Civil Government of Virginia
by
William F. Fox
Part 5 out of 5
Sixth. For the legal or taxable fees of any public officer or
officer of a court.
SEC. 191. The said exemption shall not be claimed or held in a
shifting stock of merchandise, or in any property, the conveyance
of which by the homestead claimant has been set aside on the
ground of fraud or want of consideration.
SEC. 192. The General Assembly shall prescribe the manner and the
conditions on which a householder or head of a family shall set
apart and hold for himself and family a homestead in any of the
property hereinbefore mentioned. But this section shall not be
construed as authorizing the General Assembly to defeat or impair
the benefits intended to be conferred by the provisions of this
article.
SEC. 193. Nothing contained in this article shall invalidate any
homestead exemption heretofore claimed under the provisions of the
former Constitution; or impair in any manner the right of any
householder or head of a family existing at the time that this
Constitution goes into effect, to select the exemption, or any
part thereof, to which he was entitled under the former
Constitution; provided that such right, if hereafter exercised, be
not in conflict with the exemptions set forth in sections One
Hundred and Ninety and One Hundred and Ninety-one. But no person
who has selected and received the full exemption allowed by the
former Constitution shall be entitled to select an additional
exemption under this Constitution; and no person who has selected
and received part of the exemption allowed by the former
Constitution shall be entitled to select an additional exemption
beyond the difference between the value of such part and a total
valuation of two thousand dollars. So far as necessary to
accomplish the purposes of this section the provisions of chapter
One Hundred and Seventy-eight of the Code of Virginia, and the
acts amendatory thereof, shall remain in force until repealed by
the General Assembly. The provisions of this article shall be
liberally construed.
SEC. 194. The General Assembly is hereby prohibited from passing
any law staying the collection of debts, commonly known as "stay
laws"; but this section shall not be construed as prohibiting any
legislation which the General Assembly may deem necessary to fully
carry out the provisions of this article.
HEIRS OF PROPERTY.
SEC. 195. The children of parents, one or both of whom were slaves
at and during the period of cohabitation, and who were recognized
by the father as his children, and whose mother was recognized by
such father as his wife, and was cohabited with as such, shall be
as capable of inheriting any estate whereof such father may have
died seized, or possessed, or to which he was entitled, as though
they had been born in lawful wedlock.
ARTICLE XV.
FUTURE CHANGES IN THE CONSTITUTION.
SEC. 196. Any amendment or amendments to the Constitution may be
proposed in the Senate or House of Delegates, and if the same
shall be agreed it by a majority of the members elected to each of
the two houses, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be
entered on their journals, with the ayes and noes taken thereon,
and referred to the General Assembly at its first regular session
held after the next general election of members of the House of
Delegates, and shall be published for three months previous to the
time of such election. If, at such regular session the proposed
amendment or amendments shall be agreed to by a majority of all
the members elected to each house, then it shall be the duty of
the General Assembly to submit such proposed amendment or
amendments to the people, in such manner and at such times as it
shall prescribe; and if the people shall approve and ratify such
amendment or amendments by a majority of the electors, qualified
to vote for members of the General Assembly, noting thereon, such
Amendment or amendments shall become part of the Constitution.
SEC. 197. At such time as the General Assembly may provide, a
majority of the members elected to each house being recorded in
the affirmative, the question, "shall there be a convention to
revise the Constitution and amend the same?" shall be submitted to
the electors qualified to vote for members of the General
Assembly; and in case a majority of the electors so qualified,
voting thereon, shall vote in favor of a convention for such
purpose, the General Assembly, at its next session, shall provide
for the election of delegates to such convention; and no
convention for such purpose shall be otherwise called.
SCHEDULE.
That no inconvenience may arise from the adoption of this
Constitution, and in order to provide for carrying it into
complete operation, it is hereby ordained that:
SECTION 1. The common law and the statute laws in force at the
time this Constitution goes into effect, so far as not repugnant
thereto or repealed thereby, shall remain in force until they
expire by their own limitation, or are altered or repealed by the
General Assembly.
SEC. 2. All ordinances adopted by this Contention and appended to
the official original draft of the Constitution delivered to the
Secretary of the Commonwealth shall have the same force and
effect, as if they were parts of this Constitution.
SEC. 3. Except as modified by this Constitution, all writs,
actions and causes of action, prosecutions, lights of individuals,
of bodies corporate or politic, and of the State, shall continue.
All legal proceedings, civil and criminal, pending at the time
this Constitution goes into effect, or instituted prior to the
first day of February, nineteen hundred and four, in any county or
circuit court as now existing, shall be prosecuted therein:
provided, that all such matters, which are not finally terminated
before the day last above mentioned, shall, on that date, by
operation of this Constitution and Schedule, be transferred to the
circuit court of the county or city created under this
Constitution, and shall be proceeded with therein. All such
matters pending in the city courts, preserved by this
Constitution, when the same goes into effect, or thereafter
instituted therein, shall continue in said courts, and be therein
proceeded with, until otherwise provided by law. All matters
before justices of the peace or police justices at the time this
Constitution goes into effect, shall be proceeded with before
them, until otherwise provided by law. All legal proceedings
prosecuted after this Constitution goes into effect, whether in
any of the courts now existing, or in those created by this
Constitution, shall be proceeded with in the manner now or
hereafter provided by law, except as otherwise required by this
Constitution.
SEC. 4. All taxes, fines, penalties, forfeitures and escheats,
accrued or accruing to the Commonwealth, or to any political
subdivision thereof, under the present Constitution, or under the
laws now in force, shall, under this Constitution, enure to the
use of the Commonwealth, or of such subdivision thereof
SEC 5 All recognizances, and other obligations, and all other
instruments entered into or executed before the adoption of this
Constitution, or before the complete organization of the
departments thereunder, to the Commonwealth, or to any county, or
political subdivision thereof, city, town board, or other public
corporation, or institution therein, or to any public officer,
shall remain binding and valid, and rights and liabilities
thereunder shall continue and may be enforced or prosecuted in the
courts of this State as now or here after provided by law
SEC 6 From the day this Constitution goes into effect, the present
judges of the Supreme Court of Appeals, or their successors then
in office, shall be the judges of the Supreme Court of Appeals
created by this Constitution, and continue in office, unless
sooner removed, until February the first, nineteen hundred and
seven. The jurisdiction of the court shall be as now or hereafter
provided by law, subject to the provisions of this Constitution.
All proceedings, then pending in the court as now organized,
shall, by virtue of this Constitution, be transferred to and
disposed of by the court created by this Constitution.
SEC 7 The present judicial system of county and circuit courts of
the Commonwealth is continued, and the terms of the several judges
thereof, with the powers and duties now possessed by them
respectively, are continued, until the first day of February,
nineteen hundred and four, as if this Constitution had not been
adopted, on which day the judicial system of circuit courts
created by this Constitution shall go into operation. The terms of
the judges of the city courts, as preserved by this Constitution,
of the cities of Alexandria, Charlottesville, Danville,
Fredericksburg, Lynchburg, Petersburg, Norfolk, Portsmouth,
Richmond, Staunton, Manchester, Roanoke, Winchester, and Newport
News, shall continue until the first day of February, nineteen
hundred and seven, and the terms of the judges of the city courts,
as preserved by this Constitution, of the cities of Bristol,
Radford and Buena Vista, shall continue until the first day of
February, nineteen hundred and four, unless the said courts shall
be sooner abolished The privilege now allowed by statute to judges
of county courts and to judges of certain city courts to practice
law, shall continue during the terms of the judges whose terms are
continued by the Schedule, unless otherwise provided by-law
SEC 8 The terms of the clerks of the county and circuit courts now
in office, or their successors, shall continue until the first day
of February, nineteen hundred and four, and thereupon, the several
clerks of the county courts in those counties in which such clerks
are now ex-officio clerks of the circuit courts of said counties
shall be and become the county clerks of their respective
counties, and the clerks of all the other county courts of the
State, except the counties of Accomac, Augusta, Bedford, Campbell,
Elizabeth City, Fairfax, Lee, Loudoun Hanover Henrico, Rockingham,
Nansemond, Southampton, Pittsylvania, Nelson and Fauquier, and, as
such, the clerks of the circuit courts created therefor by this
Constitution, and shall hold office as such until the first day of
January, nineteen hundred and six, unless sooner removed, and then
successors shall be elected on Tuesday after the first Monday in
November, nineteen hundred and five, provided that the first term
of the clerks so elected be for six years. In the counties of
Accomac, Augusta, Bedford, Campbell, Elizabeth City, Fairfax, Lee,
Loudoun, Hanover, Henrico, Rockingham, Nansemond, Southampton,
Pittsylvania, Nelson and Fauquier, in which there are now separate
clerks for the county and circuit courts thereof, there shall be
elected on Tuesday after the first Monday in November nineteen
hundred and three, county clerks for such counties. The terms of
the clerks now in office, or their successors, of the several city
courts preserved by this Constitution, shall continue until the
first day of January, nineteen hundred and seven, and their
successors shall be elected on Tuesday after the first Monday in
November, nineteen hundred and five, but if any of such city
courts shall be sooner abolished as provided in this Constitution
or by law, then the term of the clerk of any such court shall
thereupon determine.
SEC 9 The first election of the Governor and of all officers
required by this Constitution, to be chosen by the qualified
voters of the State at large, shall be held on the Tuesday after
the first Monday in November, nineteen hundred and five, and their
terms of office shall begin on the first day of February following
their election. The present incumbents of said offices, or their
successors, shall continue in office until the last named day.
SEC 10 The first election of members of the House of Delegates,
and of all county and district officers, to be elected by the
people under this Constitution, except as otherwise provided in
this Schedule, shall be held on Tuesday after the first Monday in
November, in the year nineteen hundred and three, and the terms of
office of the several officers elected at that or any subsequent
election shall begin on the first day of January, next after their
election, except as otherwise provided in this Constitution or in
this Schedule. And the terms of the office of the sheriff,
commonwealth's attorney, treasurer, commissioners of the revenue,
superintendents of the poor, supervisors of the several counties,
justices of the peace, and overseers of the poor, and of any
incumbent of any other county or district office not abolished by
this Constitution, nor herein specifically mentioned, now in
office, or their successors, or whose terms of office shall begin
on the first day of July, nineteen hundred and two, are continued
until January the first, nineteen hundred and four.
The terms of the present members of the House of Delegates, and
the terms of the senators now in office, or (in case of vacancies
therein), their successors, representing the senatorial districts
bearing even numbers, are extended until the second Wednesday in
January, nineteen hundred and four, provided, that the term of the
senator, now residing m the city of Richmond, who by the
provisions of the apportionment act, approved April the second,
nineteen hundred and two, is continued in office as one of the
senators from the thirty-eighth senatorial district thereby
created, be extended until the second Wednesday in January,
nineteen hundred and six. The terms of the senators now in office,
or (in case of vacancies therein), their successors, representing
the senatorial districts bearing odd numbers are extended until
the second Wednesday in January, nineteen hundred and six.
In the senatorial districts bearing even numbers, there shall be
elected, on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November,
nineteen hundred and three, for a term of four years, to begin on
the second Wednesday in January succeeding their election, members
of the Senate to represent such districts; in the senatorial
districts bearing odd numbers, and in the city of Richmond to fill
the vacancy, which will, as above provided, occur on the second
Wednesday in January, nineteen hundred and six, there shall be
elected, on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November,
nineteen hundred and five, for a term of two years, to begin on
the second Wednesday in January succeeding their election, members
of the Senate to represent such districts; and on the Tuesday
after the first Monday in November, nineteen hundred and seven,
there shall be elected, for the term of four years, to begin on
the second Wednesday in January succeeding their election, a
senator from each senatorial district in the State.
SEC. 11. All other state, county, and district officers, and their
successors, who may be in office at the time this Constitution
goes into effect, except the Auditor of Public Accounts, the
Second Auditor, the Register of the Land Office, the
Superintendent of Public Printing, the Commissioner of Labor and
Industrial Statistics, Railroad Commissioner, notaries public, the
Adjutant-General, the Superintendent and the Surgeon of the
Penitentiary, the Manager and the Surgeon of the State Prison
Farm, the superintendents of the several state hospitals, and the
school superintendents for counties and cities, and school
trustees, shall, unless their respective offices be abolished, or
unless otherwise provided by this Constitution or Schedule, hold
their respective offices, and discharge the respective duties and
exercise the respective powers thereof, until January the first,
nineteen hundred and four. The terms of the present incumbents in
the offices of Auditor of Public Accounts, Second Auditor,
Register of the Land Office, Superintendent of Public Printing,
and Commissioner of Labor and Industrial Statistics, shall
continue until March the first, nineteen hundred and four. The
term of the Railroad Commissioner shall end as soon as the State
Corporation Commission shall be organized. Notaries public shall
continue in office until their respective commissions shall
expire. The term of the office of Adjutant-General shall expire
March the first, nineteen hundred and six. The Superintendent and
the Surgeon of the Penitentiary, the Manager and the Surgeon of
the State Prison Farm, the superintendents of the several state
hospitals, shall continue in office until their successors shall
be appointed by the respective boards empowered under this
Constitution to make the several appointments. The school
superintendents for counties and cities shall remain in office for
their respective terms, and until their successors are appointed.
School trustees now in office, or their successors, shall remain
in office until otherwise provided by law. Electoral boards with
the powers conferred by existing laws, except the appointment of
registrars, shall remain in office until March, the first,
nineteen hundred and four.
SEC. 12. The terms of the State Board of Education, the State
Corporation Commission, and the Board of Agriculture and
Immigration, the directors of public institutions and prisons, and
of each state hospital, and the Commissioner of State Hospitals,
to be first elected, or appointed, under this Constitution, shall
begin on March the first, nineteen hundred and three. The board of
any of the above-named departments and institutions as now
constituted shall continue until the boards created under this
Constitution for such departments and institutions respectively
are duly organized. And the terms of the members of the Board of
Fisheries are continued until March the first, nineteen hundred
and six. The terms of the trustees or visitors of the state
educational institutions, and other honorary appointments made by
the Governor, are continued until otherwise provided by law.
SEC. 13. Charters of incorporation may, until the first day of
April, nineteen hundred and three, be granted or amended by the
courts of the State in accordance with the laws in force when this
Constitution goes into effect, unless the General Assembly shall
sooner provide for the creation of corporations as required by
this Constitution.
SEC. 14. The terms of all officers elected by the qualified voters
of a city, and of their successors, in office at the time this
Constitution goes into effect, or whose terms of office begin on
the first day of July, nineteen hundred and two, except the terms
of mayors, of members of city councils and of the clerks of city
courts, are continued until January the first, nineteen hundred
and six; and their successors shall be elected on the Tuesday
after the first Monday in November, nineteen hundred and five. The
terms of all city officers, not so elected, shall expire as
provided in the charters of the several cities, or as may be
provided by law.
SEC. 15. Until otherwise provided by law, the mayors of the
several cities shall continue in office until September the first,
nineteen hundred and four, and their successors shall be elected
the second Tuesday in June, nineteen hundred and four. Until
otherwise provided by law, the members of the several city
councils shall continue in office for the terms prescribed in the
charters of their respective cities, except that where their terms
are prescribed as ending on the first day of July of any year,
they shall be extended until the first day of September following.
SEC. 16. Vacancies in any office, the term of which is confirmed
or extended by this Schedule, occurring during such term or
extension thereof, shall be filled in the manner prescribed by
law.
Sec. 17. All officers, whose terms of office are extended by this
Schedule, required by law or municipal ordinance to give bond for
the faithful discharge of the duties of their respective offices,
shall, prior to the expiration of the terms for which they were
respectively chosen, before the court or other authority before
whom such officer was required by law or municipal ordinance to
give such bond, enter into a new bond, in the same penalty and
with such security as was prescribed by law or municipal ordinance
in respect to his former bond, and with like conditions as therein
prescribed, for the faithful discharge of the duties of his office
for the extended term herein provided for, and until his successor
shall have been duly chosen, and shall have qualified according to
law. Upon failure to give such bond within the time above
prescribed, the office shall, upon the expiration of the term for
which the incumbent thereof was chosen, become vacant,
SEC. 18. In all elections held after this Constitution goes into
effect, the qualifications of electors shall be those required by
Article Two of this Constitution.
SEC. 19. The General Assembly which convened on the first
Wednesday in December, nineteen hundred and one, shall be called
by the Governor to meet in session at the Capitol at twelve
o'clock P.M., on Tuesday, the fifteenth day of July, nineteen
hundred and two. It shall be vested with all the powers, charged
with all the duties, and subject to all the limitations prescribed
by this Constitution in reference to the General Assembly, except
as to the limitation upon the period of its session,
qualifications of members, and as to the time at which any of its
acts shall take effect; but the ineligibility of the members
thereof to be elected to any other office during their terms as
members of the General Assembly shall be such as is imposed by
this Constitution. The said General Assembly shall elect judges
for all of the circuit courts provided for in this Constitution,
and also of the corporation courts for Bristol, Radford, and Buena
Vista, unless said city courts are sooner abolished.
SEC. 20. The said General Assembly shall enact such laws as may be
deemed proper, including those necessary to put this Constitution
into complete operation; to confirm those officers whose
appointment is made by this Constitution subject to confirmation
by the General Assembly or either house thereof; and to transact
other proper business; and such session shall continue so long as
may be necessary. The members shall receive for their services
four dollars per day, for the time when the General Assembly is
actually in session, including Sundays and recesses of not
exceeding five days, and the mileage provided by law; the Speaker
of the House of Delegates and President of the Senate shall each
receive seven dollars per day for the same period and the mileage
provided by law; and the other officers and employees shall
receive such compensation for their services as the General
Assembly may prescribe. Provision may be made for compensation at
said rate of four dollars per day of members of legislative
committees which may sit during any recess of said session.
SEC. 21. The compensation and duties of the Clerk of the House of
Delegates and of the Clerk of the Senate shall continue as now
fixed by law until the first day of January, nineteen hundred and
three, after which date their compensation shall be as prescribed
by section Sixty-six of this Constitution.
SEC. 22. When the General Assembly convenes on the fifteenth day
of July, nineteen hundred and two, its members and officers,
before entering upon the discharge of their duties, shall
severally take and subscribe the oath or affirmation prescribed by
section Thirty-four of the Constitution. And not later than the
twentieth day of July, nineteen hundred and two, the Governor and
all other executive officers of the State, whose offices are at
the seat of government, and all judges of courts of record, shall
severally take and subscribe such oath or affirmation; and upon
the failure of any such officer, executive or judicial, to take
such oath by the day named, his office shall thereby become
vacant. Such oaths or affirmations shall be taken and subscribed
before any person authorized by existing laws to administer an
oath. The Secretary of the Commonwealth shall cause to be printed
the necessary blanks for carrying into effect this provision, and
the said oaths and affirmations so taken and subscribed, except of
the members and officers of the General Assembly, shall be
returned to and filed in his office; and those taken by the
members and officers of the General Assembly shall be preserved in
the records of the respective houses.
SEC. 23. The official copy of the Constitution and Schedule, and
of any ordinance adopted by the Convention, shall, as soon as they
shall be enrolled, be signed by the President and attested by the
Secretary of the Convention, and the President will thereupon
cause the same to be delivered to the Secretary of the
Commonwealth, who will file and preserve the same securely, among
the archives of the State in his custody.
The Secretary of the Commonwealth will cause the Constitution,
Schedule, and said ordinances to be transcribed in a book to be
provided for the purpose and safely kept in his office.
The Secretary of the Convention will immediately upon the adoption
of this Schedule, deliver a certified copy of the Constitution and
Schedule, and of said ordinances, to the Governor of the
Commonwealth.
SEC. 24. The Governor is authorized and directed to immediately
issue his proclamation announcing that this revised and amended
Constitution has been ordained by the people of Virginia,
assembled in Convention, through their representatives, as the
Constitution for the government of the people of the State, and
will go into effect as such, subject to the provisions of the
Schedule annexed thereto, on the tenth of July, nineteen hundred
and two, at noon, and calling upon all the people of Virginia to
render their true and loyal support to the same, as the organic
law of the Commonwealth.
SEC. 25. This Constitution shall, except as is otherwise provided
in the Schedule, go into effect on the tenth day of July, nineteen
hundred and two, at noon.
This Schedule shall take effect from its passage.
THE POPULATION OF VIRGINIA AT VARIOUS DATES.
YEAR. POPULATION. AUTHORITY.
1616 350 Cooke's Virginia.
1622 4,000 Cooke's Virginia.
1648 15,300, of which 300 were slaves Cooke's Virginia.
1670 40,000, of which 2,000 were slaves Cooke's Virginia.
1700 70,000, white and colored Cooke's Virginia.
1715 90,000, of which 23,000 were slaves Fiske's Old Virginia.
1756 293,000, of which 120,000 were slaves Cooke's Virginia.
1790 746,610, white and colored United States Census.
1800 880,200, white and colored United States Census.
1810 974,600, white and colored United States Census.
1820 1,065,116, white and colored United States Census.
1830 1,211,405, white and colored United States Census.
1840 1,239,797, white and colored United States Census.
1850 1,421,661, of which 526,861 were colored United States Census.
1860 1,596,318, of which 548,947 were colored United States Census.
1870 1,225,163, of which 512,841 were colored United States Census.
1880 1,512,565, of which 631,616 were colored United States Census.
1890 1,655,980, of which 635,438 were colored United States Census.
1900 1,854,980, white and colored United States Census.
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