Part 1

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CONSTITUTION

OF THE

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA

AND COPY OF THE ACT OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, ENTITLED

AN ACT TO AMEND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA

(CHAPTER 81, PUBLIC LAWS, EXTRA SESSION OF 1913)

ISSUED FROM THE OFFICE OF THE

SECRETARY OF STATE RALEIGH

BY AUTHORITY OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

RALEIGH

EDWARDS & BROUGHTON PRINTING COMPANY STATE PRINTERS AND BINDERS 1914

Received through the Bureau for Municipal Research

By direction of the General Assembly, this pamphlet is furnished for distribution to, and the information of, citizens of the State of North Carolina. It contains the Constitution of the State of North Carolina as it now stands, and shows, on page 39 and the pages following, the proposed amendments, and a copy of the official ballot. Additional copies of this pamphlet may be had upon application to the County Clerk of Court, or to the Secretary of State, Raleigh.

CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA

PREAMBLE.

[Sidenote: Preamble.]

We, the people of the State of North Carolina, grateful to Almighty God, the Sovereign Ruler of Nations, for the preservation of the American Union, and the existence of our civil, political and religious liberties, and acknowledging our dependence upon Him for the continuance of those blessings to us and our posterity, do for the more certain security thereof, and for the better government of this State, ordain and establish this Constitution:

ARTICLE I.

DECLARATION OF RIGHTS.

That the great, general and essential principles of liberty and free government may be recognized and established, and that the relations of this State to the Union and Government of the United States, and those of the people of this State to the rest of the American people, may be defined and affirmed, we do declare:

[Sidenote: The equality and rights of men.]

SECTION 1. That we hold it to be self-evident that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, the enjoyment of the fruits of their own labor, and the pursuit of happiness.

[Sidenote: Political power and government.]

SEC. 2. That all political power is vested in, and derived from, the people; all government of right originates from the people, is founded upon their will only, and is instituted solely for the good of the whole.

[Sidenote: Internal government of the State.]

SEC. 3. That the people of this State have the inherent, sole and exclusive right of regulating the internal government and police thereof, and of altering and abolishing their Constitution and form of government whenever it may be necessary for their safety and happiness; but every such right should be exercised in pursuance of law, and consistently with the Constitution of the United States.

[Sidenote: That there is no right to secede.]

SEC. 4. That this State shall ever remain a member of the American Union; that the people thereof are a part of the American Nation; that there is no right on the part of the State to secede, and that all attempts, from whatever source or upon whatever pretext, to dissolve said Union, or to sever said Nation, ought to be resisted with the whole power of the State.

[Sidenote: Of allegiance to the U. S. government.]

SEC. 5. That every citizen of this State owes paramount allegiance to the Constitution and government of the United States, and that no law or ordinance of the State in contravention or subversion thereof can have any binding force.

[Sidenote: Public debt.]

[Sidenote: Bonds issued under ordinance of Convention of 1868 and under acts of 1868, 1868-'69, 1869-'70, declared invalid.]

[Sidenote: Exception.]

SEC. 6. The State shall never assume or pay, or authorize the collection of any debt or obligation, express or implied, incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; nor shall the General Assembly assume or pay, or authorize the collection of any tax to pay, either directly or indirectly, expressed or implied, any debt or bond incurred, or issued, by authority of the Convention of the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, nor any debt or bond incurred or issued by the Legislature of the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, at its special session of the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, or at its regular sessions of the years one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight and one thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine and one thousand eight hundred and seventy, except the bonds issued to fund the interest on the old debt of the State, unless the proposing to pay the same shall have first been submitted to the people and by them ratified by the vote of a majority of all the qualified voters of the State, at a regular election held for that purpose.

[Sidenote: Exclusive emoluments, etc.]

SEC. 7. No man or set of men are entitled to exclusive or separate emoluments or privileges from the community but in consideration of public services.

[Sidenote: The legislative, executive and judicial powers distinct.]

SEC. 8. The legislative, executive and supreme judicial powers of the government ought to be forever separate and distinct from each other.

[Sidenote: Of the power of suspending laws.]

SEC. 9. All power of suspending laws, or the execution of laws, by any authority, without the consent of the representatives of the people, is injurious to their rights, and ought not to be exercised.

[Sidenote: Elections free.]

SEC. 10. All elections ought to be free.

[Sidenote: In criminal prosecutions.]

SEC. 11. In all criminal prosecutions, every man has the right to be informed of the accusation against him and to confront the accusers and witnesses with other testimony, and to have counsel for his defense, and not to be compelled to give evidence against himself, or to pay costs, jail fees, or necessary witness fees of the defense, unless found guilty.

[Sidenote: Answers to criminal charges.]

SEC. 12. No person shall be put to answer any criminal charge, except as hereinafter allowed, but by indictment, presentment or impeachment.

[Sidenote: Right of jury.]

SEC. 13. No person shall be convicted of any crime but by the unanimous verdict of a jury of good and lawful men in open court. The Legislature may, however, provide other means of trial for petty misdemeanors, with the right of appeal.

[Sidenote: Excessive bail.]

SEC. 14. Excessive bail should not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel or unusual punishments inflicted.

[Sidenote: General warrants.]

SEC. 15. General warrants, whereby any officer or messenger may be commanded to search suspected places, without evidence of the act committed, or to seize any person or persons not named, whose offense is not particularly described and supported by evidence, are dangerous to liberty and ought not to be granted.

[Sidenote: Imprisonment for debt.]

SEC. 16. There shall be no imprisonment for debt in this State, except in cases of fraud.

[Sidenote: No person to be taken, etc., but by law of the land.]

SEC. 17. No person ought to be taken, imprisoned, or disseized of his freehold, liberties or privileges, or outlawed or exiled, or in any manner deprived of his life, liberty or property, but by the law of the land.

[Sidenote: Persons restrained of liberty.]

SEC. 18. Every person restrained of his liberty is entitled to a remedy to enquire into the lawfulness thereof, and to remove the same, if unlawful; and such remedy ought not to be denied or delayed.

[Sidenote: Controversies at law respecting property.]

SEC. 19. In all controversies at law respecting property, the ancient mode of trial by jury is one of the best securities of the rights of the people, and ought to remain sacred and inviolable.

[Sidenote: Freedom of the press.]

SEC. 20. The freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty, and therefore ought never to be restrained, but every individual shall be held responsible for the abuse of the same.

[Sidenote: Habeas corpus.]

SEC. 21. The privileges of the writ of _habeas corpus_ shall not be suspended.

[Sidenote: Property qualification.]

SEC. 22. As political rights and privileges are not dependent upon, or modified by, property, therefore no property qualification ought to affect the right to vote or hold office.

[Sidenote: Representation and taxation.]

SEC. 23. The people of the State ought not to be taxed, or made subject to the payment of any impost or duty, without the consent of themselves, or their representatives in General Assembly freely given.

[Sidenote: Militia and the right to bear arms.]

SEC. 24. A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed; and, as standing armies in time of peace are dangerous to liberty, they ought not to be kept up, and the military should be kept under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power. Nothing herein contained shall justify the practice of carrying concealed weapons, or prevent the Legislature from enacting penal statutes against said practice.

[Sidenote: Right of the people to assemble together.]

SEC. 25. The people have a right to assemble together to consult for their common good, to instruct their representatives, and to apply to the Legislature for redress of grievances. But secret political societies are dangerous to the liberties of a free people, and should not be tolerated.

[Sidenote: Religious liberty.]

SEC. 26. All men have a natural and inalienable right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences, and no human authority should, in any case whatever, control or interfere with the rights of conscience.

[Sidenote: Education.]

SEC. 27. The people have the right to the privilege of education, and it is the duty of the State to guard and maintain that right.

[Sidenote: Elections should be frequent.]

SEC. 28. For redress of grievances, and for amending and strengthening the laws, elections should be often held.

[Sidenote: Recurrence to fundamental principles.]

SEC. 29. A frequent recurrence to fundamental principles is absolutely necessary to preserve the blessings of liberty.

[Sidenote: Hereditary emoluments, etc.]

SEC. 30. No hereditary emoluments, privileges or honors ought to be granted or conferred in this State.

[Sidenote: Perpetuities, etc.]

SEC. 31. Perpetuities and monopolies are contrary to the genius of a free State and ought not to be allowed.

[Sidenote: Ex post facto laws.]

SEC. 32. Retrospective laws, punishing acts committed before the existence of such laws, and by them only declared criminal, are oppressive, unjust and incompatible with liberty; wherefore no _ex post facto_ law ought to be made. No law taxing retrospectively sales, purchases, or other acts previously done, ought to be passed.

[Sidenote: Slavery prohibited.]

SEC. 33. Slavery and Involuntary servitude, otherwise than for crime, whereof the parties shall have been duly convicted, shall be and are hereby forever prohibited within the State.

[Sidenote: State boundaries.]

SEC. 34. The limits and boundaries of the State shall be and remain as they now are.

[Sidenote: Courts shall be open.]

SEC. 35. All courts shall be open; and every person for an injury done him in his lands, goods, person or reputation, shall have remedy by due course of law, and right and justice administered without sale, denial or delay.

[Sidenote: Soldiers in time of peace.]

SEC. 36. No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner; nor in time of war but in a manner prescribed by the law.

[Sidenote: Other rights of the people.]

SEC. 37. This enumeration of rights shall not be construed to impair or deny others retained by the people; and all powers not herein delegated remain with the people.

ARTICLE II.

LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT.

[Sidenote: Two branches.]

SECTION 1. The legislative authority shall be vested in two distinct 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.]

SECTION 1. The Executive Department shall consist of a Governor, in whom shall be vested the supreme executive power of the State, a Lieutenant-Governor, a Secretary of State, an Auditor, a Treasurer, a Superintendent of Public Instruction, and an Attorney-General, who shall be elected for a term of four years by the qualified electors of the State, at the same time and places and in the same manner as members of the General Assembly are elected. Their term of office shall commence on the first day of January next after their election, and continue until their successors are elected and qualified: _Provided_, that the officers first elected shall assume the duties of their office ten days after the approval of this Constitution by the Congress of the United States, and shall hold their offices four years from and after the first day of January.

[Sidenote: Qualifications of Governor and Lieutenant-Governor.]

SEC. 2. No person shall be eligible as Governor or Lieutenant-Governor unless he shall have attained the age of thirty years, shall have been a citizen of the United States five years, and shall have been a resident of this State for two years next before the election; nor shall the person elected to either of these two offices be eligible to the same office more than four years in any term of eight years, unless the office shall have been cast upon him as Lieutenant-Governor or President of the Senate.

[Sidenote: Returns of elections.]

SEC. 3. The return of every election for officers of the Executive Department shall be sealed up and transmitted to the seat of government by the returning officers, directed to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, who shall open and publish the same in the presence of a majority of the members of both Houses of the General Assembly. The person having the highest number of votes respectively shall be declared duly elected; but if two or more be equal and highest in votes for the same office, one of them shall be chosen by joint ballot of both Houses of the General Assembly. Contested elections shall be determined by a joint ballot of both Houses of the General Assembly in such manner as shall be prescribed by law.

[Sidenote: Oath of office for Governor.]