USA > Texas > A School History of Texas: From Its Discovery in 1685 to 1893. For the Use of Schools, Academies, Convents, Seminaries, and all Institutions of Learning > Part 25
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SEC. 3. Every railroad or other corporation, organized or doing busi- ness in this state under the laws or authority thereof, shall have and maintain a public office or place in this state for the transaction of its
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business, where transfers of stock shall be made, and where shall be kept, for inspection by the stockholders of such corporations, books, in which shall be recorded the amount of capital stock subscribed. the names of the owners of the stock, the amounts owned by them respectively, the amount of stock paid, and by whom, the transfer of said stock, with the date of the transfer, the amount of its assets and liabilities, and the names and places of residence of its officers. The directors of every railroad com- pany shall hold one meeting annually in this state, public notice of which shall be given thirty days previously, and the president or superintendent shall report annually, under oath, to the comptroller or governor, their acts and doings, which report shall include such matters relating to rail- roads as may be prescribed by law. The legislature shall pass laws en- forcing by suitable penalties the provisions of this section.
SEC. 4. The rolling stock and all other movable property belonging to any railroad company or corporation in this state shall be considered per- sonal property, and its real and personal property, or any part thereof, shall be liable to execution and sale in the same manner as the property of individuals ; and the legislature shall pass no laws exempting any such property from execution and sale.
SEC. 5. No railroad or other corporation, or the lessees, purchasers or managers of any railroad corporation, shall consolidate the stock, property or franchises of such corporation with, or lease or purchase the works or franchises of, or in any way control any railroad corporation owning or having under its control a parallel or competing line ; nor shall any officer of such railroad corporation act as an officer of any other railroad corporation owning or having the control of a parallel or competing line.
SEC. 6. No railroad company organized under the laws of this state shall consolidate by private or judicial sale or otherwise with any railroad company organized under the laws of any other state or of the United States.
SEC. 7. No law shall be passed by the legislature granting the right to construct and operate a street railroad within any city, town or village, or upon any public highway, without first acquiring the consent of the local authorities having control of the street or highway proposed to be occupied by such street railroad.
SEC. 8. No railroad corporation in existence at the time of the adop- tion of this constitution shall have the benefit of any future legislation except on condition of complete acceptance of all the provisions of this constitution applicable to railroads.
SEC. 9. No railroad hereafter constructed in this state shall pass within a distance of three miles of any county seat without passing through the same, and establishing and maintaining a depot therein, unless prevented by natural obstacles, such as streams, hills or mountains ; provided, such town or its citizens shall grant the right of way through its limits and sufficient ground for ordinary depot purposes.
ARTICLE XI. MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS.
SECTION 1. The several counties of this state are hereby recognized as legal sub-divisions of the state.
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SEC. 2. The construction of jails, court-houses and bridges, and the establishment of county poor-houses and farms, and the laying out, con- struction and repairing of county roads, shall be provided for by general laws.
SEC. 3. No county, city or other municipal corporation shall hereafter become a subscriber to the capital of any private corporation or associa- tion, or make any appropriation or donation to the same, or in any wise loan its credit ; but this shall not be construed to in any way affect any obligation heretofore undertaken pursuant to law.
SEC. 4. Cities and towns having a population of ten thousand inhab- itants or less, may be chartered alone by general law. They may levy, assess and collect an annual tax to defray the current expenses of their local government, but such tax shall never exceed, for any one year, one- fourth of one per cent, and shall be collectable only in current money. And all license and occupation tax levied, and all fines, forfeitures, pen- alties and other dues accruing to cities and towns, shall be collectable only in current money.
SEC. 5. Cities having more than ten thousand inhabitants may have their charters granted or amended by special act of the legislature, and may levy, assess and collect such taxes as may be authorized by law, but no tax for any purpose shall ever be lawful, for any one year, which shall exceed two and one-half per cent of the taxable property of such city ; and no debt shall ever be created by any city unless at the same time provision be made to assess and collect annually a sufficient sum to pay the interest thereon and create a sinking fund of at least two per cent thereon.
SEC. 6. Counties, cities and towns are authorized, in such mode as may now or may hereafter be provided by law, to levy, assess and collect the taxes necessary to pay the interest and provide a sinking fund to sat- isfy any indebtedness heretofore legally made and undertaken ; but all such taxes shall be assessed and collected separately from that levied, assessed and collected for current expenses of municipal government, and shall, when levied, specify in the act of levying the purpose therefor, and such taxes may be paid in the coupons, bonds or other indebtedness for the payment of which such tax may have been levied.
SEC. 7. All counties and cities bordering on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico are hereby authorized, upon a vote of two-thirds of the tax-payers therein (to be ascertained as may be provided by law), to levy and collect such tax for construction of sea walls, breakwaters or sanitary purposes, as may be authorized by law, and may create a debt for such works and issue bonds in evidence thereof. But no debt for any purpose shall ever be incurred in any manner by any city or county unless provision is made, at the time of creating the same, for levying and collecting a suf- ficient tax to pay the interest thereon and provide at least two per cent as a sinking fund; and the condemnation of the right of way for the erection of such works shall be fully provided for.
SEC. 8. The counties and cities on the gulf coast being subject to calamitous overflows, and a very large proportion of the general revenue being derived from those otherwise prosperous localities, the legislature is especially authorized to aid, by donation of such portion of the public domain as may be deemed proper, and in such mode as may be provided
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for the support and maintenance of an efficient system of public free schools.
SEC. 2. All funds, lands and other property heretofore set apart and appropriated for the support of public schools ; all the alternate sections of land reserved by the state out of grants heretofore made or that may hereafter be made to railroads, or other corporations, of any nature what- soever ; one-half of the public domain of the state ; and all sums of money that may come to the state from the sale of any portion of the same, shall constitute a perpetual public school fund.
SEC. 3. There shall be set apart annually not more than one-fourth of the general revenue of the state, and a poll tax of one dollar on all male inhabitants in this state between the ages of twenty-one and sixty years, for the benefit of the public free schools. [Const. 1876.]
[Sec. 3, Art. 7, declared adopted September 25, 1883.]
SEC. 3. One-fourth of the revenue derived from the state occupation taxes, and a poll tax of one dollar on every male inhabitant of this state between the ages of twenty-one and sixty years, shall be set apart annually for the benefit of the public free schools, and, in addition thereto, there shall be levied and collected an annual ad valorem state tax of such an amount, not to exceed twenty cents on the one hundred dollars valuation, as, with the available school fund arising from all other sources, will be sufficient to maintain and support the public free schools of this state for a period of not less than six months in each year ; and the legislature may also provide for the formation of school districts within all or any of the counties of this state. by general or special law, without the local notice required in other cases of special legislation, and may authorize an additional annual ad valorem tax to be levied and collected within such school districts for the further maintenance of public free schools and the erection of school buildings therein ; provided, that two-thirds of the qualified property tax-paying voters of the district, voting at an election to be held for that purpose, shall vote such tax, not to exceed in any one year twenty cents on the one hundred dollars valuation of the property subject to taxation in such district, but the limitation upon the amount of district tax herein authorized shall not apply to incorporated cities or towns constituting separate and independent school districts.
SEC. 4. The lands herein set apart to the public free school fund shall be sold under such regulations, at such times and on such terms as may be prescribed by law ; and the legislature shall not have power to grant any relief to the purchasers thereof. The comp- troller shall invest the proceeds of such sales, and of those heretofore made, as may be directed by the board of education herein provided for, in the bonds of this state, if the same can be obtained, otherwise in United States bonds ; and the United States bonds now belonging to said fund shall likewise be invested in state bonds, if the same can be obtained on terms advantageous to the school fund. [Const. 1876.]
[Sec. 4, Art. 7, declared adopted September 25, 1883.]
SEC. 4. The lands herein set apart to the public free school fund shall be sold under such regulations, at such times, and on such terms as may be prescribed by law; and the legislature shall not have power to grant any relief to purchasers thereof. The comptroller shall invest the pro- ceeds of such sales, and of those heretofore made, as may be directed by the board of education herein provided for, in the bonds of the United States, the State of Texas, or counties in said state, or in such other secu- rities, and under such restrictions as may be prescribed by law ; and the state shall be responsible for all investments.
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SEC. 5. The principal of all bonds and other funds, and the principal arising from the sale of the lands hereinbefore set apart to said school fund, shall be the permanent school fund ; and all the interest derivable therefrom and the taxes herein authorized and levied shall be the available school fund, which shall be applied annually to the support of the public free schools. And no law shall ever be enacted appropriating any part of the per- manent or available school fund to any other purpose whatever ; nor shall the same, or any part thereof, ever be appropriated to or used for the support of any sectarian school ; and the available school fund herein provided shall be distributed to the several counties according to their scholastic population and applied in manner as may be provided by law. [Const. 1876.]
[Sec. 5, Art. 7, declared adopted September 22, 1891.]
SEC. 5. The principal of all bonds and other funds, and the principal arising from the sale of the lands hereinbefore set apart to said school fund, shall be the permanent school fund ; and all the interest derivable therefrom and the taxes herein authorized and levied shall be the avail- able school fund, to which the legislature may add not exceeding one per cent. annually of the total value of the permanent school fund; such value to be ascertained by the board of education until otherwise provided by law ; and the available school fund shall be applied annually to the sup- port of the public free schools. And no law shall ever be enacted appro- priating any part of the permanent or available school fund to any other purpose whatever ; nor shall the same or any part thereof ever be appro- priated to or used for the support of any sectarian school ; and the available school fund herein provided shall be distributed to the several counties according to their scholastic population and applied in such manner as may be provided by law.
SEC. 6. All lands heretofore or hereafter granted to the several counties of this state for education, or schools, are of right the property of said counties respectively to which they were granted, and title thereto is vested in said counties, and no adverse possession or limitation shall ever be available against the title of any county. Each county may sell or dispose of its lands in whole or in part, in manner to be provided by the commissioners' court of the county. Actual settlers residing on said lands shall be protected in the prior right of purchasing the same to the extent of their settlement, not to exceed one hundred and sixty acres, at the price fixed by said court, which price shall not include the value of existing improvements made thereon by such settlers. Said lands and the proceeds thereof, when sold, shall be held by said counties alone as a trust for the benefit of public schools therein ; said proceeds to be invested in bonds of the State of Texas, or of the United States, and only the interest thereon to be used and expended annually. [Const. 1876.]
[Sec. 6, Art. 7, declared adopted September 25, 1883.]
SEC. 6. All lands heretofore or hereafter granted to the several counties of this state for educational purposes, are of right the property of said counties respectively to which they were granted, and title thereto is vested in said counties, and no adverse possession or limitation shall ever be available against the title of any county. Each county may sell or dispose of its lands in whole or in part, in manner to be provided by the commissioners' court of the county. Actual settlers residing on said lands shall be protected in the prior right of purchasing the same to the extent of their settlement, not to exceed one hundred and sixty acres, at the price fixed by said court, which price shall not include the value of existing improvements made thereon by such settlers. Said lands, and the proceeds thereof, when sold, shall be held by said counties alone as a trust for the benefit of public schools therein; said proceeds to be invested in bonds of the United States, the State of Texas, or counties in said state, or in such other securities, and under such restrictions as may be pre-
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affecting the fairness and good faith of the holder thereof, with which the record was made, shall not be held to vitiate such record.
SEC. 5. All claims, locations, surveys, grants and titles of any kind, which are declared null and void by the constitution of the Republic or State of Texas, are, and the same shall remain forever null and void.
SEC. 6. The legislature shall pass stringent laws for the detection and conviction of all forgers of land titles, and may make such appropriations of money for that purpose as may be necessary.
SEC. 7. Sections 2, 3, 4 and 5 of this article, shall not be so construed as to set aside or repeal any law or laws of the Republic or State of Texas, releasing the claimants of headrights of colonists of a league of land, or less, from compliance with the conditions on which their grants were made.
ARTICLE XIV.
PUBLIC LANDS AND LAND OFFICE.
SECTION 1. There shall be one general land office in the state, which shall be at the seat of government, where all land titles which have ema- nated or may hereafter emanate from the state shall be registered, except those titles the registration of which may be prohibited by this constitu- tion. It shall be the duty of the legislature at the earliest practicable time to make the land office self-sustaining, and from time to time the legislature may establish such subordinate offices as may be deemed neces- sarv.
SEC. 2. All unsatisfied genuine land certificates barred by section 4, article 10, of the constitution of 1869, by reason of the holders or owners thereof failing to have them surveyed and returned to the land office by the first day of January, 1875, are hereby revived. All unsatisfied gen- uine land certificates now in existence shall be surveyed and returned to the general land office within five years after the adoption of this consti- tution, or be forever barred; and all genuine land certificates hereafter issued by the state shall be surveyed and returned to the general land office within five years after issuance, or be forever barred; provided, that all genuine land certificates heretofore or hereafter isssued shall be lo- cated, surveyed or patented only upon vacant and unappropriated public domain, and not upon any land titled or equitably owned under color of title from the sovereignty of the state, evidence of the appropriation of which is on the county records or in the general land office; or when the appropriation is evidenced by the occupation of the owner, or of some person holding for him.
SEC. 3. The legislature shall have no power to grant any of the lands of this state to any railway company except upon the following restrictions and conditions:
First. That there shall never be granted to any such corporation more than sixteen sections to the mile, and no reservation of any part of the public domain for the purpose of satisfying such grant shall ever be made.
Second. That no land certificate shall be issued to such company until they have equipped, constructed and in running order at least
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ten miles of road, and on the failure of such company to comply with the terms of its charter, or to alienate its land at a period to be fixed ' by law, in no event to exceed twelve years from the issuance of the patent, all said land shall be forfeited to the state and become a por- tion of the public domain, and liable to location and survey. The legislature shall pass general laws only, to give effect to the provisions of this section.
SEC. 4. No certificate for land shall be sold at the land office except to actual settlers upon the same, and in lots not to exceed one hundred and sixty acres.
SEC. 5. All lands heretofore or hereafter granted to railway companies, where the charter or law of the state required or shall hereafter require their alienation within a certain period, on pain of forfeiture, or is silent on the subject of forfeiture, and which lands have not been or shall not hereafter be alienated, in conformity with the terms of their charters and the laws under which the grants were made, are hereby declared forfeited to the state, and subject to pre-emption, location and survey, as other vacant lands. All lands heretofore granted to said railroad companies to which no forfeiture was attached, on their failure to alienate, are not in- cluded in the foregoing clause, but in all such last named cases it shall be the duty of the attorney-general, in every instance, where alienations have been or hereafter may be made, to inquire into the same, and if such alienation has been made in fraud of the rights of the state, and is color- able only, the real and beneficial interest being still in such corporation .: to institute legal proceedings in the county where the seat of government is situated, to forfeit such lands to the state, and if such alienation be judicially ascertained to be fraudulent and colorable as aforesaid, such lands shall be forfeited to the state and become a part of the vacant pub- lic domain, liable to pre-emption, location and survey.
SEC. 6. To every head of a family without a homestead there shall be donated one hundred and sixty acres of public land, upon condition that he will select and locate said land, and occupy the same three years, and pay the office fees due thereon. To all single men of eighteen years of age and upwards shall be donated eighty acres of public land, upon the terms and conditions prescribed for heads of families.
SEC. 7. The State of Texas hereby releases to the owner or owners of the soil all mines and minerals that may be on the same, subject to taxa- tion as other property.
SEC. 8. Persons residing between the Nueces river and the Rio Grande, and owning grants for lands which emanated from the government of Spain, or that of Mexico, which grants have been recognized and validated by the state, by acts of the legislature, approved February 10, 1852, August 15, 1870, and other acts, and who have been prevented from complying with the requirements of said acts by the unsettled condition of the coun- try, shall be allowed until the first day of January, 1880, to complete their surveys and the plots thereof, and to return their field-notes to the general land office, and all claimants failing to do so shall be forever barred ; provided, nothing in this section shall be so construed as to vali- date any titles not already valid, or to interfere with the rights of third persons.
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ARTICLE XV.
IMPEACHMENT.
SECTION 1. The power of impeachment shall be vested in the house of representatives.
SEC. 2. Impeachment of the governor, lieutenant-governor, attorney- general, treasurer, commissioner of the general land office, comptroller, and the judges of the supreme court, court of appeals and district courts, shall be tried by the senate.
SEC. 3. When the senate is sitting as a court of impeachment, the senators shall be on oath, or affirmation, impartially to try the party im- peached, and no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the senators present.
SEC. 4. Judgment in cases of impeachment shall extend only to re- moval from office, and disqualification from holding any office of honor, trust, or profit, under this state. A party convicted on impeachment shall also be subject to indictment, trial and punishment, according to law.
SEC. 5. All officers against whom articles of impeachment may be preferred shall be suspended from the exercise of the duties of their office during the pendency of such impeachment. The governor may make a provisional appointment to fill the vacancy occasioned by the suspension of an officer until the decision on the impeachment.
SEC. 6. Any judge of the district courts of the state who is incompe- tent to discharge the duties of his office, or who shall be guilty of par- tiality, or oppression, or other official misconduct, or whose habits and conduct are such as to render him unfit to hold such office, or who shall negligently fail to perform his duties as judge, or who shall fail to execute in a reasonable measure the business in his courts, may be removed by the supreme court. The supreme court shall have original jurisdiction to hear and determine the causes aforesaid when presented in writing upon the oaths, taken before some judge of a court of record, of not less than ten lawyers, practicing in the courts held by such judge, and licensed to practice in the supreme court ; said presentment to be founded either upon the knowledge of the persons making it or upon the written oaths as to the facts of creditable witnesses. The supreme court may issue all needful process and prescribe all needful rules to give effect to this sec- tion. Causes of this kind shall have precedence and be tried as soon as practicable.
SEC. 7. The legislature shall provide by law for the trial and removal from office of all officers of this state, the modes for which have not been provided in this constitution.
ADDRESS.
SEC. 8. The judges of the supreme court, court of appeals and district courts, shall be removed by the governor on the address of two-thirds of each house of the legislature, for wilful neglect of duty, incompetency, habitual drunkenness, oppression in office, or other reasonable cause which
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shall not be sufficient ground for impeachment ; provided, however, that the cause or causes for which such removal shall be required shall be stated at length in such address and entered on the journals of each house ; and provided further, that the cause or causes shall be notified to the judge so intended to be removed, and he shall be admitted to a hear- ing in his own defense before any vote for such address shall pass ; and in all such cases the vote shall be taken by yeas and nays and entered on the journals of each house respectively.
ARTICLE XVI.
GENERAL PROVISIONS.
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