have the same provision for their extension for a further period not exceeding thirty days.

The provisions fixing the quorum, giving a minority the power to adjourn from day to day and to compel the attendance of absentees, and limiting the power of either house to adjourn without the consent of the other, were introduced at the revision of 1830. Under the first constitution either house, without the consent of the other, could adjourn for any time and to any place.

SEC. 7. The House of Delegates shall choose its own Speaker; and in the absence of the lieutenant-governor, or when he shall exercise the office of the governor, the Senate shall choose from their own body a president pro tempore; and each house shall appoint its own officers, settle its own rules of proceeding, and direct writs of election for supplying intermediate vacancies; but if vacancies shall occur during the recess of the general assembly, such writs may be issued by the governor, under such regulations as may be prescribed by law. Each house shall judge of the election, qualification, and returns of its members; may punish them for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member.

Same as Article IV., sec. 8, Constitution 1851, and Article IV., sec. 9, Constitution 1864, except the omission of the words "but not a second time for the same offence," which in those constitutions concluded the section. See also Article III, sec. 9, Constitution 1830, and compare Article I., sec. 5, clauses 1 and 2, U. S. Constitution.

Each house, having the power to make rules for its own government, may grant leaves of absence, excuse members from voting, when proper, and recognize what are called pairs. Wise v. Bigger, 79 Va. 269.

SEC. 8. The members of the general assembly shall receive for their services a salary, to be ascertained by law and paid out of the public treasury; but no act increasing such salary shall take effect until after the end of the term for which the members of the House of Delegates voting thereon were elected; and no senator or delegate, during the term for which he shall have been elected, shall be appointed to any civil office of profit under the commonwealth which has been created, or the emoluments of which have been increased during such term, except offices filled by election by the people.

Amendent 1876, substituting the word "salary" for "compensation " and making no other change. Before amendment this section was the same as Article IV., sec. 10, Constitutions 1850

and 1864, and, except immaterial verbal differences, the same as Article III., sec. 8, Constitution 1830. Compare Article I., sec. 6, clauses 1 and 2, U. S. Constitution.

This section might with advantage go further and provide that no senator or delegate shall be eligible to any office to be filled by the legislature during the term for which he was elected.

SEC. 9. Bills and resolutions may originate in either of the two houses of the general assembly, to be approved or rejected by either, and may be amended by either house, with the consent of the other.

This section is the same as Article IV., sec. 11, Constitutions 1851 and 1864, except that in those constitutions the words "to be approved or rejected by" were followed by the words "the other" instead of "either."

Under the first two constitutions all laws were required to originate in the House of Delegates, to be approved or rejected by the Senate, or amended with the consent of the House of Delegates; and by the first constitution money bills could not be altered by the Senate, but were required to be wholly approved or rejected. The legislative equality of the two houses was first established by the Constitution of 1851.

SEC. 10. Each house of the general assembly shall keep a journal of its proceedings, which shall be published from time to time; and the yeas and nays of the members of either house on any question shall, at the desire of one-fifth of those present, be entered on the journal. No bill shall become a law until it has been read on three different days of the session in the house in which it originated, unless two-thirds of the members in that house shall otherwise determine.

The same as Article IV., sec. 12, Constitutions 1851 and 1864, except that in those constitutions two-thirds of the members "elected to that house" instead of "in that house," were required to concur in dispensing with the reading of a bill on three different days.

The journals of each house import absolute verity, and it is not competent for the courts to investigate their accuracy. Wise v. Bigger, 79 Va. 269.

The provisions on the subject of legislation, scattered through the Constitution, should for convenience be grouped together.

These provisions are Article IV, sec. 8, Article V, secs. 9, 10 and 15, and Article X, secs. 11 and 16.

SEC. 11. The members of the general assembly shall, in all cases except treason, felony, or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during the sessions of their respective houses; and for any speech or debate in either house they shall not be questioned in any other place. They shall not be subject to arrest, under any civil process, during the session of the general assembly, nor for fifteen days next before the convening and after the termination of each session. This was a new section, modeled in part on Article I., sec. 6, clause 1, U. S. Constitution.

SEC. 12. The whole number of members to which the State may at any time be entitled in the House of Representatives of the United States shall be apportioned, as nearly as may be, amongst the several counties, cities, and towns of the state according to their population.

This section is the same as Article IV., sec. 13, Constitution 1864. The Constitutions of 1830 and 1851 provided that representatives should be apportioned among the counties, cities and towns of the State according to their respective numbers, which should be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons, conforming to Article I., sec. 3, U. S. Constitution. The Constitution of 1776, ante-dating the Federal Constitution, provided for the election of delegates to the Continental Congress by joint ballot of both Houses of Assembly.

SEC. 13. In the apportionment the state shall be divided into districts corresponding in number with the representatives to which it may be entitled in the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States, which shall be formed, respectively, of contiguous counties, cities, and towns; be compact, and include, as nearly as may be, an equal number of population.

This section is the same as Article IV., sec. 14, Constitutions 1851 and 1864, except that the Constitution of 1851 provided that the Congressional districts should include as nearly as might be "an equal number of the population upon which is based representation in the House of Representatives of the United States.' The power to lay off Congressional districts is political and discretionary, and is not subject to control by the courts. Wise v. Bigger, 79 Va. 269.

SEC. 14. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended unless when, in cases of invasion or rebellion, the public safety may require it. The general assembly shall not pass any bill of attainder, or any ex post facto law, or any law impairing the obligation of contracts, or any law whereby private property shall be taken for public uses without just compensation, or any law abridging the freedom of speech or of the press. No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall any man be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, or otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief, but all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and the same shall in no wise affect, diminish, or enlarge their civil capacities. And the general assembly shall not prescribe any religious test whatever, or confer any peculiar privileges or advantages on any sect or denomination, or pass any law requiring or authorizing any religious society, or the people of any district within this commonwealth to levy on themselves or others any tax for the erection or repair of any house of public worship, or for the support of any church or ministry, but it shall be left free to every person to select his religious instructor, and to make for his support such private contract as he shall please.

The Constitutions of 1830, 1851 and 1864 forbade the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in any case, making no exception; and, in the clause relating to religious freedom, used the word "burdened" instead of "burthened," the latter being the form used in the act from which this clause is taken. Otherwise this section is the same in the Constitutions of 1830, 1851 and 1864, and in the present Constitution, except that in the Constitution of 1830 the word "one" was inserted between "any" and "sect" in the clause forbidding peculiar privileges or advantages being conferred on any sect or denomination.

The first sentence as it now stands is the same as Article I., sec. 9, clause 2, U. S. Constitution. The prohibitions contained in the second sentence are also taken from the Federal Constitution, as follows: That against the passage of any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts from Article I., sec. 10, clause 1; that against the passage of any law taking private property for public uses without just compensation from Amendment V.; and that against the passage of any law abridging the freedom of speech or of the press from Amendment I. The third sentence is taken from the act for establishing religious freedom. See Code 1887, sec. 1394.

Habeas Corpus.-A law giving the circuit court of the city of Richmond exclusive jurisdiction over habeas corpus proceedings to test the right of the Prison Association of Virginia to detain persons committed to its custody does not unlawfully abridge the constitutional privilege of such persons. Prison Association v. Ashby, 93 Va. 667.

Ex Post Facto Laws.-The provision against ex post facto laws forbids the passage of any law which makes an act criminal which was not so when it was committed, or, if criminal, makes it more highly penal, or reduces the amount, or changes the character, of the evidence necessary to secure a conviction; but the prohibition does not apply to the forms of criminal procedure. A preliminary examination before a justice may be dispensed with, the mode of summoning juries may be changed, or the duty of issuing the venire facias may be assigned to a different court without violating this provision. Jones v. Commonwealth, 86 Va. 661; Perry v. Commonwealth, 3 Gratt. 632, and Wilson v. Commonwealth, 86 Va. 666.

Obligation of Contracts.-A city charter is not a contract within the meaning of the prohibition against the passage of any law impairing the obligation of contracts, Richmond v. R. & D. R. R. Co., 21 Gratt. 604; nor is the right of public officers to compensation for their services a contract right, Loving v. Auditor, 76 Va. 196; nor the privilege of conducting a lottery, Justice v. Commonwealth, 81 Va. 209, and Dismal Swamp Canal Co. v. Commonwealth, Id. 220; nor does an act conferring on county supervisors the right to erect a bridge, to be managed by commissioners to be appointed by the county court, contain any of the elements of a contract. Supervisors v. Luck, 80 Va. 223.

Corporate charters, though they constitute contracts, are issued subject to the general laws of the State, and such changes as may be made therein. So an act giving prior liens for supplies on the property of manufacturing corporations is not void as impairing the charter rights of such corporations. Va. Development Co. v. Crozer Iron Co., 90 Va. 126. And the State may reasonably limit the amount of charges by a railroad company for the transporta