Section 8. In regard to persons holding land granted by the governments of Spain or Mexico. ARTICLE XV. Impeachment. 1. The power of impeachment shall be vested in the House of Representatives. 2. Impeachment of the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, Attorney-General, etc., shall be tried by the Senate. 3. When the Senate is sitting as a court of impeachment, the Senators shall be on oath or affirmation. 4. Judgment in cases of impeachment shall extend only to removal from office. 5. All officers against whom articles of impeachment have been preferred shall be suspended from the duties of office, etc. 6. Judge of a District Court may be removed for misconduct, etc. 7. All officers of the State may be removed. 8. Judges of the Supreme and Court of Appeals and District Courts may be removed for neglect of duty, etc. ARTICLE XVI. General Provisions 1. All officers shall take the following oath. 2. Bribery, perjury, etc., shall exclude from office. 3. In regard to those committed to the county jails. 4. Dueling forbidden. 5. Bribery disqualifies from holding office. 6. An account of receipts and ex penditures for public money shall be made annually. - No appropriations shall be made for private or indiviual purposes. 8. Each county shall provide for a poorhouse. 9. Residence not forfeited on account of absence from the State or of the United States. 10. Salaries of public officers may be deducted for neglect to perform any duty. 11. Legal rate of interest ten per cent. 12. Those who are not eligible as members of the Legislature. 13. Differences may be decided by arbitration. 14. All civil officers shall reside within the State; district and county officers within the district or county. 15. The rights of the wife to property. 16. No corporate body shall hereafter be created, renewed or extended with banking or discounting privileges. 17. All officers within this State shall continue to perform the duties of office until successors are duly qualified. 18. In regard to the rights of property and of action which have been acquired under the Constitution of the republic and State. 19. The Legislature shall prescribe the qualification of grand and petit jurors. 20. In regard to the sale of intoxicating liquors. 21. Stationery and printing. 22. In regard to fence laws. 23. The Legislature may pass laws for the regulation of live stock, etc. 24. Public roads and bridges. 25. Drawbacks and rebatement of insurance, freight, etc. 26. In regard to the responsibility of a person, corporation or company committing homicide through gross neglect. Section 27. Elections to fill vacancies shall be for the unexpired term only. 28. Current wages for personal service shall never be subject to garnishment. 29. Barraty to be defined and punished. 30. The term of office not fixed by this Constitution not to ex ceed two years. 31. Laws prescribing the qualifications of practitioners of medicine. 32. A board of health and vital statistics. 33. The accounting officer of this State may pay no salary to any person holding any other office of honor or profit under this State or the United States. 34. In regard to the leasing of land for the erection of forts, etc., for the United States. 35. Laws shall be passed to protect laborers on public buildings, etc., against the failure of contractors to pay their wages when due. 36. The payment of teachers public schools. of 37. Mechanics, artisans, etc., shall have a lien upon buildings and articles made or repaired by them for the value of their labor. Section 44. The duties and election of the county treasurer and county surveyor shall be prescribed by the Legislature. 45. Records, rolls and other documents shall be preserved and cared for. 46. The Legislature shall provide by law for organizing and disciplining the militia of the State. 47. Any person who conscientiously scruples to bear arms shall not be compelled to do so. 48. All laws and parts of laws now in force shall remain in force until they expire by limitation. 49. The Legislature shall have power, and it shall be its duty to protect by law property of heads of families. 50. The homestead of a family shall be protected from forced sale for the payment of debts, except for the purchase money thereof. 51. The homestead not in a town or city shall consist of not more than two hundred acres. 52. In regard to the disposition of property on the death of husband or wife, or both. 53. That no inconvenience may arise from the adoption of this Constitution, it is declared that all writs and process shall remain valid. 38. The office of commissioner of 54. Indigent lunatics shall be cared for at the expense of the State. 55. Soldiers of the Texas-Mexican war may be pensioned. 56. Public money may not be appropriated for bringing immigrants into the State. 57. Three millions of acres of the public domain are set apart for the purpose of erecting a new State capitol and other public buildings. ARTICLE XVII. Mode of Amending the Constitution. 1. The Legislature may propose amendments to the Constitution to be voted upon by the qualified electors. PREAMBLE. Humbly invoking the blessings of Almighty God, the people of the State of Texas do ordain and establish this Constitution. ARTICLE I. Bill of Rights. That the general, great, and essential principles of liberty and free government may be recognized and established, we declare: Section 1. Texas is a free and independent State, subject only to the Constitution of the United States; and the maintenance of our free institutions and the perpetuity of the Union depend upon the preservation of the right of local self-government unimpaired to all the States. Sec. 2. All political power is inherent in the people, and all free governments are founded on their authority, and instituted for their benefit. The faith of the people of Texas stands pledged to the preservation of a republican form of government, and, subject to this limitation only, they have at all times the inalienable right to alter, reform or abolish their government in such manner as they may think expedient. Sec. 3. All free men when they form a social compact, have equal rights, and no man or set of men, is entitled to exclusive separate public emoluments or privileges, but in consideration of public services. Sec. 4. No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification of religion, and no preference shall ever be given by law to any one to be excluded from holding office on account of his religious sentiments, provided he ackowledge the existence of a Supreme Being. Sec. 5. No person shall be disqualified to give evidence in any of the courts of this State on account of his religious opinions, or for want of any religious belief, but all oaths or affirmations shall be administered in the mode most binding upon the conscience, and shall be taken subject to the pains and penalties of perjury. Sec. 6. All men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences. No man shall be compelled to attend, erect or sup port any place of worship, or to maintain any ministry against his consent. No human authority ought, in any case whatever, to control or interfere with the rights of conscience in matters of religion, and no preference shall ever be given by law to any religious societies or mode of worship. But it shall be the duty of the Legislature to pass such laws as may be necessary to protect equally every religious denomination in the peaceable enjoyment of its own mode of public worship. Sec. 7. No money shall be appropriated or drawn from the treasury for the benefit of any sect or religious society, theological or religious seminary; nor shall property belonging to the State be appropriated for any such purposes. Sec. 8. Every person shall be at liberty to speak, write or publish his opinions on any subject, being responsible for the abuse of that privilege; and no law shall ever be passed curtailing the liberty of speech or of the press. In prosecutions for the publication of papers investigating the conduct of officers or men in public capacity, or when the matter published is proper for public information, the truth thereof may be given in evidence. And in all indictments for libels the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the facts, under the direc tion of the court, as in other cases. Sec. 9. The people shall be secure in their persons, houses, papers and possessions from all unreasonable seizures or searches, and no warrant to search any place, or to seize any person or thing, shall issue without describing them as near as may be, nor without probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation. Sec. 10. In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall have a speedy public trial by an impartial jury. He shall have the right to demand the nature and cause of the accusation against him, and to have a copy thereof. He shall not be compelled to give evidence against himself. He shall have the right of being heard by himself or counsel or both; shall be confronted with the witnesses against him, and shall have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor. And no person shall be held to answer for a criminal offense, unless on indictment of a grand jury, except in cases in which the punishment is by fine, or imprisonment otherwise than in the penitentiary, in cases of impeachment, and in cases arising in the army or navy, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger. Sec. 11. All prisoners shall be bailable by sufficient sureties, unless for capital offenses when the proof is evident; but this provision shall not be so construed as to prevent bail after indictment found, upon examination of the evidence in such manner as may be prescribed by law. Sec. 12. The writ of habeas corpus is a writ of right, and shall never be suspended. The Legislature shall enact laws to render the remedy speedy and effectual. Sec. 13. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel or unusual punishment inflicted. 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. Sec. 14. No person for the same offense, shall be twice put in jeopardy of life or liberty; nor shall a person be again put upon trial for the same offense after a verdict of not guilty in a court of competent jurisdiction. Sec. 15. The right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate. The Legislature shall pass such laws as may be needed to regulate the same, and to maintain its purity and efficiency. Sec. 16. No bill of attainder, ex post facto law, retroactive law, or any law impairing the obligation of contracts, shall be made. Sec. 17. No person's property shall be taken, damaged or destroyed for or applied to public use without adequate compensation being made, unless by the consent of such person; and, when taken, except for the use of the State, such compensation shall be first made, or secured by a deposit of money; and no irrevocable or uncontrollable grant of special privileges or immunities shall be made; but all privileges and franchises granted by the legislature, or created under its authority, shall be subject to the control thereof. Sec. 18. No person shall ever be imprisoned for debt. Sec. 19. No citizen of this State shall be deprived of life, liberty, property, privileges or immunities, or in any manner disfranchised, except by the due course of the law of the land. Sec. 20. No citizen shall be outlawed; nor shall any person be transported out of the State for any offense committed within the same. Sec. 21. No conviction shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture of estate; and the estates of those who destroy their own lives shall descend or vest as in case of natural death. |