USA > Mississippi > School history of Mississippi; for use in public and private schools > Part 30
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SECTION 170. Each county shall be divided into five districts. A resident freeholder of each district shall be selected, in the man- ner prescribed by law, and the five so chosen shall constitute the board of supervisors of the county, a majority of whom may transact business. The board of supervisors shall have full juris- diction over roads, ferries, and bridges, to be exercised in accord- ance with such regulations as the legislature may prescribe, and perform such other duties as may be required by law. The clerk of the chancery court of each county shall be clerk of the board of supervisors.
SECTION 171. A competent number of justices of the peace and constables shall be chosen in each county in the manner provided by law, for each district, who shall hold their office for the term of four years. No person shall be eligible to the office of justice of the peace who shall not have resided two years in the district next preceding his selection. The jurisdiction of justices of the
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peace shall extend to causes in which the principal amount in controversy shall not exceed the sum of two hundred dollars; and they shall have jurisdiction concurrent with the circuit court over all crimes whereof the punishment prescribed does not ex- tend beyond a fine and imprisonment in the county jail, but the- legislature may confer on the justices of the peace exclusive jurisdiction in such petty misdemeanors as it shall see proper. In all causes tried by a justice of the peace, the right of appeal shall be secured under such rules and regulations as shall be prescribed by law, and no justice of the peace shall preside at the trial of any cause where he may be interested, or the parties, or either of them, shall be connected with him by affinity or consan- guinity, except by the consent of the justice of the peace and of the parties.
SECTION 172. The legislature shall, from time to time, estab- lish such other inferior courts as may be necessary, and abolish the same whenever deemed expedient.
SECTION 173. There shall be an attorney-general elected at the same time and in the same manner as the governor is elected, whose term of office shall be four years, and whose compensation shall be fixed by law. The qualifications for the attorney-gen- eral shall be the same as herein prescribed for judges of the circuit and chancery courts.
SECTION 174. A district attorney for each circuit court district shall be selected in the manner provided by law, whose term of office shall be four years, whose duties shall be prescribed by law, and whose compensation shall be a fixed salary.
SECTION 175. All public officers, for wilful neglect of duty, or misdemeanor in office, shall be liable to presentment or indict- ment by a grand jury, and, upon conviction, shall be removed from office, and otherwise punished as may be prescribed by law.
SECTION 176. No person shall be a member of the board of supervisors who is not a resident freeholder in the district for which he is chosen. The value of real estate necessary to be owned to qualify persons in the several counties to be members of said board shall be fixed by law.
SECTION 177. The governor shall have power to fill any va- cancy which may happen during the recess of the senate, in the office of judge or chancellor, by making a temporary appointment of an incumbent which shall expire at the end of the next session of the senate, unless a successor shall be sooner appointed, and confirmed by the senate. When a temporary appointment of a judge or chancellor has been made during the recess of the senate, the governor shall have no power to remove the person or ap- pointee, nor power to withhold his name from the senate for their action.
ARTICLE VII .- CORPORATIONS.
SECTION 178. Corporations shall be formed under general laws only. The legislature shall have power to alter, amend, or repeal any charter of incorporation now existing, and revocable, and
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any that may hereafter be created, whenever in its opinion it may be for the public interest to do so; provided, however, that no injustice shall be done to the stockholders. No charter for any private corporation for pecuniary gain shall be granted for a longer period than ninety-nine years. In assessing for taxation- the property and franchises of corporations having charters for a longer period than ninety-nine years, the increased value of such property and franchises arising from such longer duration of their charters shall be considered and assessed; but any such corporation shall have the right to surrender the excess over ninety-nine years of its charter.
SECTION 179. The legislature shall never remit the forfeiture of the franchise of any corporation now existing, nor alter nor amend the charter thereof, nor pass any general or special law for the benefit of such corporation, except upon the condition that such corporation shall thereafter hold its charter and franchises subject to the provisions of this constitution; and the reception by any corporation of any provision of any such laws, or the tak- ing of any benefit or advantage from the same, shall be con- clusively held an agreement by such corporation to hold there- after its charter and franchises under the provisions hereof.
SECTION 180. All existing charters or grants of corporate fran- chise under which organizations have not in good faith taken place at the adoption of this constitution shall be subject to the provisions of this article; and all such charters under which organizations shall not take place in good faith and business be commenced within one year from the adoption of this constitu- tion, shall thereafter have no validity; and every charter or grant of corporate franchise hereafter made shall have no validity. unless an organization shall take place thereunder and business be commenced within two years from the date of such charter or grant.
SECTION 181. The property of all private corporations for pe- cuniary gain shall be taxed in the same way and to the same extent as the property of individuals; but the legislature may provide for the taxation of banks and banking capital by taxing the shares according to the value thereof (augmented by the ac- cumulations, surplus, and unpaid dividends), exclusive of real estate, which shall be taxed as other real estate. Exemptions from taxation to which corporations are legally entitled at the adoption of this constitution, shall remain in full force and effect for the time of such exemptions as expressed in their respective charters, or by general laws, unless sooner repealed by the legis- lature. And domestic insurance companies shall not be required to pay a greater tax in the aggregate than is required to be paid by foreign insurance companies doing business in this State, except to the extent of the excess of their ad valorem tax over the privilege tax imposed upon such foreign companies; and the legislature may impose privilege taxes on building and loan asso- ciations in lieu of all other taxes except on their real estate.
SECTION 182. The power to tax corporations and their property
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shall never be surrendered or abridged by any contract or grant to which the State or any political subdivision thereof may be a party, except that the legislature may grant exemption from taxa- tion in the encouragement of manufacturers and other new enter- prises of public utility extending for a period not exceeding five years, the time of such exemptions to commence from date of charter, if to a corporation; and if to an individual enterprise, then from the commencement of work; but when the legislature grants such exemptions for a period of five years or less, it shall be done by general laws, which shall distinctly enumerate the classes of manufactures and other new enterprises of public utility entitled to such exemptions, and shall prescribe the mode and manner in which the right to such exemptions shall be deter- mined.
SECTION 183. No county, city, town, or other municipal cor- poration shall hereafter become a subscriber to the capital stock of any railroad or other corporation or association, or make ap- propriation, or loan its credit in aid of such corporation or asso- ciation. All authority heretofore conferred for any of the pur- poses aforesaid by the legislature or by the charter of any corpora- tion is hereby repealed. Nothing in this section contained shall affect the right of any such corporation, municipality, or county to make such subscription where the same has been authorized under laws existing at the time of the adoption of this constitu- tion, and by a vote of the people thereof had prior to its adoption, and where the terms of submission and subscription have been or shall be complied with, or to prevent the issue of renewal bonds, or the use of such other means as are or may be pre- scribed by law for the payment or liquidation of such subscrip- tion or of any existing indebtedness.
SECTION 184. All railroads which carry persons or property for hire shall be public highways, and all railroad companies so engaged shall be common carriers. Any company organized for that purpose under the laws of the State shall have the right to construct and operate a railroad between any points within this State, and to connect at the State line with roads of other States. Every railroad company shall have the right with its road to intersect, connect with, or cross any other railroad; and all railroad companies shall receive and transport each other's pas- sengers, tonnage, and cars loaded or empty, without unnecessary delay or discrimination.
SECTION 185. The rolling stock belonging to any railroad com- pany or corporation in this State shall be considered personal property, and shall be liable to execution and sale as such.
SECTION 186. The legislature shall pass laws to prevent abuses, unjust discrimination, and extortion in all charges of express, telephone, sleeping car, telegraph, and railroad companies, and shall enact laws for the supervision of railroads, express, tele- phone, telegraph, sleeping car companies, and other common carriers in this State, by commission or otherwise, and shall pro-
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vide adequate penalties, to the extent, if necessary for that pur- pose, of forfeiture of their franchises.
SECTION 187. No railroad hereafter constructed in this State shall pass within three miles of any county seat without passing through the same, and establishing and maintaining a depot therein, unless prevented by natural obstacles; provided, such town or its citizens shall grant the right-of-way through its limits, and sufficient grounds for ordinary depot purposes.
SECTION 188. No railroad or other transportation company shall grant free passes or tickets, or passes or tickets at a dis- count, to members of the legislature, or any State, district, county, or municipal officers, except railroad commissioners. The legis- lature shall enact suitable laws for the detection, prevention, and punishment of violations of this provision.
SECTION 189. All charters granted to private corporations in this State shall be recorded in the chancery clerk's office of the county. in which the principal office or place of business of such company shall be located.
SECTION 190. The exercise of the right of eminent domain shall never be abridged, or so construed as to prevent the legis- lature from taking the property and franchises of incorporated companies and subjecting them to public use; and the exercise of the police powers of the State shall never be abridged, or so construed as to permit corporations to conduct their business in ·such manner as to infringe upon the rights of individuals or the general well-being of the State.
SECTION 191. The legislature shall provide for the protection of the employees of all corporations doing business in this State from interference with their social, civil, or political rights by said corporations, their agents or employees.
SECTION 192. Provisions shall be made by general laws whereby cities and towns may be authorized to aid and encourage the establishment of manufactories, gas-works, water-works, and other enterprises of public utility other than railroads, within the limits of said cities or towns, by exempting all property used for such purposes from municipal taxation for a period not longer than ten years.
SECTION 193. Every employee of any railroad corporation shall have the same right and remedies for any injury suffered by him from the act or omission of said corporation or its employees, as are allowed by law to other persons not employees, where the injury results from the negligence of a superior agent or officer, or of a person having the right to control or direct the services of the party injured, and also when the injury results from the negligence of a fellow-servant engaged in another department of labor from that of the party injured, or of a fellow-servant on another train of cars, or one engaged about a different piece of work. Knowledge by any employee injured of the defective or unsafe character or condition of any machinery, ways, or appli- ances, shall be no defence to an action for injury caused thereby, except as to conductors or engineers in charge of dangerous or
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unsafe cars, or engines voluntarily operated by them. Where death ensues from any injury to employees, the legal or personal representatives of the person injured shall have the same right and remedies as are allowed by law to such representatives of other persons. Any contract or agreement, express or implied, made by any employee to waive the benefit of this section shall be null and void; and this section shall not be construed to de- prive any employee of a corporation, or his legal or personal · representative, of any right or remedy that he now has by the . law of the land. The legislature may extend the remedies herein . provided for to any other class of employees.
SECTION 194. The legislature shall provide by law that in all elections for directors or managers of incorporated companies, every. stockholder shall have the right to vote in person or by proxy for the number of shares of stock owned by him, for as many persons as there are directors or managers to be elected, or to cumulate said shares, so as to give one candidate as many votes as the number of directors multiplied by the number of his shares of stock shall equal, or to distribute them on the same principle among as many candidates as he shall see fit; and such directors or managers shall not be elected in any other manner; but no person who is engaged or interested in a competing busi- ness, either individually or as employee, or stockholder, shall serve on any board of directors of any corporation without the consent of a majority in interest of the stockholders thereof.
SECTION 195. Express, telegraph, telephone and sleeping car companies are declared common carriers in their respective lines of business, and subject to liability as such.
SECTION 196. No transportation corporation shall issue stocks or bonds except for money, labor done, or in good faith agreed to be done, or money or property actually received; and all ficti- tious increase of stock or indebtedness shall be void.
SECTION 197. The legislature shall not grant to any foreign corporation or association a license to build, operate, or lease any railroad in this State; but in all cases where a railroad is to be built or operated, and the same shall be partly in this State and partly in another State, or in other States, the owners or pro- jectors thereof shall first become incorporated under the laws of this State; nor shall any foreign corporations or associations lease or operate any railroad in this State or purchase the same, or any interest therein; consolidation of any railroad lines and corporations in this State with others shall be allowed only where the consolidated company shall become a domestic corporation of this State. No general or special law shall over be passed for the benefit of any foreign corporation operating a railroad under an existing license from this State, or under an existing lease; and no grant of any right or privilege, and no exemption from any burden, shall be made to any such foreign corporation, except upon the condition that the owners or stockholders thereof shall first organize a corporation in this State under the laws thereof,
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and shall thereafter operate and manage the same, and the busi- ness thereof under said domestic charter.
SECTION 198. The legislature shall enact laws to prevent all trusts, combinations, contracts and agreements inimical to the public welfare.
SECTION 199. The term corporation used in this article shall include all associations and all joint stock companies for pecu- niary gain, having privileges not possessed by individuals or partnerships.
SECTION 200. The legislature shall enforce the provisions of this article by appropriate legislation.
ARTICLE VIII .- EDUCATION.
SECTION 201. It shall be the duty of the legislature to encour- age, by all suitable means, the promotion of intellectual, scien- tific, moral and agricultural improvement, by establishing a uni- form system of free public schools, by taxation, or otherwise, for all children between the ages of five and twenty-one years, and, as soon as practicable, to establish schools of higher grade.
SECTION 202. There shall be a superintendent of public educa- tion elected at the same time and in the same manner as the governor, who shall have the qualifications required of the secre- tary of state, and hold his office for four years and until his suc- cessor shall be elected and qualified, who shall have the general supervision of the common schools, and of the educational inter- ests of the State, and who shall perform such other duties and receive such compensation as shall be prescribed by law.
SECTION 203. There shall be a board of education, consisting of the secretary of state, the attorney-general, and the superin- tendent of public education, for the management and investment of the school funds, according to law, and for the performance of such other duties as may be prescribed. The superintendent and one other of said board shall constitute a quorum.
SECTION 204. There shall be a superintendent of public educa- tion in each county, who shall be appointed by the board of education by and with the advice and consent of the senate, whose term of office shall be four years, and whose qualifications, com- pensation and duties shall be prescribed by law; provided, that the legislature shall have power to make the office of county school superintendent of the several counties elective, or may otherwise provide for the discharge of the duties of county super- intendents, or abolish said office.
SECTION 205. A public school shall be maintained in each school district in the county at least four months during each scholastic year. A school district neglecting to maintain its school four months, shall be entitled to only such part of the free school fund as may be required to pay the teacher for the time actually taught.
SECTION 206. There shall be a common school fund which shall consist of the poll-tax (to be retained in the counties where the
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same is collected) and an additional sum from the general fund in the State treasury, which together shall be sufficient to main- tain the common schools for the term of four months in each scholastic year. But any county or separate school district may levy an additional tax to maintain its schools for a longer time than the term of four months. The common school fund shall be distributed among the several counties and separate school dis- tricts in proportion to the number of educable children in each, to be determined from data collected through the office of the state superintendent of education, in the manner to be prescribed by law.
SECTION 207. Separate schools shall be maintained for children of the white and colored races.
SECTION 208. No religious or other sect, or sects, shall ever control any part of the school or other educational funds of this State; nor shall any funds be appropriated towards the support of any sectarian school; or to any school that at the time of receiving such appropriation is not conducted as a free school.
SECTION 209. It shall be the duty of the legislature to provide by law for the support of institutions for the education of the deaf, dumb, and blind.
SECTION 210. No public officer of this State, or of any district, county, city or town thereof, nor any teacher or trustee of any public school, shall be interested in the sale, proceeds or profits of any books, apparatus or furniture to be used, in any public school in this State. Penalties shall be provided by law for the violation of this section.
SECTION 211. The legislature shall enact such laws as may be necessary to ascertain the true condition of the title to the 16th sections of land in this State, or land granted in lieu thereof, in the Choctaw purchase, and shall provide that the sixteenth sec- tion lands reserved for the support of township schools, shall not be sold, nor shall they be leased for a longer term than ten years for a gross sum; but the legislature may provide for the lease of any of said lands for a term not exceeding twenty-five years for a ground rental payable annually, and, in case of uncleared lands, may lease them for such short term as may be deemed proper in consideration of the improvement thereof, with right thereafter to lease for a term or to hold on payment of ground rent.
SECTION 212. The rate of interest on the fund known as the Chickasaw school fund, and other trust funds for educational purposes, for which the State is responsible, shall be fixed and remain as long as said funds are held by the State at six per centum per annum, from and after the close of the fiscal year A. D. 1891, and the distribution of said interest shall be made semi-annually on the first of May and November of each year.
SECTION 213. The State having received and appropriated the land donated to it, for the support of Agricultural and Mechani- cal Colleges, by the United States, and having, in furtherance of the beneficent design of Congress in granting said land, estab-
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lished the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Mississippi, and the Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College, it is the duty of the State to sacredly carry out the conditions of the act of Congress upon the subject, approved July 2d, A. D. 1862, and the legislature shall preserve intact the endowments to, and sup -. port, said colleges.
ARTICLE IX .- MILITIA.
SECTION 214. All able-bodied male citizens of the State be- tween the ages of eighteen and forty-five years shall be liable to military duty in the militia of this State, in such manner as the legislature may provide.
SECTION 215. The legislature shall provide for the organizing, arming, equipping and discipline of the militia, and for paying the same when called into active service.
SECTION 216. All officers of militia, except non-commissioned officers, shall be appointed by the governor, by and with the con- sent of the senate, or elected, as the legislature may determine; and no commissioned officer shall be removed from office except by the senate on suggestion of the governor, stating the ground on which such removal is recommended, or by the decision of a court martial, pursuant to law, or at his own request.
SECTION 217. The governor shall be commander-in-chief of the militia, except when it is called into the service of the United States, and shall have power to call forth the militia to execute the laws, repel invasion, and to suppress riots and insurrections.
SECTION 218. The governor shall nominate, and, by and with the consent of the senate, commission one major-general for the State, who shall be a citizen thereof, and also one brigadier- general for each congressional district,who shall be a resident of the district for which he shall be appointed, and each district shall constitute a militia division.
SECTION 219. The adjutant-general, and other staff officers to the commander-in-chief, shall be appointed by the governor, and their appointment shall expire with the governor's term of office, and the legislature shall provide by law a salary for the adjutant- general, commensurate with the duties of said office.
SECTION 220. The militia snall be exempt from arrest during their attendance on musters, and in going to and returning from the same, except in case of treason, felony or breach of the peace.
SECTION 221. The legislature is hereby required to make an annual appropriation for the efficient support and maintenance of the Mississippi National Guard, which shall consist of not less than one hundred men for each senator and representative to which this State may be entitled in the Congress of the United States; but no part of such funds shall be used in the payment of said guard except when in actual service.
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