USA > Texas > A pictorial history of Texas, from the earliest visits of European adventurers, to A.D. 1879. Embracing the periods of missions, colonization, the revolution the republic, and the state; also, a topographical description of the country together with its Indian tribes and their wars, and biographical sketches of hundreds of its leading historical characters. Also, a list of the countries, with historical and topical notes, and descriptions of the public institutions of the state > Part 62
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64
SEC. 17. The County Court shall hold a term for civil business at least once in every two months, and shall dispose of probate business, either in term-time or vacation, as may be provided by law; and said court shall hold a term for criminal business once every mouth, as may be provided by law. Prosecutions may be commenced in said court by information filed by the County Attorney, or by affidavit, as inay by provided by law. Grand juries impanelled in the District Courts shall inquire into misdemeanors, and all indictments therefor returned to the District Courts shall forthwith be certified to the County Courts, or other inferior courts having jurisdic- tion to try them, for trial; and if such indictment be quashed in the county or other inferior court, the person charged shall not be discharged if there is probable cause of guilt, but may be held by such court or magistrate to answer an information or affidavit. A jury in the County Court shall con- sist of six men; but no jury shall be impanelled to try a civil case, unless demanded by one of the parties, who shall pay such jury fee therefor, in advance, as may be prescribed by law, unless he makes affidavit that he is unable to pay the same.
SEC. 18. Each organized county in the State, now or hereafter existing,
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shall be divided from time to time, for the convenience of the people, into precincts, not less than four and not more than eight. The present County Courts shall make the first division. Subsequent divisions shall be made by the Commissioners' Court, provided for by this Constitution. In each such precinct there shall be elected, at each biennial election, one Justice of the Peace and one Constable, each of whom shall hold his office for two years, and until his successor shall be elected and qualified: provided, that in any precinct in which there may be a city of eight thousand or more inhabitants, there shall be elected two Justices of the Peace. Each county shall in like manner be divided into four commissioners' precincts, in each of which there shall be elected, by the qualified voters thereof, one County Commissioner, who shall hold his office for two years, and until his successor shall be elected and qualified. The County Commissioners so chosen, with the County Judge, as presiding officer, shall compose the County Commission- ers' Court, which shall exercise such powers and jurisdiction over all county business as is conferred by this Constitution and the laws of this State, or as may be hereafter prescribed.
SEC. 19. Justices of the Peace shall have jurisdiction in criminal matters of all cases where the penalty or fine to be imposed by law may not be more than for two hundred dollars, and in civil matters of all cases where the amount in controversy is two hundred dollars or less, exclusive of interest, of which exclusive original jurisdiction is not given to the District or County Courts; and such other jurisdiction, criminal and civil, as may be provided by law, under such regulations as may be prescribed by law ; and appeals to the County Courts shall be allowed in all cases decided in Jus- tice's Courts where the judgment is for more than twenty dollars exclusive of costs, and in all criminal cases, under such regulations as may be pre- scribed by law. And the Justices of the Peace shall be ex-officio notaries public; and they shall hold their courts at such times and places as may be provided by law.
SEC. 20. There shall be elected for each county, by the qualified voters, a County Clerk, who shall hold his office for two years, who shall be Clerk of the County and Commissioners' Courts and Recorder of the county, whose duties, perquisites, and fees of office shall be prescribed by the Legislature, and a vacancy in whose office shall be filled by the Commissioners' Court, until the next general election for county and State officers ; provided, that in counties having a population of less than eight thousand persons there may be an election of a single clerk, who shall perform the duties of District and County Clerk.
SEC. 21. A County Attorney, for counties in which there is not a resident Criminal District Attorney, shall be elected by the qualified voters of each county, who shall be commissioned by the Governor, and hold his office for the term of two years. In case of vacancy, the Commisioners' Court of the county shall have power to appoint a County Attorney until the next general election. The County Attorneys shall represent the State in all cases in the District and inferior courts in their respective counties ; but if any county shall be included in a district in which there shall be a District
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Attorney, the respective duties of District Attorneys and County Attorneys shall in such counties be regulated by the Legislature. The Legislature may provide for the election of District Attorneys in such districts as may be deemed necessary, and make provision for the compensation of District Attorneys and County Attorneys ; provided, District Attorney's shall receive an annual salary of five hundred dollars, to be paid by the State, and such fees, commissions, and perquisites as may be provided by law. County At- torneys shall receive as compensation only sucli fees, commissions, and perquisites as may be prescribed by law.
SEC. 22 The Legislature shall have power, by local or general law, to increase, diminish, or change the civil and criminal jurisdiction of County Courts; and in cases of any such change of jurisdiction the Legislature shall also conform the jurisdiction of the other courts to such change.
SEC. 23. There shall be elected by the qualified voters of each county a Sheriff, who shall hold his office for the term of two years, whose duties, and perquisites, and fees of office, shall be prescribed by the Legislature, and vacancies in whose office shall be filled by the Commissioners' Court until the next general election for county or State officers.
SEC. 24. County Judges, County Attorneys, Clerks of the District and County Courts, Justices of the Peace, Constables, and other county officers, may be removed by the Judges of the District Courts for incompetency, official misconduct, habitual drunkenness, or other causes defined by law, upon the cause therefor being set forth in writing, and the finding of its truth by a jury.
SEC. 25. The Supreme Court shall have power to make rules and regu- lations for the government of said court, and the other courts of the State, to regulate proceedings and expedite the dispatch of business therein.
SEC. 26. The State shall have no right of appeal in criminal cases.
SEC. 27. The Legislature shall, at its first session, provide for the transfer of all business, civil and criminal, pending in District Courts, over which jurisdiction is given by this Constitution to the County Courts, or other inferior courts, to such County or inferior courts, and for the trial or dis- position of all such causes by such County or other inferior courts.
SEC. 28. Vacancies in the office of judges in the Supreme Court, of the ยท Court of Appeals, and District Court, shall be filled by the Governor until the next succeeding general election; and vacancies in the office of County Judge, and Justices of the Peace, shall be filled by the Commissioners' Court, until the next general election for such offices.
ARTICLE VI.
SUFFRAGE.
SECTION 1. The following classes of persons shall not be allowed to vote in this State, to wit:
First .- Persons under twenty-one years of age.
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
Second .- Idiots and lunatics.
Third .- All paupers supported by any county.
Fourth .- All persons convicted of any felony, subject to such exceptions as the Legislature may make.
Fifth .- All soldiers, marines, and seamen employed in the service of the army or navy of the United States.
SEC. 2. Every male person subject to none of the foregoing disqualifica- tions, who shall have attained the age of twenty-one years, and who shall be a citizen of the United States, and who shall have resided in this State one year next preceding an election, and the last six months within the dis- trict or county in which he offers to vote, shall be deemed a qualified elector; and every male person of foreign birth, subject to none of the foregoing disqualifications, who, at any time before an election, shall have declared his intention to become a citizen of the United States in accordance with the Federal Naturalization Laws, and shall have resided in this State one year next preceding such election, and the last six months in the county in which he offers to vote, shall also be deemed a qualified elector; and all electors shall vote in the election precinct of their residence; provided, that electors living in any unorganized county may vote at any election precinct in the county to which such county is attached for judicial purposes.
SEC. 3. All qualified electors of the State, as herein described, who shall have resided for six months immediately preceding an election within the limits of any city or corporate town, shall have the right to vote for Mayor and all other elective officers; but in all elections to determine expenditure of money or assumption of debt only those shall be qualified to vote who pay taxes on property in said city or incorporated town; provided, that no poll tax for the payment of debts thus incurred shall be levied upon the persons debarred from voting in relation thereto.
SEC. 4. In all elections by the people the vote shall be by ballot, and the Legislature shall provide for the numbering of tickets, and make such other regulations as may be necessary to detect and punish fraud, and preserve the purity of the ballot box; but no law shall ever be enacted requiring a registration of the voters of this State.
SEC. 5. Voters shall, in all cases, except treason, felony, or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at elections, and in going to and returning therefrom.
ARTICLE VII.
EDUCATION .- THE PUBLIC FREE SCHOOLS.
SECTION 1. A general diffusion of knowledge being essential to the pres- ervation of the liberties and rights of the people, it shall be the duty of the Legislature of the State to establish and make suitable provision 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 ap- propriated for the support of public schools; all the alternate sections of
SPANISH FANDANGO.
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land reserved by the State out of grants heretofore made, or that may here- after be made to railroads, or other corporations, of any nature whatsoever: 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 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 inhab- itants in this State between the ages of twenty-one and sixty years, for the benefit of the public free schools.
SEC. 4. The land 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 Comptroller 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.
SEC. 5. The principal of all bonds and other funds, and the principal arising from the sale of the lands hereinbefore set apart for 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 permanent 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 pro- vided shall be distributed to the several counties according to their scholastic population, and applied in 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 avail- able 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 pro- tected in the prior right of purchasing the same to the extent of their set- tlement, 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 ex- pended annually.
SEC. 7. Separate schools shall be provided for the white and colored children, and impartial provision shall be made for both.
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
SEC. 8. The Governor, Comptroller, and Secretary of State shall consti- tute a Board of Education, who shall distribute said funds to the several counties, and perform such other duties concerning public schools as may be prescribed by law.
ASYLUMS.
SEC. 9. All lands heretofore granted for the benefit of the Lunatic, Blind, Deaf and Dumb, and Orphan Asylums, together with such donations as may have been made or may hereafter be made to either of them, respect- ively, as indicated in the several grants, are hereby set apart to provide a permanent fund for the support, maintenance, and improvement of said asylums. And the Legislature may provide for the sale of the lands and investment of the proceeds in manner as provided for the sale and invest- ment of school lands in Section 4 of this Article.
UNIVERSITY.
SEC. 10. The Legislature shall, as soon as practicable, establish, organize, and provide for the maintenance, support, and direction of a university of the first class, to be located by a vote of the people of the State, and styled " The University of Texas," for the promotion of literature, and the arts and sciences, including an agricultural and mechanical department.
SEC. 11. In order to enable the Legislature to perform the duties set forth in the foregoing section, it is hereby declared that all lands and other prop- erty heretofore set apart and appropriated for the establishment and main- tenance of " The University of Texas," together with all the proceeds of sales of the same, heretofore made or hereafter to be made, and all grants, ' donations, and appropriations that may hereafter be made by the State of Texas, or from any other source, shall constitute and become a permanent university fund. And the same as realized and received into the Treasury of the State (together with such sums, belonging to the fund, as may now be in the Treasury), shall be invested in bonds of the State of Texas, if the same can be obtained ; if not, then in United States bonds; and the interest accruing thereon shall be subject to appropriation by the Legislature to accomplish the purpose declared in the foregoing section ; provided, that one-tenth of the alternate sections of the lands granted to railroads, reserved by the State, which were set apart and appropriated to the establishment of " The University of Texas," by an act of the Legislature of February 11, 1858, entitled " An act to establish 'The University of Texas,'"' shall not be included in or constitute a part of the permanent university fund.
SEC. 12. The land herein set apart to the university fund shall be sold under such regulations, at such times, and on such terms, as may be pro- vided by law; and the Legislature shall provide for the prompt collection, at maturity, of all debts due on account of university lands, heretofore sold, or that may hereafter be sold, and shall in neither event have the power to grant relief to the purchasers.
SEC. 13. The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, established by an act of the Legislature, passed April 17, 1871, located in the county of
1
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Brazos, is hereby made and constituted a branch of the University of Texas, for instruction in agriculture, the mechanic arts, and the natural sciences connected therewithi. And the Legislature shall, at its next session, make an appropriation, not to exceed forty thousand dollars, for the construction and completion of the buildings and improvements, and for providing the furniture necessary to put said college in immediate and successful opera- tion.
SEC. 14. The Legislature shall also, when deemed practicable, establish and provide for the maintenance of a college or branch university for the instruction of the colored youths of the State, to be located by a vote of the people ; provided, that no tax shall be levied, and no money appropria- ted out of the general revenue, either for this purpose or the establishment and erection of the buildings of the University of Texas.
SEC. 15. In addition to the lands heretofore granted to the University of Texas, there is hereby set apart and appropriated, for the endowment, maintenance, and support of said University and its branches, one million acres of the unappropriated public domain of the State, to be designated and surveyed as may be provided by law ; and said lands shall be sold under the same regulations, and the proceeds invested in the same manner as is provided for the sale and investment of the permanent University fund; and the Legislature shall not have power to grant any relief to the purchas- ers of said lands.
ARTICLE VIII. TAXATION AND REVENUE.
SECTION 1. Taxation shall be equal and uniform. All property in this State, whether owned by natural persons or corporations, other than munic- ipal, shall be taxed in proportion to its value, which shall be ascertained as may be provided by law. The Legislature may impose a poll tax. It may also impose occupation taxes, both upon natural persons and upon corpora- tions, other than municipal, doing any business in this State. It may tax incomes of both natural persons and corporations, other than municipal, except that persons engaged in mechanical and agricultural pursuits shall never be required to pay an occupation tax: provided, that two hundred and fifty dollars worth of household and kitchen furniture, belonging to each family in this State, shall be exempt from taxation ; and provided fur- ther, that the occupation tax levied by any county, city, or town, for any year, on persons or corporations pursuing any professions or business, shall not exceed one-half of the tax levied by the State for the same period on such professions of business.
SEC. 2. All occupation taxes shall be equal and uniform upon the sanie class of subjects within the limits of the authority levying the tax; but the Legislature may, by general laws, exempt from taxation public property used for public purposes; actual places of religious worship; places of burial not held for private or corporate profit; all buildings used exclusively and owned by persons or associations of persons for school purposes (and the necessary furniture of all schools), and institutions of purely public
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
charity; and all laws exempting property from taxation other than the property above mentioned, shall be void.
SEC. 3. Taxes shall be levied and collected by general laws and for pub- lic purposes only.
SEC. 4. The power to tax corporations and corporate property shall not be surrendered or suspended by act of the Legislature, by any contract or grant to which the State shall be a party.
SEC. 5. All property of railroad companies, of whatever description, lying or being within the limits of any city or corporated town within this State, shall bear its proportionate share of municipal taxation; and if any such property shall not have been heretofore rendered, the authorities of the city or town within which it lies shall have power to require its rendition, and collect the usual municipal tax thereon, as on other property lying within said municipality.
SEC. 6. No money shall be drawn from the Treasury but in pursuance of specific appropriation made by law ; nor shall any appropriation of money be made for a longer term than two years, except by the first Legislature to assemble under this Constitution, which may make the necessary appropria- tions to carry on the government until the assemblage of the Sixteenth Leg- islature.
SEC. 7. The Legislature shall not have power to borrow, or in any manner divert from its purpose any special fund that may, or ought to, come into the Treasury ; and shall make it penal for any person or persons to borrow, withhold, or in any manner to divert from its purpose any special fund, or any part thereof.
SEC. 8. All property of railroad companies shall be assessed, and the taxes collected in the several counties in which said property is situated, in- cluding so much of the road-bed and fixtures as shall be in each county. The rolling stock may be assessed in gross in the county where the principal office of the company is located, and the county tax paid upon it shall be apportioned by the Comptroller, in proportion to the distance such road may run through any such county, among the several counties through which the road passes, as a part of their tax assets.
SEC. 9. The State tax on property, exclusive of the tax necessary to pay the public debt, shall never exceed fifty cents on the one hundred dollars valuation, and no county; city, or town shall levy more than one-half of said State tax, except for the payment of debts already incurred, and for the erection of public buildings, not to exceed fifty cents on the one hundred dollars in any one year, and except as in this Constitution is otherwise pro- vided.
SEC. 10. The Legislature shall have no power to release the inhabitants of, or property in, any county, city, or town, from the payment of taxes leyied for State or county purposes, unless in case of great public calamity in any such county, city, or town, when such release may be made by a vote of two-thirds of each House of the Legislature.
RAILROAD BRIDGE, BRAZOS RIVER, NEAR HEARNE, I. & G. N. R. R.
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SEC. 11. All property, whether owned by persons or corporations, shall be assessed for taxation, and the taxes paid in the county where situated, but the Legislature may, by a two-thirds vote, authorize the payment of taxes of non-residents of counties to be made at the office of the Comptrol- ler of Public Accounts. And all lands and other property not rendered for taxation by the owner thereof shall be assessed at its fair value by the proper officer.
SEC. 12. All property subject to taxation in, and owned by residents of, unorganized counties, shall be assessed and the taxes thereon paid in the counties to which such unorganized counties shall be attached for judicial purposes ; and lands lying in and owned by non-residents of unorganized counties, and lands lying in the territory, not laid off into counties, shall be assessed and the taxes thereon collected at the office of the Comptroller of the State.
SEC. 13. Provision shall be made by the first Legislature for the speedy sale of a sufficient portion of all lands and other property for the taxes due thereon, and every year thereafter for the sale of all lands and other prop- erty upon which the taxes have not been paid, and the deed of conveyance to the purchaser for all lands and other property thus sold shall be held to vest a good and perfect title in the purchaser thereof, subject to be impeached only for actual fraud; provided, that the former owner shall, within two years from date of purchaser's deed, have the right to redeem the land upon the payment of double the amount of money paid for the land.
SEC. 14. There shall be elected by the qualified electors of each county, at the same time and under the same law regulating the election of State and county officers, an assessor of taxes, who shall hold his office for two years, and until his successor is elected and qualified.
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