determine the same, as if such prosecution had been originally instituted therein. § 5. There shall be a court of appeals, and the same shall be composed of the chief judges of the several judicial districts of the state; which said court of appeal shall hold, use, and exercise, all and singular the powers, authorities, and jurisdictions, heretofore held, used, and exercised, by the court of appeals of this state, and also the appellate jurisdiction heretofore used and exercised by the general court; and the said court of appeals hereby established, shall sit on the western and eastern shores, for transacting and determining the business of the respective shores, at such times and places as the future legislature of this state shall direct and appoint; and any three of the said judges of the court of appeals, shall form a quorum to hear and decide in all cases pending in said court; and the judge who has given a decision in any case in the county court, shall withdraw from the bench upon the deciding of the same case before the court of appeals; and the judges of the court of appeals may appoint the clerks of said court for the western and eastern shores respectively, who shall hold their appointments during good behaviour, removable only for misbehaviour, on conviction in a court of law; and, in case of death, resignation, disqualification, or removal out of the state, or from their respective shores, of either of the said clerks, in the vacation of the said court, the governor, with the advice of the council, may appoint and commission a fit and proper person to such vacant office, to hold the same until the next meeting of the said court; and all laws passed after this act shall take effect, shall be recorded in the office of the court of appeals of the western shore. Passed 1804, ch. 55-confirmed 1805, ch. 16. ART. 10. That St. Mary's county shall be divided into four separate districts, and that the additional district shall be laid off adjoining and between the first and third districts, as they are now numbered.-Passed 1806, ch. 29-confirmed 1807, ch. 8. 11. That, upon the death, resignation, or removal out of this state, of the governor, it shall not be necessary to call a meeting of the legislature, to fill the vacancy occasioned thereby, but the first named of the council for the time being, shall qualify and act as governor, until the next meeting of the general assembly, at which meeting a governor shall be chosen in the manner heretofore appointed and directed. § 2. No governor shall be capable of holding any other of fice of profit during the time for which he shall be elected. Passed June, 1809, ch. 16-confirmed November, 1809, ch. 11. ART. 12. That all such parts of the constitution and form of government, as require a property qualification in persons to be appointed or holding offices of profit or trust in this state, and in persons elected members of the legislature or electors of the senate, shall be and the same are hereby repealed and abolished.-Passed November, 1809, ch. 198-confirmed 1810, ch. 18. 13. That it shall not be lawful for the general assembly of this state to lay an equal and general tax, or any other tax, on the people of this state, for the support of any religion.-Passed November, 1809, ch. 167-confirmed 1810, ch. 24. 14. That every free white male citizen of this state, above twenty-one years of age, and no other, having resided twelve months within this state, and six months in the county, or in the city of Annapolis or Baltimore, next preceding the election at which he offers to vote, shall have a right of suffrage, and shall vote, by ballot, in the election of such county or city, or either of them, for electors of the president and vice president of the United States, for representatives of this state in the congress of the United States, for delegates to the general assembly of this state, electors of the senate, and sheriffs.-Passed November, 1809, ch. 83-confirmed 1810, ch. 33. 15. That no person residing in the city of Annapolis shall have a vote in the county of Anne Arundel, for delegates for the said county and all and every part of the constitution which enables persons holding fifty acres of land to vote in said county, be and is hereby abolished.-Passed November, 1809, ch. 38-confirmed 1810, ch. 49. 16. That the forty-fifth article of the constitution and form of government, be and the same is hereby repealed and utterly abolished.-Passed November, 1809, ch. 65-confirmed 1810, ch. 78. 17. That the time of the meeting of the general assembly shall be on the first Monday in December, in each year, instead of the first Monday in November, as [is now] prescribed by the constitution and form of government. § 2. The governor of this state shall be chosen on the second Monday of December, in each and every year, in the same manner as is now prescribed by the constitution and form of government; and the council to the governor shall be elected on the first Tuesday after the second Monday of December, in each and every year, in the same manner as is now prescribed by the constitution and form of government. §3. All annual appointments of civil officers in this state, shall be made in the third week of December in every year, in the same manner as the constitution and form of government now directs.-Passed 1811, ch. 211-confirmed November, 1812. CONSTITUTION OF VIRGINIA. BILL OF RIGHTS. A Declaration of Rights made by the Representatives of the good People of VIRGINIA, assembled in full and free Convention; which rights do pertain to them, and their Posterity, as the basis and foundation of Government. Unanimously adopted, June 12th, 1776. 1. That all men are by nature equally free and independent and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety. 2. That all power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the people; that magistrates are their trustees and servants, and at all times amenable to them. 3. That government is, or ought to be, instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security of the people, nation, or community of all the various modes and forms of govern ment, that is best, which is capable of producing the greatest degree of happiness and safety, and is most effectually secured against the danger of maleadministration; and that, when any government shall be found inadequate or contrary to these purposes, a majority of the community hath an indubitable, unalienable, and indefeasible right, to reform, alter or abolish it, in such manner as shall be judged most conducive to the public weal. 4. That no man, or set of men, are entitled to exclusive or separate emoluments or privileges from the community, but in consideration of public services; which not being descendible, neither ought the offices of magistrate, legislator, or judge, to be hereditary. 5. That the legislative and executive powers of the state should be separate and distinct from the judiciary; and that the members of the two first may be restrained from oppression, by feeling and participating the burthens of the people, they should, at fixed periods, be reduced to a private station, return into that body from which they were originally taken, and the vacancies be supplied by frequent, certain, and regular elections, in which all, or any part of the former members, to be again eligible, or ineligible, as the laws shall direct. 6. That elections of members to serve as representatives of the people, in assembly, ought to be free; and that all men, having sufficient evidence of permanent common interest with, and attachment to, the community, have the right of suffrage, and cannot be taxed or deprived of their property for public uses, without their own consent, or that of their representatives so elected, nor bound by any law to which they have not, in like manner, assented, for the public good. 7. That all power of suspending laws, or the execution of laws, by any authority, without consent of the representatives of the people, is injurious to their rights, and ought not to be exercised. 8. That, in all capital or criminal prosecutions, a man hath a right to demand the cause and nature of his accusation, to be confronted with the accusers and witnesses, to call for evidence in his favour, and to a speedy trial by an impartial jury of his vicinage, without whose unanimous consent he cannot be found guilty; nor can he be compelled to give evidence against himself; that no man be deprived of his liberty except by the law of the land, or the judgment of his peers. 9. That excessive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted. 10. That general warrants, whereby an officer or messenger may be commanded to search suspected places without evidence of a fact committed, or to seize any person or persons not named, or whose offence is not particularly described and supported by evidence, are grievous and oppressive, and ought not to be granted. 11. That, in controversies respecting property, and in suits between man and man, the ancient trial by jury is preferable to any other, and ought to be held sacred. 12. That the freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrained but by despotic governments. 13. That a well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural and safe defence of a free state; that standing armies, in time of peace, should be avoided, as dangerous to liberty; and that in all cases, the military should be under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power. 14. That the people have a right to uniform government; and therefore, that no government separate from, or independent of, the government of Virginia, ought to be erected or established within the limits thereof. 15. That no free government, or the blessing of liberty, can be preserved to any people, but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue, and by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles. 16. That religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and therefore all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience; and that it is the mutual duty of all to practise Christian forbearance, love, and charity towards each other. AN AMENDED CONSTITUTION Or form of government for Virginia. Adopted Jan. 14th, 1830. Whereas the delegates and representatives of the good people of Virginia, in convention assembled, on the twenty-ninth day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-six: reciting and declaring, that whereas, George the Third, king of Great Britain and Ireland, and elector of Hanover, before that time entrusted with the exercise of the kingly office in the government of Virginia, had endeavoured to pervert the same into a detestable and insupportable tyranny, by putting his negative on laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public good; by denying his governors permission to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation for his assent, and when so suspended, neglecting to attend to them for many years; by refusing to pass certain other laws, unless the persons to be benefitted by them would relinquish the inestimable right of representation in the legislature; by dissolving legislative assemblies repeatedly and continually, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions of the rights of the people; when dissolved, by refusing to call others for a long space of time, thereby leaving the political system without any legislative head; by endeavouring to prevent the population of our country, and for that purpose obstructing the laws for the naturalization of foreigners; by keeping among us, in time of peace, standing armies and ships of war; by affecting to render the military independent of and superior to the civil power; by combining with others to subject us to a foreign jurisdiction, giving his assent to their pretended acts of legislation, for quartering large bodies of armed troops among us, for cutting off our trade with all parts of the world, for imposing taxes on us without our consent, for depriving us of the benefits of the trial by jury, for transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offences, for suspending our own legislatures and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever; by plundering our seas, ravaging our coasts, burning our towns, and destroying the lives of our peo T |