USA > Mississippi > School history of Mississippi; for use in public and private schools > Part 29
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SECTION 107. All stationery, printing, paper, and fuel, used by the legislature and other departments of the government, shall be furnished; and the printing and binding of the laws, journals, department reports, and other printing and binding, and the repairing and furnishing the halls and rooms used for the meeting of the legislature, and its committees, shall be performed 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 legislature or officer of any depart- ment shall be in any way interested in such contract; and all such contracts shall be subject to the approval of the governor and State treasurer.
SECTION 108. Whenever the legislature shall take away the duties pertaining to any office, then the salary of the officer shall cease.
SECTION 109. No public officer or member of the legislature shall be interested directly or indirectly in any contract with the State, or any district, county, city, or town thereof, authorized by any law passed or order made by any board of which he may be or may have been a member, during the term for which he shall have been chosen, or within one year after the expiration of such term.
SECTION 110. The legislature may provide, by general law, for condemning rights of way for private roads, where necessary for ingress and egress by the party applying, on due compensation being first made to the owner of the property; but such rights of way shall not be provided for in incorporated cities and towns.
SECTION 111. All lands comprising a single tract sold in pur- suance of decree of court, or execution, shall be first offered in subdivisions not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres, or one- quarter section, and then offered as an entirety, and the price bid for the latter shall control only when it shall exceed the aggregate of the bids for the same in subdivisions as aforesaid; but the chancery court, in cases before it, may decree otherwise if deemed advisable to do so.
SECTION 112. Taxation shall be uniform and equal throughout
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the State. Property shall be taxed in proportion to its value. The legislature may, however, impose a tax per capita upon such domestic animals as from their nature and habits are destructive of other property. Property shall be assessed for taxes under general laws, and by uniform rules, according to its true value. But the legislature may provide for a special mode of valuation and assessment for railroads, and railroad and other corporate property, or for particular species of property belonging to per- sons, corporations, or associations not situated wholly in one county. But all such property shall be assessed at its true value, and no county shall be denied the right to levy county and special taxes upon such assessment, as in other cases of property situated and assessed in the county.
SECTION 113. The auditor shall, within sixty days after the adjournment of the legislature, prepare and publish a full state- ment of all money expended at such session, specifying the items and amount of each item, and to whom and for what paid; and he shall also publish the amounts of all appropriations.
SECTION 114. Returns of all elections by the people shall be made to the secretary of state in such manner as shall be pro- vided by law.
SECTION 115. The fiscal year of the State of Mississippi shall commence on the first of October, and end on the thirtieth day of September of each year; and the auditor of public accounts and the treasurer of the State shall compile, and have published, a full and complete report, showing the transactions of their respective offices on or before the thirty-first day of December of each year for the preceding fiscal year.
ARTICLE V .- EXECUTIVE.
SECTION 116. The chief executive power of this State shall be vested in a governor, who shall hold his office for four years, and who shall be ineligible as his immediate successor in office.
SECTION 117. The governor shall be at least thirty years of age, and shall have been a citizen of the United States twenty years, and shall have resided in this State five years next pre- ceding the day of his election.
SECTION 118. The governor shall receive for his services such compensation as may be fixed by law, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during his term of office.
SECTION 119. The governor shall be commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the State, and of the militia, except when they shall be called into the service of the United States.
SECTION 120. The governor may require information, in writ- ing, from the officers in the executive departments of the State on any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices.
SECTION 121. The governor shall have power to convene the legislature in extraordinary session whenever in his judgment the public interest requires it. Should the governor deem it necessary to convene the legislature, he shall do so by public proclamation,
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in which he shall state the subjects and matters to be considered by the legislature when so convened; and the legislature when so convened, as aforesaid, shall have no power to consider or act upon subjects or matters other than those designated in the proclamation of the governor, by which the session is called, except impeachments, and examination into the accounts of State officers. The legislature when so convened may also act on and consider such other matters as the governor may in writing submit to them while in session. The governor may convene the legislature at the seat of government, or at a different place if that shall become dangerous from an enemy cr from disease; and in case of a disagreement between the two houses, with respect to time of adjournment, adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper, not beyond the day of the next stated meeting of the legislature.
SECTION 122. The governor shall, from time to time, give the legislature information of the state of the government, and recommend for consideration such measures as may be deemed necessary and expedient.
SECTION 123. The governor shall see that the laws are faith- fully executed.
SECTION 124. In all criminal and penal cases, excepting those . of treason and impeachment, the governor shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons, to remit fines, and in cases of forfeiture to stay the collection until the end of the next session of the legislature, and by and with the consent of the senate to remit forfeitures. In cases of treason, he shall have power to grant reprieves, by and with the consent of the senate, but may respite the sentence until the end of the next session of the legislature; but no pardon shall be granted before conviction, and in cases of felony after conviction no pardon shall be granted until the applicant therefor shall have published for thirty days, in some newspaper in the county where the crime was committed, and in case there be no newspaper published in said county, then in an adjoining county, his petition for pardon, setting forth therein the reasons why such pardon should be granted.
SECTION 125. The governor shall have the power, and it is bereby made his duty, to suspend alleged defaulting State and county treasurers and defaulting tax collectors, pending the investigation of their respective accounts, and to make temporary appointments of proper persons to fill the offices while such investigations are being made, and the legislature shall provide for the enforcement of this provision by appropriate legislation.
SECTION 126. There shall be a seal of the State kept by the governor, and used by him officially, and be called the great seal of the State of Mississippi.
SECTION 127. All commissions shall be in the name and by the authority of the State of Mississippi, be sealed with the great seal of State, and be signed by the governor, and attested by the secre- tary of state.
SECTION 128. There shall be a lieutenant-governor, who shall
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be elected at the same time, in the same manner, and for the same term, and who shall possess the same qualifications as required of the governor.
SECTION 129. The lieutenant-governor shall, by virtue of his office, be president of the senate. In committee of the whole, he may debate all questions, and when there is an equal division in - the senate, or on a joint vote of both houses, he shall give the casting vote.
SECTION 130. The lieutenant-governor shall receive for his ser- vices the same compensation as the speaker of the house of repre- sentatives.
SECTION 131. When the office of governor shall become vacant, by death or otherwise, the lieutenant-governor shall possess the powers and discharge the duties of said office. When the gov- ernor shall be absent from the State, or unable from protracted illness to perform the duties of the office, the lieutenant-governor shall discharge the duties of said office until the governor be able to resume his duties; but if, from disability or otherwise, the lieutenant-governor shall be incapable of performing said duties, or if he be absent from the State, the president of the senate pro tempore shall act in his stead; but if there be no such president, or if he be disqualified by like disability, or be absent from the State, then the speaker of the house of representatives shall assume the office of governor, and perform said duties; and in case of the inability of the foregoing officers to discharge the duties of governor, the secretary of state shall convene the senate, to elect a president pro tempore. The officer discharging the duties of governor shall receive compensation as such. Should a doubt arise as to whether a vacancy has occurred in the office of governor or as to whether any one of the disabilities mentioned in this section exists or shall have ended, then the secretary of state shall submit the question in doubt to the judges of the supreme court, who, or a majority of whom, shall investigate and determine said question; and shall furnish to said secretary of state an opinion in writing determining the question submitted to them, which opinion when rendered as aforesaid shall be final and conclusive.
SECTION 132. In case the election for lieutenant-governor shall be contested, the contest shall be tried and determined in the same Lianner as a contest for the office of governor.
SECTION 133. There shall be a secretary of state, who shall be elected as herein provided. He shall be at least twenty-five years of age, a citizen of the State five years next preceding the day of his election, and he shall continue in office during the term of four years, and shall be keeper of the capitol; he shall keep a correct register of all official acts and proceedings of the gover- nor; and shall, when required, lay the same, and all papers, min- ates, and vouchers relative thereto, before the legislature, and he shall perform such other duties as may be required of him by law. He shall receive such compensation as shall be prescribed.
SECTION 134. A State treasurer and an auditor of public ac-
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counts shall be elected as herein provided, who shall hold their offices for the term of four years, and shall possess the same qualifications as required for the secretary of state; they shall receive such compensation as may be provided by law. Said treasurer and auditor of public accounts shall be ineligible to immediately succeed themselves or each other in office. .
SECTION 135. There shall be a sheriff, coroner, treasurer, assessor, and surveyor for each county, to be selected as else- where provided herein, who shall hold their offices for four years. The sheriff and treasurer shall be ineligible to immediately suc- ceed themselves or each other in office.
SECTION 136. All officers named in this article shall hold their offices during the term for which they were selected, unless re- moved, and until their successors shall be duly qualified to enter on the discharge of their respective duties.
SECTION 137. It shall be the duty of the State treasurer, within ten days after the first day of January and July of each vear, to publish a statement, under oath, in some newspaper published at the seat of government, showing the condition of the treasury on said days, the balance on hand and in what funds, together with a certificate of the governor that he has verified the count of the funds in the treasury and found the balance, stated by the treas- urer, actually in the vaults of the treasury, or as the truth may be. And it shall be the duty of the governor, at such other times as he may deem proper, to go to the treasury, without giving notice to the treasurer, and verify the cash balance as shown by the books, and to publish the fact that he has done so, and whether the amount called for by the books be actually in the treasury, and stating whether the treasurer had any notice what- ever that the verification would be made.
SECTION 138. The sheriff, coroner, treasurer, assessor, surveyor, clerks of the courts, and members of the board of supervisors of the several counties, and all other officers exercising local juris- diction therein, shall be selected in the manner provided by law for each county.
SECTION 139. The legislature may empower the governor to remove and appoint officers, in any county or counties or muni- cipal corporations, under such regulations as may be prescribed by law.
SECTION 140. The governor of the State shall be chosen in the following manner:
On the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November of A. D. 1895, and on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November in every fourth year thereafter, until the day shall be changed by law, an election shall be held in the several counties and districts created for the election of members of the house of representatives in this State, for governor, and the person receiv- ing in any county or such legislative district the highest number of votes cast therein for said office, shall be holden to have received as many votes as such county or district is entitled to members in the house of representatives, which last named votes
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are hereby designated "electoral votes." In all cases where a representative is apportioned to two or more counties or districts the electoral vote based on such representative shall be equally divided among such counties or districts. The returns of said election shall be certified by the election commissioners, or a majority of them, of the several counties, and transmitted, sealed, to the seat of government, directed to the secretary of state, and shall be by him safely kept and delivered to the speaker of the house of representatives at the next ensuing session of the legis- lature within one day after he shall have been elected. The speaker shall, on the next Tuesday after he shall have received said returns, open and publish them in the presence of the house of representatives, and said house shall ascertain and count the vote of each county and legislative district and decide any contest that may be made concerning the same, and said decision shall be made by a majority of the whole number of members of the house of representatives concurring therein, by a viva voce vote, which shall be recorded in its journal; provided, in case the two highest candidates have an equal number of votes in any county or legislative district, the electoral vote of such county or legis- lative district shall be considered as equally divided between them. The person found to have received a majority of all the electoral votes, and also a majority of the popular vote, shall be declared elected.
SECTION 141. If no person shall receive such majorities, then the house of representatives shall proceed to choose a governor from the two persons who shall have received the highest number of popular votes; the election shall be by viva voce vote, which shall be recorded in the journal, in such manner as to show for whom each member voted.
SECTION 142. In case of an election of governor or any State officer by the house of representatives, no member of that house shall be eligible to receive any appointment from the governor or other State officer so elected, during the term for which he shall be selected.
SECTION 143. All other State officers shall be elected at the same time and in the same manner as provided for election of governor.
ARTICLE VI .- JUDICIARY.
SECTION 144. The judicial power of the State shall be vested in a supreme court and such other courts as are provided for in this constitution.
SECTION 145. The supreme court shall consist of three judges, any two of whom, when convened, shall form a quorum. The leg- islature shall divide the State into three supreme court districts, and the governor, by and with the advice and consent of the sen- ate, shall appoint one judge for and from each district; but the removal of a judge to the State capital during his term of office shall not render him ineligible as his own successor for the dis-
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trict from which he has removed. The present incumbents shall be considered as holding their terms of office from the State at large.
SECTION 146. The supreme court shall have such jurisdiction as properly belongs to a court of appeals.
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SECTION 147. No judgment or decree in any chancery or circuit court rendered in a civil cause shall be reversed or annulled on the ground of want of jurisdiction to render said judgment or decree, from any error or mistake as to whether the cause in which it was rendered was of equity or common law jurisdiction; but if the supreme court shall find error in the proceedings other than as to jurisdiction, and it shall be necessary to remand the case, the supreme court may remand it to that court which in its opinion can best determine the controversy.
SECTION 148. The supreme court shall be held twice in each year at the seat of government, at such time as the legislature . may provide.
SECTION 149. The term of office of the judges of the supreme court shall be nine years. The office of one of said judges shall be vacated in three years, one in six years, and one in nine years, so that at the expiration of every three years one of said judges shall be appointed as aforesaid.
SECTION 150. No person shall be eligible to the office of judge of the supreme court who shall not have attained the age of thirty years at the time of his appointment, and who shall not have been a practising attorney and a citizen of the State for five years immediately preceding such appointment.
SECTION 151. All vacancies which may occur in said court from death, resignation, or removal, shall be filled by appointment as aforesaid; but if a vacancy shall occur during the recess of the legislature, the governor shall appoint a successor who shall hold his office until the end of the next session of the senate unless his nomination shall be sooner rejected.
SECTION 152. The legislature shall divide the State into con- "enient circuit and chancery court districts.
SECTION 153. The judges of the circuit courts and of the chan- cery courts shall be appointed by the governor, with the advice and consent of the senate, and shall hold their offices for the term of four years.
SECTION 154. No person shall be eligible to the office of judge of the circuit court or of the chancery court, who shall not have been a practising lawyer for five years, and who shall not have attained the age of twenty-six years; and who shall not have been five years a citizen of this State.
SECTION 155. The judges of the several courts of this State shall, before they proceed to execute the duties of their respec- tive offices, take the following oath or affirmation, to-wit: "I. -, solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will administer jus- tice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially dis- charge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as
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-, according to the best of my ability and understanding,' agreeably to the Constitution of the United States, and the con- stitution and laws of the State of Mississippi; so help me God."
SECTION 156. The circuit court shall have original jurisdiction in all matters civil and criminal in this State not vested by this constitution in some other court, and such appellate jurisdiction as shall be prescribed by law.
SECTION 157. All causes that may be brought in the circuit court whereof the chancery court has exclusive jurisdiction shall be transferred to the chancery court.
SECTION 158. A circuit court shall be held in each county at least twice in each year, and the judges of said courts may inter- change circuits with each other in such manner as may be pro- vided by law.
SECTION 159. The chancery court shall have full jurisdiction in the following matters and cases, viz .:
(a) All matters in equity.
(b) Divorce and alimony.
(c) Matters testamentary and of administration.
(d) Minors' business.
(e) Cases of idiocy, lunacy, and persons of unsound mind.
(f) All cases of which the said court had jurisdiction under the laws in force when this constitution is put in operation.
SECTION 160. And in addition to the jurisdiction heretofore exercised by the chancery court in suits to try title and to cancel deeds and other clouds upon title to real estate, it shall have jurisdiction in such cases to decree possession, and to displace possession, to decree rents and compensation for improvements and taxes; and in all cases where said court heretofore exercised jurisdiction, auxiliary to courts of common law, it may exercise such jurisdiction to grant the relief sought, although the legal remedy may not have been exhausted or the legal title established by a suit at law.
SECTION 161. And the chancery court shall have jurisdiction, concurrent with the circuit court, of suits on bonds of fiduciaries and public officers for failure to account for money or property received, or wasted or lost by neglect or failure to collect, and of suits involving inquiry into matters of mutual accounts; but if the plaintiff brings his suit in the circuit court, that court may, on application of the defendant, transfer the cause to the chancery court if it appears that the accounts to be investigated are mutual and complicated.
SECTION 162. All causes that may be brought in the chancery court whereof the circuit court has exclusive jurisdiction shall be transferred to the circuit court.
SECTION 163. The legislature shall provide by law for the due certification of all causes that may be transferred to or from any chancery court or circuit court, for such reformation of the plead- ing therein as may be necessary, and the adjudication of the costs of such transfer.
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SECTION 164. A chancery court shall be held in each county at least twice in each year.
SECTION 165. No judge of any court shall preside on the trial of any cause where the parties or either of them shall be con- nected with him by affinity or consanguinity, or where he may be interested in the same, except by the consent of the judge and of the parties. . Whenever any judge of the supreme court or the judge or chancellor of any district, in this State, shall, for any reason, be unable or disqualified to preside at any term of court, or in any case where the attorneys engaged therein shall not agree upon a member of the bar to preside in his place, the governor may commission another, or others, of law knowledge to preside at such term or during such disability or disqualification in the place of the judge or judges so disqualified. Where either party shall desire, the supreme court, for the trial of any cause, shall be composed of three judges. No judgment or decree shall be affirmed by disagreement of two judges constituting a quorum.
SECTION 166. The judges of the supreme court, of the circuit courts, and the chancellors, shall receive for their services a com- pensation to be fixed by law, which shall not be increased or diminished during their continuance in office.
SECTION 167. All civil officers shall be conservators of the peace, and shall be, by law, vested with ample power as such.
SECTION 168. The clerk of the supreme court shall be elected as other State officers for the term of four years, and the clerk of the circuit court and the clerk of the chancery court shall be selected in each county in the manner provided by law, and shall hold office for the term of four years, and the legislature shall provide by law what duties shall be performed during vacation by the clerks of the circuit and chancery courts, subject to the approval of the court.
SECTION 169. The style of all process shall be "The State of Mississippi," and all prosecutions shall be carried on in the name and by authority of the "State of Mississippi," and all indict- ments shall conclude " against the peace and dignity of the State."
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