USA > Louisiana > Louisiana; comprising sketches of counties, towns, events, institutions, and persons, Volume I > Part 34
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Art. 17. No one of these departments, nor any person or col- lection of persons, holding office in one of them, shall exercise power properly belonging to either of the others, except in the instances hereinafter expressly directed or permitted.
Legislative Department.
Art. 18. Representation in the House of Representatives shall be equal and uniform and shall be based upon population. Each parish and each ward of the City of New Orleans shall have at least one representative. At its first regular session after the
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United States census of 1900, and after each thereafter, the General Assembly shall, and it is hereby directed, to apportion the repre- sentation among the several parishes and Representative Districts on the basis of the total population shown by such census. A representative number shall be fixed, and each parish and Repre- sentative District shall have as many Representatives as such representative number is contained in the total number of the in- habitants of such parish or Representative District, and one addi- tional Representative for every fraction exceeding one-half the representative number. The number of Representatives shall not be more than one hundred and sixteen nor less than niney-eight.
Art. 19. The General Assembly, in every year in which it shall apportion representation in the House of Representatives, shall divide the State into Senatorial Districts. No parish shall be di- vided in the formation of a Senatorial District, the Parish of Or- leans excepted. Whenever a new parish is created, it shall be at- tached to the Senatorial District from which most of its territory is taken, or to another contiguous district, at the discretion of the General Assembly, but shall not be attached to more than one district. The number of Senators shall be not more that forty-one, nor less than thirty-six, and they shall be apportioned among the Senatorial Districts according to the total population contained in the several districts.
Art. 20. Divides the State into 30 Senatorial Districts, with 39 Senators in all, and apportions 104 Representatives among the several parishes and Representative districts. This apportionment to cease after the year 1902.
General Assembly.
Art. 21. The legislative power of the State shall be vested in a General Assembly, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.
Art. 22. The style of the laws of this State shall be: "Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Louisiana."
Art. 23. The General Assembly shall meet at the seat of gov- ernment on the third Monday of May, 1898, at 12 o'clock noon, and biennially thereafter, on the second Monday of May, and the sessions thereof shall be limited to sixty days. Should a vacancy occur in either House, the Governor shall order an election to fill such vacancy for the remainder of the term.
Art. 24. Every elector under the Constitution shall be eligible to a seat in the House of Representatives, and every elector who has reached the age of twenty-five years shall be eligible to the Senate; provided. that no person shall be eligible to the General Assembly unless at the time of his election he has been a citizen of the State for five years, and an actual resident of the district or , parish from which he may be elected, for two years immediately preceding his election. The seat of any member who may change his residence from the district or parish which he represents shall
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thereby be vacated, any declaration of a retention of domicile to the contrary notwithstanding; and members of the General As- sembly shall be elected for a term of four years.
Art. 25. Each House shall be the judge of the qualifications, elections, and returns of its own members, choose its own officers, except president of the senate, determine the rules of its proceed- ings, and may punish its members for disorderly conduct and con- tempt, and with the concurrence of two-thirds of all its members elected, expel a member.
Art. 26. Either House, during the session, may punish by im- prisonment, any person not a member, who shall have been guilty of disrespect, or disorderly or contemptuous behavior; but such imprisonment shall not exceed ten days for each offense.
Art. 27. No Senator or Representative shall, during the term for which he was elected, nor for one year thereafter, be appointed or elected to any civil office of profit under the State, which may have been created, or the emoluments of which may have been in- creased by the General Assembly during the time such Senator or Representative was a member thereof.
Art. 28. The members of the General Assembly shall, in all cases, except treason, felony, or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the sessions of their respec- tive Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any speech or debate in either House they shall not be ques- tioned in any other place.
Art. 29. The members of the General Assembly shall receive a compensation not to exceed five dollars per day during their at- tendance, and five cents per mile going to and returning from the seat of government.
Art. 30. Each House shall keep a Journal of its proceedings, and cause the same to be published immediately after the close of the session ; when practicable, the minutes of each day's session shall be printed and placed in the hands of members on the day following. The original Journal shall be preserved, after publica- tion, in the office of the Secretary of State, but there shall be required no other record thereof.
Art. 31. Every law enacted by the General Assembly shall em- brace but one object, and that shall be expressed in its title.
Art. 32. No law shall be revised, or amended, by reference to its title, but in such cases the act revised, or section as amended, shall be reenacted and published at length.
Art. 33. The General Assembly shall never adopt any system or code of laws by general reference to such system or code of laws; but in all cases shall recite at length the several provisions of the laws it may enact.
Art. 34. Not less than a majority of the members of each House of the General Assembly shall form a quorum to transact business. but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and shall have power to compel the attendance of absent members.
Art. 35. Neither House, during the sitting of the General As-
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sembly, shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which it may be sitting.
Art. 36. The yeas and nays on any question in either House shall, at the desire of one-fifth of the members elected, be entered on the Journal.
Art. 37. All bills, for raising revenue, or appropriating money, shall originate in the House of Representatives, but the Senate may propose or concur in amendments, as in other bills.
Art. 38. No bill, ordinance, or resolution, intended to have the effect of a law, which shall (have) been rejected by either House, shall be again proposed in the same House during the same session, under the same or any other title, without the con- sent of a majority of the House by which the same was rejected.
Articles 39 to 42 inclusive. treat of the routine to be followed in the enactment of bills, and the promulgation of the same.
Art. 43. Deals with the clerical officers of the two Houses and their compensation.
Art. 44. Requires that all supplies furnished the Legislature and other departments of government, and all repairs and furnish- ing be done under contract ; that no state officer shall be interested in such contracts, and that all contracts be approved by the Gover- nor, President of the Senate, and Speaker of the House, or of any two of them.
Limitation of Legislative Powers.
Art. 45. No money shall be drawn from the treasury except in pursuance of specific appropriation made by law ; nor shall any appropriation of money be made for a longer term than two years. A regular statement and account of receipts and expenditures of all public moneys shall be published every three months in such manner as shall be prescribed by law.
Art. 46. The General Assembly shall have no power to con- tract, or to authorize the contracting of, any debt or liability on behalf of the State; or to issue bonds or other evidence of indebt- edness thereof, except for the purpose of repelling invasion or, for the suppression of insurrection.
Art. 47. The General Assembly shall have no power to grant or to authorize any parish or municipal authority to grant any extra compensation, fee, or allowance, to a public officer, agent, ser- vant, or contractor, nor pay, nor authorize the payment of any claim against the State, or any parish or municipality thereof, under any agreement or contract made without express authority of law ; and all such unauthorized agreements or contracts shall be null and void.
Art. 48. The General Assembly shall not pass any local or special laws on the following specified subjects: For the opening and conducting of elections, or fixing or changing the place of voting. Changing the names of persons. Changing the venue in civil or criminal cases. Authorizing the laying out, opening, clos- ing, altering or maintaining roads, highways, streets or alleys,
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or relating to ferries and bridges, or incorporating bridge or ferry companies, except for the erection of bridges crossing streams which form boundaries between this and any other State. Author- izing the adoption or legitimation of children or the emancipation of minors. Granting divorces. Changing the law of descent or succession. Affecting the estates of minors or persons under dis- abilities. Remitting fines, penalties and forfeitures, or refunding moneys legally paid into the treasury. Authorizing the construc- tion of street passenger railroads in any incorporated town or city. Regulating labor, trade, manufacturing, or agriculture. Creating corporations, or amending, renewing, extending, or explaining the charters thereof; provided, this shall not apply to municipal cor- porations having a population of not less than twenty-five hundred inhabitants, or to the organization of levee districts and parishes. Granting to any corporation, association, or individual, any special or exclusive right, privilege or immunity. Extending the time for the assessment or collection of taxes, or for the relief of any assessor or collector of taxes from the performance of his official duties, or of his sureties from liability ; nor shall any such law or ordinance be passed by any political corporation of this State. Regulating the practice or jurisdiction of any court, or changing the rules of evidence in any judicial proceeding or inquiry before courts, or providing or changing methods for the collection of debts, or the enforcement of judgments, or prescribing the effects of judicial sales. Exempting property from taxation. Fixing the rate of interest. Concerning any civil or criminal actions. Giving effect to informal or invalid wills or deeds, or to any illegal dis- position of property. Regulating the management of public schools, the building or repairing of schoolhouses, and the raising of money for such purposes. Legalizing the unauthorized or invalid acts of any officer, servant, or agent of the state, or of any parish or municipality thereof.
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Art. 49. The General Assembly shall not indirectly enact special or local laws by the partial repeal of a general law; but laws re- pealing local or special laws may be passed.
Art. 50. No local or special law shall be passed on any subject not enumerated in Article 48 of this Constitution, unless notice of the intention to apply therefor shall have been published, with- out cost to the State, in the locality where the matter or thing to be affected may be situated, which notice shall state the substance of the contemplated law. and shall be published at least thirty days prior to the introduction into the General Assembly of such bill, and in the same manner provided by law for the advertisement of judicial sales. The evidence of such notice having been pub- lished, shall be exhibited in the General Assembly before such act shall be passed, and every such act shall contain a recital that such notice has been given.
Art. 51. No law shall be passed fixing the price of manual labor.
Art. 52. Any member of the General Assembly who has a per-
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sonal or private interest in any measure or bill proposed, or pending before the General Assembly, shall disclose the fact to the house of which he is a member, and shall not vote thereon.
Art. 53. No money shall ever be taken from the public trea- sury, directly or indirectly, in aid of any church, seet, or denomina- tion of religion, or in aid of any priest, preacher, minister, or teacher thereof, as such, and no preference shall ever be given to, or any discrimination made against, any church, seet, or creed of religion, or any form of religious faith or worship; nor shall any appropria- tion be made, for private, charitable or benevolent purposes, to any person or community ; provided, this shall not apply to the State Asylum for the Insane and State Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, and State Institution for the Instruction of the Blind, and the charity hospitals and public charitable institutions con- ducted under State authority.
Art. 54. The General Assembly shall have no power to increase the expenses of any office by appointing assistant officials.
Art. 55. The general appropriation bill shall embrace nothing but appropriations for the ordinary expenses of government, in- terest on public debt, public schools, and public charities ; and such bill shall be so itemized as to show for what account each and every appropriation shall be made. All other appropriations shall be made by separate bills, each embracing but one object.
Art. 56. Each appropriation shall be for a specific purpose, and no appropriation shall be made under the head or title of con- tingent ; nor shall any officer or department of government receive any amount from the treasury for contingencies or for a contingent fund.
Art. 57. No appropriation of money shall be made by the Gen- eral Assembly in the last five days of the session thereof. All appropriations, to be valid, shall be passed and receive the signa- tures of the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives five full days before the adjournment sine die of the General Assembly.
Art. 58. The funds, credit, property, or things of value, of the State, or of any political corporation thereof, shall not be loaned, pledged, or granted to or for any person or persons, association or corporation, public or private ; nor shall the State, or any polit- ical corporation, purchase or subscribe to the capital or stock of any corporation or association whatever. or for any private enter- prise. Nor shall the State, nor any political corporation thereof. assume the liabilities of any political, municipal, parochial, private, or other corporation or association whatsoever; nor shall the State undertake to carry on the business of any such corporation or association, or become a part owner therein ; provided, the State, through the General Assembly, shall have the power to grant the right of way through its publie lands to any railroad or canal ; and , provided, Police Juries and municipal corporations may, in pro- viding for destitute persons, utilize any charitable institutions within their corporate limits for the care, maintenance, and asylum
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of such persons; and all appropriations made to such institutions for the purpose aforesaid shall be accounted for by them in the manner required of officials entrusted with public funds.
Art. 59. The General Assembly shall have no power to release or extinguish, or to authorize the releasing or extinguishment, in whole or in part, of the indebtedeness, liability, or obligation of any corporation or individual to the State, or to any parish or munici- pal corporation thereof; provided, the heirs to confiscated prop- erty may be released from all taxes due thereon at the date of its reversion to them.
Art. 60. No educational or charitable institution, other than the State institutions now existing, or expressly provided for in this Constitution, shall be established by the State, except upon a vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each House of the General Assembly.
Executive Department.
Art. 61. The Executive Department shall consist of a Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, Auditor, Treasurer, and Secretary of State.
Art. 62. Prescribes that the term of office of the Governor and Lieutenant-Governor shall be four years, and recites the manner of election.
Art. 63. No person shall be eligible to the office of Governor. or Lieutenant-Governor, who shall not have attained the age of thirty years, been ten years a citizen of the United States, and resi- dent of the State for the same period of time next preceding his election ; or who shall hold office under the United States at the time of, or within six months, immediately preceding the election for such office; nor shall any person who shall have been elected, qualified, and served as Governor under this Constitution, be eli- gible as his own successor: provided, however, that he may again be eligible to the office at the expiration of one or more terms after the term for which he shall have served.
Art. 64. Prescribes the time of entering on their duties, and the duration thereof.
Art. 65. Prescribes that in case of the impeachment, removal, death, refusal or inability to qualify: disability, resignation, or ab- sence from the State, of the Governor, the succession to the office shall devolve upon the following officers in the order named: Lieutenant-Governor, President pro tempore of the Senate, Secre- tary of State.
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 have only a casting vote therein. The Senate shall elect one of its members as President pro tempore of the Senate.
Art. 68. Makes the pay of the Lieutenant-Governor $1,500 per
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annum, and, in case the office become vacant for any cause, makes the President pro tempore of the Senate, his successor.
Art. 69. Relates to the power of the Governor to grant re- prieves, pardons, etc.
Art. 70. The Governor shall receive a salary of $5,000 per annum.
Art. 71. Relates to the Governor's right to nominate and ap- point officers, by and with the advice of the Senate.
Art. 72. Relates to the Governor's right to fill vacancies.
Art. 73. He may require information in writing from the offi- cers in the executive departments upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices. He shall be Commander-in- Chief of the 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 As- sembly information respecting the situation of the State, and recommend to its consideration such measures as he may deem expedient.
Art. 75. Declares that the Governor shall cause the laws to be faithfully executed, and gives him the power to convene the 'General Assembly in extraordinary session for a specified period not to exceed thirty days.
Art. 76, 77, and 78. Gives to the Governor the power to veto bills, any item or items in the appropriation bills, and orders and resolutions.
Art. 79, 80, and 81. Relate to the election and emoluments of the Treasurer, Auditor, Attorney-General. and Secretary of State. The Treasurer is not eligible as 'his own immediate successor.
Art. 82. Relates to the appropriations for the clerical expense of the above named officers.
Art. 83. All commissions shall be in the name and by the ant- thority 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 Distriet Courts, in justices of the peace, and in such other courts as are hereinafter provided for.
Articles 85 to 96 inclusive, deal chiefly with the Supreme Court ; prescribe its jurisdiction, which is chiefly appellate; that it shall consist of one Chief Justice and four Associate Justices, to be ap- pointed by the Governor; each to receive a salary of not less than $5,000 per annum, and to 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." The State is divided into four Supreme Court districts, each to be composed of certain enumerated parishes. . The court is to sit annually in New Orleans, from the first Mon- day in November to the end of the month of June. Judgments
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shall only be rendered with the concurrence of three justices; its decisions are to be reported and published, but concurrent and dissenting opinions are not to be published; it may issue writs of habeas corpus, certiorari, prohibition, mandamus, quo warranto, and other remedial writs.
Art. 97. Relates to the election, qualifications and salary of the Attorney-General.
Articles 98 to 106 inclusive, relate to Courts of Appeal. These courts are given appellate jurisdiction only, except as otherwise provided in the Constitution, when the matter in dispute or the funds to be distributed shall exceed one hundred dollars, and shall not exceed two thousand dollars. The Courts of Appeal are to remain as at present constituted, until July, 1900, and then each to consist of one of the judges whose term has not expired, to- gether with a judge to be designated by the Supreme Court; after July, 1904, the several Courts of Appeal are to be composed of two district judges, to be from time to time designated by the Supreme Court. There are to be two terms of this court in each parish annually until July, 1904, and thereafter such terms as may be prescribed by law ; judgments of the Courts of Appeal must be concurred in by two judges; they are to be governed by the same rules of practice, as far as applicable, as the Supreme Court; are given the power to issue certain remedial writs, and the judges, as constituted under the Constitution of 1879, are to receive a salary of $4,000 per annum.
Articles 107 to 118 inclusive, relate to the District Courts. The State is divided into not less than twenty, nor more than twenty- nine, judicial districts, the parish of Orleans excepted. The vari- ous districts, to the number of twenty-nine, are set forth, the salaries of the several judges prescribed, and their jurisdiction carefully set forth. The District Courts as created and existing under the former Constitution, were to remain undisturbed until the general State election of 1900, at which time, and thereafter, they were to be elected for terms of four years. Vacancies are to be filled by appointment of the Governor, for the unexpired term. Other sections provide for the interchange of district judges, their qualifications, trial by jury, terms of the courts, judgments and procedure.
Articles 119 to 121 inclusive, relate to sheriffs and coroners, who are to be elected by the qualified voters of each parish, except in the parish of Orleans, who shall be elected at the general elec- tion and hold office for four years. The Sheriff is made ex-officio collector of State and parish taxes; the Coroner is required to be a doctor of medicine, regularly licensed to practice, and ex-officio parish physician.
Articles 122 to 124 inclusive, relate to clerks of the District Courts, who are to be elected by the qualified electors of the parish every four years, and who are also made ex-officio clerks of the Courts of Appeals, ex-officio parish recorders of conveyances, mort- gages, and other acts, and notaries public.
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Art. 125. Relates to District Attorneys, one to be elected for four years in each judicial district, at the same time and for the same term as the district judges; his salary is $1,000 per annum, together with certain fees.
Art. 126. Relates to justices of the peace.
Articles 127 to 129 inclusive, relate to constables.
Articles 130 to 159 inclusive, relate to the courts and officers for the Parish of Orleans and City of New Orleans. Provision is made for a Court of Appeal; two District Courts, one to be known as the Civil District Court, and the other as the Criminal District Court; two inferior criminal courts, to be known respectively as the First City Criminal Court and the Second City Criminal Court. and the General Assembly is also required to provide for Recorder's Courts in the City of New Orleans, to be presided over by magis- trates who need not be attorneys at law, such courts only to have jurisdiction for the trial of offenses against city ordinances. A civil and a criminal sheriff for the Parish of Orleans are pro- vided for, also a First City Court and a second City Court in the City of New Orleans. Other officers provided for are clerks and constables of the several courts, and a district attorney, a register of conveyances, and a recorder of mortgages, for the Parish of Orleans. Vacancies, occurring from any cause, in the judicial offices of the Parish of Orleans, or City of New Orleans, shall be filled by appointment by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, and for the unexpired term.
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