USA > Mississippi > Official and statistical register of the state of Mississippi, 1908 v. 3 > Part 35
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SEC. 230. All of said commissioners shall be qualified electors of the respective counties or parts of counties from which they may be chosen, except the one selected for the Louisville, New Orleans and Texas Rail- way Company; and the Legislature shall provide that they shall each give bond for the faithful performance of his duties, and shall fix the
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penalty thereof; but the penalty of such bond in no instance shall be fixed at less than ten thousand dollars, and the sureties thereon shall be free- holders of the district.
SEC. 231. When the terms of the present levee commissioners shall expire, or whenever a vacancy shall occur or be about to occur in either of said boards, the Governor shall make appointments to fill vacancies, subject to the confirmation of the Senate. The terms of office of said commissioners shall remain as provided by law at the adoption of this Constitution; but this provision shall not require the appointment of a commissioner for the Louisville, New Orleans and Texas Railway Com- pany, except in the discretion of the Governor as provided.
SEC. 232. The commissioners of said levee districts shall have super- vision of the erection, repair, and maintenance of the levees in their respective districts, and shall have power to cede all their rights of way and levees and the maintenance, management and control thereof to the government of the United States. (Laws 1900, ch. 200).
SEC. 233. The levee boards shall have, and are hereby granted, authority and full power to appropriate private property in their respec- tive districts for the purpose of constructing, maintaining, and repairing levees therein; and when any owner of land, or any other person inter- ested therein, shall object to the location or building of the levee thereon, or shall claim compensation for any land that may be taken, or for any damages he may sustain in consequence thereof, the president, or other proper officer or agent of such levee board, or owner of such land, or other person interested therein, may forthwith apply for an assessment of the damages to which said person claiming the same may be entitled ; whereupon the proceedings as now provided by law shall be taken, viz .: In the Mississippi Levee District, in accordance with the terms and pro- visions of Section 3 of an act entitled "An act to amend an act to incorporate the Board of Levee Commissioners for Bolivar, Washington, and Issa- quena Counties, and for other purposes, approved November 27, A. D. 1865, and to revise acts amendatory thereof," approved March 13, A. D. 1884; and in the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee District, in accordance with the terms and provisions of Section 3 of an act entitled "An act to incorporate the board of levee commissioners for the Yazoo-Mis- sissippi Delta, and for other purposes," approved February 28, A. D. 1884, and the amendments thereto; but the Legislature shall have full power to alter and amend said several acts, and to provide different manners of procedure.
A person whose land is damaged by the taking of the land of another is entitled to compensation and may maintain proceed- ings, as if his land had been taken, therefor. Richardson v. Levee Commissioners, 77 Miss., 518 (26 So., 963).
SEC. 234. No bill changing the boundaries of the district, or affecting the taxation or revenue of the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee District, or the Mississippi Levee District, shall be considered by the Legislature
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unless said bill shall have been published in some newspaper in the county in which is situated the domicile of the board of levee commissioners of the levee district to be affected thereby, for four weeks prior to the intro- duction thereof into the Legislature; and no such bill shall be considered for final passage by either the Senate or House of Representatives, unless the same shall have been referred to, and reported on, by an appropriate committee of each house in which the same may be pending; and no such committee shall consider or report on any such bill unless publication thereof shall have been made as aforesaid.
SEC. 235. Each levee board shall make, at the end of each fiscal year, to the Governor of this State, a report showing the condition of the levees and recommending such additional legislation on the subject of the system as shall be thought necessary, and. showing the receipts and expenditures of the board, so that each item, the amount and considera- tion therefor, shall distinctly appear, together with such other matters as it shall be thought proper to call to the attention of the Legislature.
SEC. 236. The Legislature shall impose for levee purposes, in addition to the levee taxes heretofore levied or authorized by law, a uniform tax of not less than two nor more than five cents an acre per annum upon every acre of land now or hereafter embraced within the limits of either or both of said levee districts. The taxes so derived shall be paid into · the treasury of the levee board of the district in which the land charged with the same is situated; and the Legislature, by the act imposing said tax, shall authorize said levee boards to fix the annual rate of taxation per acre within the limits aforesaid, and thereby require said levee boards, whenever a reduction is made by them in their other taxes, to make a proportionate reduction in the acreage tax hereinbefore mentioned; but said acreage tax shall not be reduced below two cents an acre per annum; and all reductions in such taxation shall be uniform in each of said dis- tricts; but the rate of taxation need not be the same in both of them; and - such specific taxes shall be assessed on the same assessment roll, and collected under the same penalties, as. the ad valorem taxes for levee purposes, and shall be paid at the same time with the latter. And no levee board shall ever be permitted to buy lands when sold for taxes; but the State shall have a prior lien for the taxes due thereto. The Legislature may provide for the discontinuance of the tax on cotton, but not in such manner as to affect outstanding bonds based on it; and, on the discontinuance of the tax on cotton, shall impose another tax in lieu thereof; but the Legislature may repeal the acreage tax required to be levied hereby after the first day of January, A. D. 1895.
SEC. 237. The Legislature shall have full power to provide such system of taxation for said levee districts as it shall, from time to time, deem wise and proper.
SEC. 238. No property situated between the levee and the Mississippi River shall be taxed for levee purposes, nor shall damage be paid to any owner of land so situated because of its being left outside a levee.
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On a condemnation of land for levee purposes, the owner is not entitled, under the section, to damage because a part of his land is left outside of the levee ; but is entitled to damage caused by the levee itself, such as the obstruction of drainage on land so situate. Duncan v. Board, etc., 74 Miss., 125 (20 So., 838).
Lands within the Mississippi Levee District, as recognized by Constitution of 1890, Sec. 228 (and not between the levee and the river, exempted by Constitution of 1890, Sec. 238), are liable to levee taxes, although they be damaged rather than benefited by the construction of the levees. The doctrine of comparative benefits and graduation of servitudes will not be recognized by the courts in respect to levee taxes. Carlisle v. Gunn, 68 Miss., 243 (8 So., 743).
The word "property" herein does not cover any species of intangible property. It refers to real estate, or property having the fixed location of real estate. Levee Commissioners v. Houston, 81 Miss., 619 (33 So., 491).
Hence it does not apply to license to a dramshop keeper doing business between the levee and the river. Ib.
SEC. 239. The Legislature shall require the levee boards to publish at - each of their sessions an itemized account embracing their respective receipts since the prior session, and such appropriations as have been made or ordered by them respectively, in some newspaper or newspapers of the district.
ARTICLE XII.
FRANCHISE.
SEC. 240. All elections by the people shall be by ballot.
(1869, Art. VII, Sec. I.)
SEC. 241. Every male inhabitant of this State, except idiots, insane persons, and Indians not taxed, who is a citizen of the United States, twenty-one years old and upwards, who has resided in this State two years, and one year in the election district, or in the incorporated city or town in which he offers to vote, and who is duly registered as provided in this article, and who has never been convicted of bribery, burglary, theft, arson, obtaining money or goods under false pretences, perjury, forgery, embezzlement, or bigamy, and who has paid, on or before the first day of February of the year in which he shall offer to vote, all taxes which may have been legally required of him, and which he has had an opportunity of paying according to law, for the two preceding years, and who shall produce to the officers holding the election satisfactory evidence that he has paid said taxes, is declared to be a qualified elector; but any minister of the gospel in charge of an organized church shall be entitled to vote after six month's residence in the election district, if otherwise qualified.
(1869, Art. VII, Sec. 2; and Art. XII, Sec. 2.)
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See Jones v. Registrars of Alcorn County, 56 Miss., 766.
The section does not violate the Constitution of the United States. Sproule v. Fredericks, 69 Miss., 898 (11 So., 472); Williams v. Mississippi, 170 U. S., 213.
The section was suspended by Section 276, so far as concerns the payment of a poll tax as a qualification for a juror (Sec. 264); and was further suspended of necessity so far as registra- tion was concerned as such qualification until the Legislature provided therefor. Nail v. State, 70 Miss., 32 (1I So., 793).
Payment of taxes is not a condition of registration. Bew v. State, 71 Miss., 1 (13 So., 868).
In determining who may vote at a. local option election (Code 1892, § 1610; Code 1906, Sec. 1777), the board of supervisors should reject from the petition the names of persons who are not registered, and who, if registered, have not the other qualifica- tions prescribed by the section. The registration books merely show the possible qualified voters. Ferguson v. Monroe County, 71 Miss., 524 (14 So., 81).
The section is not obnoxious to the fourteenth amendment to the United States Constitution because of discrimination on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Dixon v. State, 74 Miss., 271 (20 So., 839).
One who had not, at the time of election, paid taxes as required by the section is not (Sec. 245, 250) eligible to office, and a mis- taken belief, however honestly entertained, that he has paid in due time "all taxes legally required of him," will not relieve the delinquent. Roane v. Tunstall, 75 Miss., 94 (21 So., 665).
Since qualified voters alone are qualified petitioners, the section requires that the taxes of petitioners for license to retail intoxicating liquors must have been paid for two years preceding the year in which they sign. Ferguson v. Brown, 75 Miss., 214 (21 So., 603).
This section forbids the Legislature to add to the qualifications of a municipal voter, residence for one year in the municipality before registering. State ex rel v. Kelly, SI Miss., I (32 So., 909).
This section and Sec. 242 have no application to elections under stock laws. Leflore Co. v. State, 70 Miss., 770 (12 So., 904).
The Legislature has plenary power over the subject. Ib.
SEC. 242. The Legislature shall provide by law for the registration of all persons entitled to vote at any election, and all persons offering to register shall take the following oath or affirmation: "I, -- , do solemnly swear [or affirm] that I am twenty-one years old [or I will be before the next election in this county], and that I will have resided in this State two years and -election district of county one year next preceding the ensuing election [or if it be stated in the oath that the person proposing to register is a minister of the gospel in
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charge of an organized church, then it will be sufficient to aver therein two years residence in the State and six months in said election dis- trict], and am now in good faith a resident of the same, and that I am not disqualified from voting by reason of having been convicted of any crime named in the Constitution of this State as a disqualification to be an elector; that I will truly answer all questions propounded to me con- cerning my antecedents, so far as they relate to my right to vote, and also as to my residence before my citizenship in this district; that I will faith- fully support the Constitution of the United States and of the State of Mississippi, and will 'bear true faith and allegiance to the same. So help me God." In registering voters in cities and towns not wholly in one election district, the name of such city or town may be substituted in the oath for the election district. Any willful and corrupt false state- ment in said affidavit, or in answer to any material question propounded as herein authorized, shall be perjury.
(1869, 'Art. VII, Sec. 3.)
The section does not violate the Constitution of the United States. Sproule v. Frederick, 69 Miss., 398 (II So., 472); Williams v. Mississippi, 170 U. S., 213.
The section is not obnoxious to the fourteenth amendment to the United States Constitution, because of discrimination on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Dixon v. State, 74 Miss., 271 (20 So., 839).
Payment of taxes is not a condition of registration. Bew v. State, 71 Miss., I (13 So., 868).
This section contains the same inhibition as Section 241, forbid- ding the Legislature to add to the qualifications of a municipal voter residence in the municipality for one year before register- ing. State ex rel v. Kelly, 81 Miss., I (32 So., 909).
Both Sections 241 and 242 apply to municipal as well as State and county elections. Ib.
This section and Sec. 241 have no application to election under stock laws. Leflore v. State, 70 Miss., 770 (12 So., 904).
The Legislature has plenary power over the subject. Ib.
SEC. 243. A uniform poll tax of two dollars, to be used în aid of the common schools, and for no other purpose, is hereby imposed on every male inhabitant of this State between the ages of twenty-one and sixty years, except persons who are deaf and dumb or blind, or who are maimed by loss of hand or foot; said tax to be a lien only upon taxable property. The board of supervisors of any county may, for the purpose of aiding the common schools in that county, increase the poll tax in said county, but in no case shall the entire poll tax exceed in any one year three dollars on each poll. No criminal proceedings shall be allowed to enforce the collection of the poll tax.
The section does not violate the Constitution of the United States. Sproule v. Frederick, 69 Miss., 398 (11 So., 472); Williams v. Mississippi, 170 U. S., 213.
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Property which is exempt from taxation cannot, under the section, be distrained to coerce the payment of a poll tax. Ratliff v. Beal, 74 Miss., 247 (20 So .. 865).
Debts due to laborers for wages, not being exempt from taxation, are subject to sale for delinquent poll taxes. White v. Martin, 75 Miss., 646 (23 So., 289).
SEC. 244. On and after the first day of January, A. D. 1892, every elector shall, in addition to the foregoing qualifications, be able to read . any section of the Constitution of the State; or he shall be able to under- stand the same when read to him, or give a reasonable interpretation thereof. A new registration shall be made before the next ensuing election after January the first, A. D. 1892.
The section does not violate the Constitution of the United States. Sproule v. Frederick, 69 Miss., 398 (11 So., 472); Williams v. Mississippi, 170 U. S., 213.
The section is not obnoxious to the fourteenth amendment to the United States Constitution because of discrimination on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Dixon v. State, 74 Miss., 271 (20 So., 839).
Under the section, construed with Sec. 264, a juror must be able to read any section of the Constitution. Mabry v. State, 71 Miss., 716 (14 So., 267).
SEC. 245. Electors in municipal elections shall possess all the quali- fications herein prescribed, and such additional qualifications as may be provided by law.
The section makes the provisions of Sec. 241 applicable to municipal electors. Roane v. Tunstall, 75 Miss., 94 (21 So., 665).
This section authorizes the Legislature to provide that voters in a municipal election should vote in the wards of their residence. State ex rel v. Kelly, 81 Miss., 1 (32 So., 909).
SEC. 246. Prior to the first day of January, A. D. 1896, the elections by the people in this State shall be regulated by an ordinance of this convention.
SEC. 247. The Legislature shall enact laws to secure fairness in party primary elections, conventions, or other methods of naming party can- didates.
This section authorizes nomination of public officers by primary election exclusively. McInnis v. Thames, So Miss., 617 (32 So., 286).
SEC. 248. Suitable remedies by appeal or otherwise shall be provided by law, to correct illegal or improper registration and to secure the elective franchise to those who may be illegally or improperly denied the same.
· SEC. 249. No one shall be allowed to vote for members of the Legis- lature or other officers who has not been duly registered under the Con-
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stitution and laws of this State, by an officer of this State, legally author- ized to register the voters thereof. And registration under the Consti- tution and laws of this State by the proper officers of this State is hereby declared to be an essential and necessary qualification to vote at any and all elections.
Payment of taxes is not a condition of registration. Bew v. State, 71 Miss., I (13 So., 868).
An elector must be registered. Ib.
SEC. 250. All qualified electors and no others, shall be eligible to office, except as otherwise provided in this Constitution.
A person who is not a qualified elector at the time of his election cannot maintain a quo warranto to obtain possession of an office. Andrews v. Covington, 69 Miss., 740 (13 So., 853). A person who fails to register is not eligible to office. Ib.
A person is not eligible to a municipal office (Secs. 245, 241) who is not a qualified (State and county) elector. Roane v. Tunstall, 75 Miss., 94 (21 So., 665).
SEC. 251. Electors shall not be registered within four months next before any election at which they may offer to vote; but appeals may be heard and determined and revision take place at any time prior to the election; and no person who, in respect to age and residence, would become entitled to vote within the said four months, shall be excluded from registration on account of his want of qualification at the time of registration.
The section has reference to elections contemplated by the Constitution and does not apply to local option elections under (Code 1892, § 1610; Code 1906, Sec. 1777) the statute. Bew v. State, 71 Miss., 1 (13 So., 868).
An elector may register at any time, but cannot vote until he has been registered four months. Ib.
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This section applies to all elections. One who will have resided in a municipality one year before the election is entitled to register and vote, if he applies to register four months before the election. State ex rel v. Kelly, 81 Miss., I (32 So., 909).
SEC. 252. The term of office of all elective officers under this Constitu- tion shall be four years, except as otherwise provided herein. A general election for all elective officers shall be held on the Tuesday next after the first Monday of November, A. D. 1895, and every four years there- after; Provided, The Legislature may change the day and date of general elections to any day and date in October, November or December.
The terms of elective officers are fixed, commencing and ending after general elections. Smith v. Halfacre, 6 How. (Miss.), 582; Thornton v. Boyd, 25 Miss., 598.
The section relates only to State and county officers. State v. Williams, 49 Miss., 640.
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SEC. 253. The Legislature may, by a two-thirds vote of both houses, of all members elected, restore the right of suffrage to any person dis- qualified by reason of crime; but the reasons therefor shall be spread upon the journals, and the vote shall be by yeas and nays.
ARTICLE XIII.
APPORTIONMENT.
SEC. 254. The number of Representatives in the Lower House of the Legislature shall be one hundred and thirty-three, to be apportioned as follows:
First .- The counties of Choctaw, Covington, Greene, Hancock, Issaquena, Jones, Lawrence, Leflore, Marion, Neshoba, Pearl River, Perry, Quitman, Scott, Sharkey, Simpson, Smith, Sunflower, Tallahatchie, Tishomingo, Tunica, Wayne, and Webster each shall have one Repre- sentative.
Second .- The counties of Alcorn, Amite, Attala, Bolivar, Calhoun, Carroll, Chickasaw, Clay, Coahoma, DeSoto, Kemper, Lafayette, Madison, Newton, Pike, Pontotoc, Prentiss, Rankin, Tate, Union, Wilkinson, and Yalobusha each shall have two representatives.
Third .- The counties of Copiah, Holmes, Marshall, Monroe, Noxubee, Panola, Warren, and Washington each shall have three Representatives.
Fourth .- The counties of Franklin and Lincoln each shall have one Representative and a floater between them.
Fifth .- The counties of Tippah and Benton each shall have one Repre- sentative and a floater between them.
Sixth .- The counties of Claiborne and Jefferson each shall have one Representative and a floater between them.
Seventh .- The counties of Clarke and Jasper each shall have one Representative and a floater between them.
Eighth .- The counties of Grenada and Montgomery each shall have one Representative and a floater between them.
Ninth .- The counties of Leake and Winston each shall have one Representative and a floater between them.
Tenth .- The counties of Harrison and Jackson each shall have one Representative and a floater between them.
Eleventh .- The county of Yazoo shall have three Representatives, and the county of Hinds shall have three Representatives, and they shall have a floater between them.
Twelfth .- The county of Lauderdale shall have three Representatives, one to be elected by the city of Meridian, one by the county outside the city limits, and one by the whole county including Meridian.
Thirteenth .- The county of Adams, outside the city of Natchez, shall have one Representative, and the city of Natchez one Representative.
Fourteenth .- The county of Lowndes shall have three Representa- tives, two of whom shall be elected by that part of the county east of the Tombigbee River, and one by that portion west of said river.
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Fifteenth .- The county of Oktibbeha shall have two Representatives, one of whom shall be elected by that portion of the county east of the line running north and south between ranges thirteen and fourteen, and the other by that portion of the county west of said line.
Sixteenth .- The county of Lee shall have two Representatives, the county of Itawamba one, and a floater between them.
Seventeenth .- In counties divided into legislative districts, any citizen of the county eligible for election to the House of Representatives shall be eligible to represent any district thereof.
THE SENATE.
SEC. 255. The number of Senators shall be forty-five, and are appor-
- tioned as follows:
First .- The counties of Hancock, Harrison, and Jackson shall con- stitute the first district, and elect one senator.
Second .- The counties of Wayne, Jones, Perry, and Greene the second district, and elect one Senator.
Third .- The counties of Jasper and Clarke the third district, and elect one Senator.
Fourth .- The counties of Simpson, Covington, Marion, and Pearl River the fourth district, and elect one Senator.
Fifth .- The counties of Rankin and Smith the fifth district, and elect one Senator.
Sixth .- The counties of Pike and Franklin the sixth district, and elect one Senator.
Seventh .- The counties of Amite and Wilkinson the seventh district, and elect one Senator.
Eighth .- The counties of Lincoln and Lawrence the eighth district, and elect one Senator.
Ninth .- The county of Adams the ninth district, and elect one Senator.
Tenth .- The counties of Claiborne and Jefferson the tenth district, and elect one Senator.
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