branches, both dependent on the people, to wit, a Senate and House of
Representatives.
[Sidenote: Time of assembling.]
SEC. 2. The Senate and House of Representatives shall meet biennially on
the first Wednesday after the first Monday in January next after their
election; and, when assembled, shall be denominated the General
Assembly. Neither House shall proceed upon public business unless a
majority of all the members are actually present.
[Sidenote: Number of senators.]
SEC. 3. The Senate shall be composed of fifty Senators, biennially
chosen by ballot.
[Sidenote: Regulations in relation to districting the State for
senators.]
SEC. 4. The Senate Districts shall be so altered by the General
Assembly, at the first session after the return of every enumeration by
order of Congress, that each Senate District shall contain, as near as
may be, an equal number of inhabitants, excluding aliens and Indians not
taxed, and shall remain unaltered until the return of another
enumeration, and shall at all times consist of contiguous territory; and
no county shall be divided in the formation of a Senate District, unless
such county shall be equitably entitled to two or more Senators.
[Sidenote: Regulations in relation to apportionment of representatives.]
SEC. 5. The House of Representatives shall be composed of one hundred
and twenty Representatives, biennially chosen by ballot, to be elected
by the counties respectively, according to their population, and each
county shall have at least one Representative in the House of
Representatives, although it may not contain the requisite ratio of
representation; this apportionment shall be made by the General Assembly
at the respective times and periods when the districts of the Senate are
hereinbefore directed to be laid off.
[Sidenote: Ratio of representation.]
SEC. 6. In making the apportionment in the House of Representatives, the
ratio of representation shall be ascertained by dividing the amount of
the population of the State, exclusive of that comprehended within those
counties which do not severally contain the one hundred and twentieth
part of the population of the State, by the number of Representatives,
less the number assigned to such counties; and in ascertaining the
number of the population of the State, aliens and Indians not taxed
shall not be included. To each county containing the said ratio and not
twice the said ratio, there shall be assigned one Representative; to
each county containing two but not three times the said ratio, there
shall be assigned two Representatives, and so on progressively, and then
the remaining representatives shall be assigned severally to the
counties having the largest fractions.
[Sidenote: Qualifications for senators.]
SEC. 7. Each member of the Senate shall not be less than twenty-five
years of age, shall have resided in the State as a citizen two years,
and shall have usually resided in the district for which he is chosen
one year immediately preceding his election.
[Sidenote: Qualifications for representatives.]
SEC. 8. Each member of the House of Representatives shall be a qualified
elector of the State, and shall have resided in the county for which he
is chosen for one year immediately preceding his election.
[Sidenote: Election of officers.]
SEC. 9. In the election of all officers, whose appointment shall be
conferred upon the General Assembly by the Constitution, the vote shall
be _viva voce_.
[Sidenote: Powers in relation to divorce and alimony.]
SEC. 10. The General Assembly shall have the power to pass general laws
regulating divorce and alimony, but shall not have power to grant a
divorce or secure alimony in any individual case.
[Sidenote: Private laws in relation to names of persons, etc.]
SEC. 11. The General Assembly shall not have power to pass any private
law to alter the name of any person, or to legitimate any person not
born in lawful wedlock, or to restore to the rights of citizenship any
person convicted of an infamous crime, but shall have power to pass
general laws regulating the same.
[Sidenote: Thirty days' notice shall be given anterior to passage of
private laws.]
SEC. 12. The General Assembly shall not pass any private law, unless it
shall be made to appear that thirty days' notice of application to pass
such a law shall have been given, under such direction and in such
manner as shall be provided by law.
[Sidenote: Vacancies.]
SEC. 13. If vacancies shall occur in the General Assembly by death,
resignation or otherwise, writs of election shall be issued by the
Governor under such regulations as may be prescribed by law.
[Sidenote: Revenue.]
SEC. 14. No law shall be passed to raise money on the credit of the
State, or to pledge the faith of the State, directly or indirectly, for
the payment of any debt, or to impose any tax upon the people of the
State, or allow the counties, cities or towns to do so, unless the bill
for the purpose shall have been read three several times in each House
of the General Assembly and passed three several readings, which
readings shall have been on three different days, and agreed to by each
House respectively, and unless the yeas and nays on the second and third
readings of the bill shall have been entered on the journal.
[Sidenote: Entails.]
SEC. 15. The General Assembly shall regulate entails in such manner as
to prevent perpetuities.
[Sidenote: Journals.]
SEC. 16. Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, which shall
be printed and made public immediately after the adjournment of the
General Assembly.
[Sidenote: Protest.]
SEC. 17. Any member of either House may dissent from and protest against
any act or resolve, which he may think injurious to the public, or any
individual, and have the reasons of his dissent entered on the journal.
[Sidenote: Officers of the House.]
SEC. 18. The House of Representatives shall choose their own Speaker and
other officers.
[Sidenote: President of the Senate.]
SEC. 19. The Lieutenant-Governor shall preside in the Senate, but shall
have no vote unless it may be equally divided.
[Sidenote: Other senatorial officers.]
SEC. 20. The Senate shall choose its other officers and also a Speaker
(_pro tempore_) in the absence of the Lieutenant-Governor, or when he
shall exercise the office of Governor.
[Sidenote: Style of the acts.]
SEC. 21. The style of the acts shall be: "The General Assembly of North
Carolina do enact."
[Sidenote: Powers of the General Assembly.]
SEC. 22. Each House shall be judge of the qualifications and election of
its own members, shall sit upon its own adjournment from day to day,
prepare bills to be passed into laws; and the two Houses may also
jointly adjourn to any future day or other place.
[Sidenote: Bills and resolutions to be read three times, etc.]
SEC. 23. All bills and resolutions of a legislative nature shall be read
three times in each House, before they pass into laws; and shall be
signed by the presiding officers of both Houses.
[Sidenote: Oath of members].
SEC. 24. Each member of the General Assembly, before taking his seat,
shall take an oath or affirmation that he will support the Constitution
and laws of the United States, and the Constitution of the State of
North Carolina, and will faithfully discharge his duty as a member of
the Senate or House of Representatives.
[Sidenote: Terms of office.]
SEC. 25. The terms of office for Senators and members of the House of
Representatives shall commence at the time of their election.
[Sidenote: Yeas and nays.]
SEC. 26. Upon motion made and seconded in either House by one-fifth of
the members present, the yeas and nays upon any question shall be taken
and entered upon the journals.
[Sidenote: Election for members of the General Assembly.]
SEC. 27. The election for members of the General Assembly shall be held
for the respective districts and counties, at the places where they are
now held, or may be directed hereafter to be held, in such manner as may
be prescribed by law, on the first Thursday in August, in the year one
thousand eight hundred and seventy, and every two years thereafter. But
the General Assembly may change the time of holding the elections.
[Sidenote: Pay of members and officers of the General Assembly.]
[Sidenote: Extra session.]
SEC. 28. The members of the General Assembly for the term for which they
have been elected shall receive as a compensation for their services the
sum of _four dollars_ per day for each day of their session, for a
period not exceeding sixty days; and should they remain longer in
session they shall serve without compensation. They shall also be
entitled to receive ten cents per mile, both while coming to the seat of
government and while returning home, the said distance to be computed by
the nearest line or route of public travel. The compensation of the
presiding officers of the two Houses shall be six dollars per day and
mileage. Should an extra session of the General Assembly be called, the
members and presiding officers shall receive a like rate of compensation
for a period not exceeding twenty days.
ARTICLE III.
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT.
[Sidenote: Officers of the Executive Department.]
[Sidenote: Terms of office.]