebonne, La- fourche, Assumption, Ascension, St. James, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, West Feliciana, St. Helena, Livingston, Tangipahoa, St. 'Tammany, and Washington shall compose the fourth district, from which one justice shall be appointed.
The justices of the Supreme Court, as now constituted, shall serve until the expiration of their respective terms. When the office of Chief Justice becomes vacant, either from expiration of term, death, resignation, or from any other cause, the Associate Justice who has served the longest time, shall by virtue of said length of service, become Chief Justice, and the new appointee shall become an Associate Justice only.
Art. 88. The Supreme Court shall hold its sessions in the City of New Orleans from the first Monday in the month of November to
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the end of the month of June in each and every year. It shall appoint its own clerks and remove them at pleasure.
The General Assembly shall make the necessary appropriation to provide suitable and commodious buildings for said court and the records thereof, and for the care and maintenance of the State library therein; and shall provide for the repair and alteration of. the building now occupied by the court.
Art. 89. No judgment shall be rendered by the Supreme Court without the concurrence of three justices. Whenever three mem- bers can not concur in any case, in consequence of the recusation of any member or members of the court, or for any other cause, the court shall have authority to call on any judge or judges of the Courts of Appeals, or District Courts, whose duty it shall be, when so called upon, to sit in such case.
Art. 90. All judges, by virtue of their office, shall be conservators of the peace throughout the State. The style of all process shall be "The State of Louisiana." All prosecutions shall be carried on in the name and by the authority of the State of Louisiana, and con- clude : "Against the peace and dignity of the same."
Art. 91. The judges of all courts, whenever practicable, shall re- fer to the law by virtue of which every definitive judgment is ren- dered, and in every case they shall adduce the reasons on which their judgment is founded. Service of citation shall not be waived nor judgment confessed, by any document under private signature executed prior to the maturity of the obligation sued on.
Art. 92. The decisions of the Supreme Court shall be reported under the direction of the court; the publication thereof shall be let out by contract to the lowest bidder, who need not be a citizen of the State; provided, that the annual reports for the year 1898, shall be published in numbers, and completed under the present contract therefor, and the present reporter shall remain in office un- til February 1, 1899.
Concurring and dissenting opinions shall not be published.
'The General Assembly shall annually appropriate the sum of two thousand dollars, as salary of stenographers to be appointed by the court, and for the use of the justices thereof.
Art. 93. The Supreme Court, and each of the justices thereof, shall have power to issue the writ of habeas corpus, at the instance of any person in actual custody, in any case where it may have ap- pellate jurisdiction.
Art. 94. The Supreme Court shall have control and general super- vision over all inferior courts. The Court, or any justice thereof, shall have power to issue writs of certiorari, prohibition, mandamus, quo warranto, and other remedial writs.
Art. 95. In all cases where there is an appeal from a judgment rendered on a reconventional demand, the appeal shall lie to the court having jurisdiction of the main demand.
Art. 96. Except as herein provided, no duties or functions shall ever be attached by law to the Supreme Court, Courts of Appeal, or District Courts, or to the several justices, or judges thereof, except such as are judicial, and the said justices and judges are prohibited
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from receiving any fees of office, or other compensation than their salaries, for any official duty performed by them. No judicial pow- ers, except as committing magistrates in criminal cases, shall be conferred on any officer other than those mentioned in this title, ex- cept such as may be necessary in towns and cities; provided, the General Assembly shall have the power to abolish justice.of the peace courts in wards containnig cities of more than five thousand inhabitants, and to create in their stead courts with such civil juris- diction as is now vested in justices of the peace, and with criminal jurisdiction which shall not extend beyond the trial of offences not punishable by imprisonment at hard labor under the laws of this State, and of violations of municipal and parochial ordinances, and the holding of preliminary examinations in cases not capital. Provided, the compensation of the judges of such courts shall be paid by the parishes and cities in which they are established, in such propor- tions as may be provided by law.
Attorney General.
Art. 97. There shall be an Attorney General for the State, who shall be elected by the qualified electors of the State at large every four years. He shall be learned in the law, and shall have actually resided and practiced law, as a licensed attorney, in the State for five years preceding his election. He shall receive a salary of three thousand dollars per annum, payable monthly on his own warrant.
COURTS OF APPEAL.
Art. 98. The Courts of Appeal, except as otherwise provided in this Constitution, shall have appellate jurisdiction only, which juris- diction shall extend to all cases, civil or probate, when the matter in dispute or the funds to be distributed shall exceed one hundred dollars, exclusive of interest, and shall not exceed two thousand dollars, exclusive of interest.
Art. 99. The Courts of Appeal shall remain as at present consti- tuted, until the first day of July, 1900. From and after that date the several Courts of Appeal, except as hereinafter provided. shall con- sist of one of the judges of those courts whose terms shall not have expired, and who, with a judge of a district court to be designated by the Supreme Court, shall be assigned by the Supreme Court to that duty, throughout the State.
From and after the first day of July, 1904, the Courts of Appeal shall be composed of two district judges, to be from time to time designated by the Supreme Court, and assigned to the performance of the duties of judges of said Conrts of Appeal; provided, that no district judge shall be assigned to serve as a member of the Court of Appeal for any parish in his own district; and, provided further, that district judges shall be paid their actual and necessary expenses when serving as judges of the Courts of Appeal in such manner as may be provided by law.
Art. 100. There shall be two terms of the said Courts of Appeal
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held in cach parish annually, to be fixed by the judges of said courts, until the first day of July, 1904. Thereafter the terms of said courts shall be fixed in such manner as may be provided by law.
Art. 101. The judges of the Courts of Appeal shall have power to certify to the Supreme Court any question or proposition of law aris- ing in any cause pending before them concerning which they desire the instruction of that court, for its proper decision; and thereupon the Supreme Court may either give its instruction on the question or proposition certified to it, which shall be binding upon the Court of Appeal in such case, or it may require that the whole record be sent up for its consideration, and thereupon shall decide the whole mal - ter in controversy in the same manner as if it had been on appeal directly to the Supreme Court. It shall be competent for the Supreme Court to require by certiorari, or otherwise, any case to be certified from the Courts of Appeal to it for its review and deter- mination, with the same power and authority in the case, as if it had been carried directly by appeal to the said court; provided, that the Supreme Court shall in no case exercise the power conferred on it by this article, unless the application be made to the court, or to one of the justices thereof, not later than thirty days after the decis- ion of the Court of Appeals has been rendered and entered.
Art. 102. No judgment shall be rendered by the Courts of Appeal without the concurrence of two judges. Whenever there shall be a disagreement in the Courts of Appeal above provided, the Court shall appoint a district judge or a lawyer having the qualifications of a judge of the court to sit in the case, and in case of the recusa- tion, absence, or disability, of one of the judges, the other judge shall select a judge or lawyer, as aforesaid, to sit in the case. In the Court of Appeal for the parish of Orleans, when two judges can not concur for any reason, the court shall select a district judge, or judges, to sit in the case.
Art. 103. All cases on appeal to the Courts of Appeal shall be tried on the original record, pleadings and evidence.
Art. 104. The rules of practice regulating appeals to and proceed- ings in the Supreme Court shall apply to appeals and proceedings in the Courts of Appeal, so far as they may be applicable, until otherwise provided. The Courts of Appeal, and each of the judges thereof, shall have power to issue the writ of habeas corpus at the instance of any person in actual custody within their respective cir- enits.
They shall also have authority to issue writs of mandamus, prohi- bition, and certiorari, in aid of their appellate jurisdiction.
Art. 105. The several judges of the Courts of Appeal, as consti- tuted under the Constitution of 1879, shall each receive a salary of four thousand dollars per annum, payable monthly on his own war- lant.
Art. 106. The sheriff of the parish in which the sessions of the court are held shall attend in person, or by deputy, to execute the orders of the court.
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District Courts.
Art. 107. The State shall be divided into not less than twenty nor more than twenty-nine judicial districts, the parish of Orleans excepted.
Until otherwise provided by law, there shall be twenty-nine dis- triets.
Art. 108. The parish of Caddo shall compose the first district.
The parishes of Bossier and Webster shall compose the second district.
The parishes of Claiborne and Bienville shall compose the third district.
The parishes of Union and Lincoln shall compose the fourth district.
The parishes of Caldwell, Jackson and Winn shall compose the fifth district.
The parishes of Ouachita and Morehouse shall compose the sixth distriet.
The parishes of West Carroll and Richland shall compose the seventh district.
The parishes of Franklin and Catahoula shall compose the eighth district.
The parishes of Madison and East Carroll shall compose the ninth distriet.
The parishes of Concordia and Tensas shall compose the tenth distriet.
The parishes of Natchitoches and Red River shall compose the eleventh district.
The parishes of De Soto, Sabine and Vernon shall compose the twelfth district.
The parishes of Rapides and Grant shall compose the thirteenth district.
The parish of Avoyelles shall compose the fourteenth district.
The parishes of Caleasien and Cameron shall compose the tif- teenth district.
The parish of St. Landry shall compose the sixteenth district.
The parish of Vermillion shall compose the seventeenth district.
The parishes of Acadia and Lafayette shall compose the eigh- teenth district.
The parishes of Iberia and St. Martin shall compose the nine- teenth district.
The parishes of Terrebonne and Lafourche shall compose the twentieth district.
The parishes of Iberville, West Baton Rouge, and Pointe Coupee shall compose the twenty-first district.
The parish of East Baton Rouge shall compose the twenty-second district.
The parish of St. Mary shall compose the twenty-third district.
The parishes of East Feliciana and West Feliciana shall compose the twenty-fourth district,
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The parishes of St. Helena, Livingston, and Tangipahoa shall compose the twenty-fifth district.
The parishes of Washington and St. Tammany shall compose the twenty-sixth district.
The parishes of Ascension, St. James, and Assumption shall com- pose the twenty-seventh district.
The parishes of St. John the Baptist, St. Charles, and Jefferson shall compose the twenty-eighth district.
The parishes of St. Bernard and Plaquemines shall compose the twenty-ninth district.
The judges of the first, sixth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, nineteenth, twentieth, twenty-second, twenty- third, twenty-flfth, twenty-seventh, and twenty-eighth districts shall each receive a salary of three thousand dollars per annum, and the judges of the second, third, fourth, ninth, fourteenth, eighteenth, twenty-first, twenty-fourth, twenty-sixth, and twenty-ninth dis- tricts shall each receive a salary of two thousand five hundred dol- lars; the judges of the fifth, seventh, eighth, and seventeenth dis- triets shall each receive a salary of two thousand dollars per annum ; such salaries to be paid monthly on their own warrants. Provided, that if the General Assembly at any time reduces the number of districts, as herein fixed, it shall have the right to regrade the salaries of the judges, but in no case shall any judge receive a salary in excess of three thousand dollars per anninn.
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