second Monday in January next preceding their entering into office, in case they do not enter into office on that date. The terms of office of the State officers elected on the 22d day of February, 1864, shall expire on the installation of their successors as herein provided for; but under no state of circumstances shall their term of office be construed as extending beyond the length of the terms fixed for said offices in this constitution; and, if not sooner held, the election of their successors shall take place on the first Monday of November, 1867, in all parishes where the same can be held, the officers elected on that date to enter into office on the second Monday in January, 1868. ART. 155. This constitution shall be published in three papers to be selected by the president of the convention, whereof two shall publish the same in English and French, and one in German, from the period of the adjournment of the convention until the election for ratification or rejection on the first Monday of September, 1864. E. H. DURELL, President. JNO. E. NEELIS, Secretary. CONSTITUTION OF LOUISIANA-1868.* PREAMBLE. We, the people of Louisiana, in order to establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution. TITLE I. BILL OF RIGHTS. ARTICLE 1. All men are created free and equal, and have certain inalienable rights; among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. To secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. ART. 2. All persons, without regard to race, color, or previous condition, born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, and residents of this State for one year, are citizens of this State. The citizens of this State owe allegiance to the United States; and this allegiance is paramount to that which they owe to the State. They shall enjoy the same civil, political, and public rights and privileges, and be subject to the same pains and penalties. ART. 3. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in this State, otherwise than for the punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted. ART. 4. The press shall be free; every citizen may freely speak, write, and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of this liberty. ART. 5. The right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government, or any department thereof, shall never be abridged. ART. 6. Prosecutions shall be by indictment or information. The accused shall be entitled to a speedy public trial by an impartial jury of the parish in which the offence was committed, unless the venue be changed. He shall not be compelled to give evidence against himself; he shall have the right of being heard by himself or counsel; he shall have the right of meeting the witnesses face to face, and shall have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor. He shall not be tried twice for the same offence. *This constitution was formed by a convention, called under the reconstruction acts of Congress, which met at New Orleans in December, 1867, and completed its labors March 2, 1858. It was submitted to the people on the 17th and 18th of August, 1868, and ratified by a vote of 66,152 against 48,739. ART. 7. All persons shall be bailable by sufficient securities, unless for capital offences, where the proof is evident or the presumption great, or unless after conviction for any crime or offence punishable with death or imprisonment at hard labor. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended. ART. 8. Excessive bail shall not be required; excessive fines shall not be imposed; nor cruel or unusual punishments inflicted. ART. 9. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated; and no warrant shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, or the person or things to be seized. ART. 10. All courts shall be open; and every person for injury done him in his land, goods, person, or reputation, shall have adequate remedy, by due process of law, and justice administered without denial or unreasonable delay. ART. 11. No law shall be passed fixing the price of manual labor. ART. 12. Every person has the natural right to worship God according to the dictates of his conscience. No religious test shall be required as a qualification for office. ART. 13. All persons shall enjoy equal rights and privileges upon any conveyance of a public character; and all places of business, or of public resort, or for which a license is required by either State, parish, or municipal authority, shall be deemed places of a public character, and shall be opened to the accommodation and patronage of all persons, without distinction or discrimination on account of race or color. ART. 14. The rights enumerated in this title shall not be construed to limit or abridge other rights of the people not herein expressed. TITLE II. LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. ART. 15. The legislative power of the State shall be vested in two distinct branches; the one to be styled the house of representatives, the other the senate; and both, the general assembly of the State of Louisiana. ART. 16. The members of the house of representatives shall continue in office for two years from the day of the closing of the general elections. ART. 17. Representatives shall be chosen on the first Monday in November, every two years; and the election shall be completed in one day. The general assembly shall meet annually on the first Monday in January, unless a different day be appointed by law, and their sessions shall be held at the seat of government. ART. 18. Every elector under this constitution shall be eligible to a seat in the house of representatives; and every elector who has reached the age of twenty-five years shall be eligible to the senate: Provided, That no person shall be a representative or senator unless at the time of his election he be a qualified elector of the representative or senatorial district from which he is elected. ART. 19. Elections for members of the general assembly shall be held at the several election precincts established by law. ART. 20. Representation in the house of representatives shall be equal and uniform; and, after the first general assembly elected under this constitution, shail be ascertained and regulated by the total population, each parish in the State being entitled to at least one representative. A census of the State by State authority shall be taken in the year eighteen hundred and seventy-five, and every ten years thereafter. In case of informality, omission, or error in the census-returns from any parish or election district, the general assembly may order a new census taken in such parish or election district; but, until the State census of eighteen hundred and seventy-five, the apportionment of the State shall be made on the basis of the census of the United States for the year eighteen hundred and seventy. ART. 21. The general assembly, at the first session after the making of each enumeration, shall apportion the representation amongst the several parishes and representative districts on the basis of the total population, as aforesaid. A representative number shall be fixed, and each parish and representative district shall have as many representatives as the number of its total population will entitle it to have, and an additional representative for any fraction exceeding one-half of the representative number. The number of representatives shall never exceed one hundred and twenty, nor be less than ninety. ART. 22. Until an apportionment shall be made in accordance with the provisions of article twenty, the representation in the senate and house of representatives shall be as follows: For the parish of Orleans: First representative district, two; second representative district, three; third representative district, four; fourth representative district, two; fifth representative district, two; sixth representative district, one; seventh representative district, two; eighth representative district, one; ninth representative district, two; tenth representative district, three; Orleans, right bank, one. For the parish of Ascension, two; For the parish of Assumption, two; For the parish of Baton Rouge, East, three; For the parish of Baton Rouge, West, one; For the parish of Bossier, two; For the parish of Saint John Baptist, one; For the parish of Saint Tammany, one: For the parish of Terre Bonne, two; For the parish of Vermillion, one; For the parish of Washington, one; For the parish of Winn, one; Total, one hundred and one. And the State shall be divided into the following senatorial districts, to wit: The first, second, and third representative districts of New Orleans shall form one senatorial district, and elect three senators; The fourth, fifth, and six representative districts of New Orleans shall form one district, and elect two senators; The seventh, eighth, and ninth representative districts of New Orleans and the parish of Saint Bernard shall form one district, and elect two senators ; The tenth representative district of New Orleans shall form one district, and elect one senator; Orleans, right bank, and the parish of Plaquemines shall form one district, and elect one senator; The parishes of Jefferson, Saint Charles, and Saint John Baptist shall form one district, and elect two senators; The parishes of Ascension and Saint James shall form one district, and elect one senator; The parishes of Assumption, La Fourche, and Terre Bonne shall form one district, and elect two senators; The parishes of Vermillion and Saint Mary's shall form one district, and elect one senator; The parishes of Calcasieu, La Fayette, and Saint Landry shall form one district, and elect two senators; The parishes of Livingston, Saint Helena, Washington, and Saint Tammany shall form one district, and elect one senator; The parishes of Point Coupee, East Feliciana, and West Feliciana shall form one district, and elect two senators; The parish of East Baton Rouge shall form one district, and elect one senator; The parishes of West Baton Rouge, Iberville, and Saint Martin's shall form one district, and elect two senators; The parishes of Concordia and Avoyelles shall form one district, and elect one senator; The parishes of Tensas and Franklin shall form one district, and elect one senator; The parishes of Carroll, Madison, and Morehouse shall form one district, and elect two senators; The parishes of Ouachita and Caldwell shall form one district, and elect one senator; The parishes of Jackson and Union shall form one district, and elect one senator; The parishes of Bossier, Bienville, and Claiborne shall form one district, and elect two senators; The parish of Caddo shall form one district, and elect one senator; The parishes of De Soto, Natchitoches, and Sabine shall form one district, and elect two senators ; The parish of Rapides shall form one district, and elect one senator; The parishes of Catahoula and Winn shall form one district, and elect one senator; Thirty six senators in all. ART. 23. The house of representatives shall choose its speaker and other officers. ART. 24. Electors in all cases, except treason, felony, or breach of the peace, shall be privileged from arrest during their attendance on, going to, and returning from elections. ART. 25. At its first session under this constitution, the general assembly shall provide by law that the names and residence of all qualified electors shall be registered, in order to entitle them to vote; but the registry shall be free of cost to the elector. ART. 26. No person shall be entitled to vote at any election held in this State, except in the parish of his residence, and at the election-precinct in which he is registered: : Provided, That no voter, in removing from one parish to another, shall lose the right in the former until he has acquired it in the latter. ART. 27. The members of the senate shall be elected for the term of four years; and, when assembled, the senate shall have the power to choose its own officers, except as hereinafter provided. ART. 28. The general assembly shall divide the State into senatorial districts whenever it apportions representation in the house of representatives. ART. 29. No parish shall be divided in the formation of a senatorial district, the parish of Orleans excepted; and whenever a new parish shall be created, it shall be attached to the senatorial district from which most of its territory is taken, or to another contiguous district, at the discretion of the general assembly; but shall not be attached to more than one district. The number of senators shall be thirty-six, and they shall be apportioned among the senatorial districts according to the total population of said districts. ART. 30. In all apportionments of the senate, the total population of the State shall be divided by the number thirty-six, and the result produced by this division shall be the senatorial ratio entitling a senatorial district to a senator. Single or contiguous parishes shall be formed into districts having a population the nearest possible to the number entitling a district to a senator; and if the apportionment to make a parish or district fall short of, or exceed the ratio, then a district may be formed having not more than two senators; but not otherwise. No new apportionment shall have the effect of abridging the term of service of any senator already elected at the time of making the apportionment. After an enumeration has been made, as directed in the twentieth article, the general assembly shall not pass any law till an apportionment of representation in both houses of the general assembly be made. ART. 31. At the first session of the general assembly, after this constitution goes into effect, the senators shall be divided equally by lot into two classes; the seats of the senators of the first class to be vacated at the expiration of the term of the first house of representatives; those of the second class at the expiration of the term of the second house of representatives, so that one-half shall be chosen every two years successively. When a district shall have elected two senators, their respective terms of office shall be determined by lot between themselves. ART. 32. The first election for senators shall be held at the same time with the election for representatives; and thereafter there shall be elections of senators at the same time with each general election of representatives, to fill the places of those senators whose term of office may have expired. ART. 33. Not less than a majority of the members of each house of the general assembly shall form a quorum to transact business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and shall have full power to compel the attendance of absent members. ART. 34. Each house of the general assembly shall judge of the qualifications, election, and returns of its members; but a contested election shall be determined in such manner as may be prescribed by law. ART. 35. Each house of the general assembly may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish a member for disorderly conduct, and, with a concurrence of twothirds, expel a member, but not a second time for the same offence. ART. 36. Each house of the general assembly shall keep and publish weekly a journal of its proceedings; and the yeas and nays of the members on any question, at the desire of any two of them, shall be entered on the journal. ART. 37. Each house may punish, by imprisonment, any person, not a member, for disrespect and disorderly behavior in its presence, or for obstructing any of its proceedings. Such imprisonment shall not exceed ten days for any one offence. ART. 38. Neither house shall adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which it may be sitting, during the sessions of the general assembly, without the consent of the other. ART. 39. The members of the general assembly shall receive from the public treasury a compensation for their services, which shall be eight dollars per day during their attendance, going to, and returning from the sessions of their respective houses. This compensation may be increased or diminished by law, but no alteration shall take |