SEC. 168. All property, except as hereinafter provided, shall be taxed; all taxes, whether state, local, or municipal, shall be uniform upon the same class of subjects within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax, and shall be levied and collected under general laws.
SEC. 169. Except as hereinafter provided, all assessments of real estate and tangible personal property shall be at their fair market value, to be ascertained as prescribed by law. The General Assembly may allow a lower rate of taxation to be imposed for a period of years by a city or town upon land added to its corporate limits, than is imposed on similar property within its limits at the time such land is added. Nothing in this Constitution shall prevent the General Assembly, after the first day of January, nineteen hundred and thirteen, from segregating for the purposes of taxation, the several kinds or classes of property, so as to specify and determine upon what subjects, state taxes, and upon what subjects, local taxes may be levied.
SEC. 170. The General Assembly may levy a tax on incomes in excess of six hundred dollars per annum; may levy a license tax upon any business which cannot be reached by the ad valorem system; and may impose state franchise taxes, and in imposing a franchise tax, may, in its discretion, make the same in lieu of taxes upon other property, in whole or in part, of a transportation, industrial, or commercial corporation. Whenever a franchise tax shall be imposed upon a corporation doing business in this State, or whenever all the capital, however invested, of a corporation chartered under the laws of this State, shall be taxed, the shares of stock issued by any such corporation, shall not be further taxed. No city or town shall impose any tax or assessment upon abutting land owners for street or other public local improvements, except for making and improving the walkways upon then existing streets, and improving and paving then existing alleys, and for either the construction, or for the use of sewers; and the same when imposed, shall not be in excess of the peculiar benefits resulting therefrom to such abutting land owners. Except in cities and towns, no such taxes or assessments, for local public improvements shall be imposed on abutting land owners.
SEC. 171. The General Assembly shall provide for a re-assessment of real estate, in the year nineteen, hundred and five, and every fifth year thereafter, except that of railway and canal corporations, which, after the January the first, nineteen hundred and thirteen, may be assessed as the General Assembly may provide
SEC 172 The General Assembly shall provide for the special and separate assessment of all coal and other mineral land, but until such special assessment is made, such land shall be assessed under existing laws
SEC 173 The General Assembly shall levy a state capitation tax of, and not exceeding, one dollar and fifty cents per annum on every male resident of the State not less than twenty one years of age, except those pensioned by this State for military services, one dollar of which shall be applied exclusively in aid of the public free schools, in proportion to the school population, and the residue shall be returned and paid by the State into the treasury of the county or city in which it was collected, to be appropriated by the proper county or city authorities to such county or city purposes as they shall respectively determine, but said state capitation tax shall not be a lien upon, nor collected by legal process from, the personal property which may be exempt from levy or distress under the poor debtor's law. The General Assembly may authorize the board of supervisors of any county, or the council of any city or town, to levy an additional capitation tax not exceeding one dollar per annum on every such resident within its limits, which shall be applied in aid of the public schools of such county, city or town, or for such other county, city or town purposes as they shall determine
SEC 174 After this Constitution shall be in force, no statute of limitation shall run against any claim of the State for taxes upon any property, nor shall the failure to assess property for taxation defeat a subsequent assessment for and collection of taxes for any preceding year or years, unless such property shall have passed to a bona fide purchaser of value, without notice, in which latter case the property shall be assessed for taxation against such purchaser from the date of his purchase
SEC 175 The natural oyster beds, rocks and shoals, in the waters of this State, shall not be leased, rented or sold, but shall be held in trust for the benefit of the people of this State, subject to such regulations and restrictions as the General Assembly may prescribe, but the General Assembly may, from time to time, define and determine such natural beds, rocks or shoals, by surveys or otherwise
SEC 176 The State Corporation Commission shall annually ascertain and assess, at the time hereinafter mentioned, and in the manner required of the Board of Public Works, by the law in force on January the first nineteen hundred and two, the value of the roadbed, and other real estate, rolling stock, and all other personal property whatsoever (except its franchise and the non taxable shares of stock issued by other corporations) in this State, of each railway corporation, whatever its motive power, now or hereafter liable for taxation upon such property, the canal bed and other real estate, the boats and all other personal property whatsoever (except its franchise and the non taxable shares of stock issued by other corporations) in this State, of each canal corporation, empowered to conduct transportation, and such property shall be taxed for state, county, city, town and district purposes in the same manner as authorized by said law, at such rates of taxation as may be imposed by them, respectively, from time to time, upon the real estate and personal property of natural persons provided, that no tax shall be laid upon the net income of such corporations.
SEC. 177. Each such railway or canal corporation, including also any such as is exempt from taxation as to its works, visible property, or profits, shall also pay an annual state franchise tax equal to one per centum upon the gross receipts hereinafter specified in section One Hundred and Seventy eight for the privilege of exercising its franchise in this State, which, with the taxes provided for in section One Hundred and Seventy six, shall be in lieu of all other taxes or license charges whatsoever upon the franchises of such corporation, the shares of stock issued by it, and upon its property assessed under section One Hundred and Seventy six provided, that nothing herein contained shall exempt such corporation from the annual fee required by section One Hundred and fifty seven of this Constitution, or from assessments for street and other public local improvements authorized by section One Hundred and Seventy, and provided, further, that nothing herein contained shall annul or interfere with, or prevent any contract or agreement by ordinance between street railway corporations and municipalities, as to compensation for the use of the streets or alleys of such municipalities by such railway corporations.
SEC 178 The amount of such franchise tax shall be equal to one per centum of the gross transportation receipts of such corporation, for the year ending June the thirtieth of each year, to be ascertained by the State Corporation Commission, in the following manner:
(a) When the road or canal of the corporation lies wholly within this State, the tax shall be equal to one per centum of the entire gross transportation receipts of such corporation
(b) When the road or canal of the corporation lies partly within and partly without this State or is operated as a part of a line or system extending beyond this State, the tax shall be equal to one per centum of the gross transportation receipts earned within this State, to be determined as follows: By ascertaining the average gross transportation receipts per mile over its whole extent within and without this State, and multiplying the result by the number of miles operated within this State provided, that from the sum so ascertained there may be a reasonable deduction because of any excess of value of the terminal facilities or other similar advantages in other states over similar facilities or advantages in this State.
SEC 179 Each corporation mentioned in sections One Hundred and Seventy six and One Hundred and Seventy seven shall annually, on the first day of September, make to the State Corporation Commission the report which the law, in force January the first, nineteen hundred and two, required to be made annually to the Board of Public Works by every railroad and canal company in this State, not exempt from taxation by virtue of its charter, which report shall also show the property taxable in this State belonging to the corporation on the thirtieth day of June preceding, and its total gross transportation receipts for the year ending on that date. Upon receiving such report the State Corporation Commission shall, after thirty days' notice previously given, as provided by said law, assess the value of the property not exempt from taxation, of the corporation, and ascertain the amount of the franchise tax and other state taxes chargeable against it. All taxes for which the corporation is liable shall be paid on or before the first day of December following the provisions of said law, except as changed by this article shall apply to the ascertainment and collection of the franchise, as well as other taxes of such corporations. Said taxes, until paid, shall be a lien upon the property within this State of the corporation owning the same, and take precedence of all other liens or incumbrances.
SEC. 180 Any corporation aggrieved by the assessment and ascertainment made under sections One Hundred and Seventy six and One Hundred and Seventy eight may, within thirty days after receiving a certified copy thereof, apply for relief to the circuit court of the city of Richmond Justice of the application, setting forth the grounds of complaint, verified by affidavit, shall be served on the State Corporation Commission, and on the Attorney General whose duty it shall be to represent the State. The court, if of opinion that the assessment or tax is excessive shall reduce the same, but if of opinion that it is insufficient, shall increase the same. Unless the applicant paid the taxes under protest, when due, the court, if it disallow the application, shall give judgment against it for a sum, by way of damages, equal to interest at the rate of one per centum per month upon the amount of taxes from the time the same were payable. If the application be allowed, in whole or in part, appropriate relief shall be granted, including the right to recover any excess of taxes that may have been paid, with legal interest thereon, and costs, from the State or local authorities, or both, as the case may be, the judgment to be enforceable by mandamus or other proper process issuing from the court finally adjudicating the application. Subject to the provisions of Article Six of this Constitution, the Supreme Court of Appeals may allow a court of error to either party.
SEC. 181. As of January the first, nineteen hundred and three, the system of taxation, as to the corporations mentioned in sections One Hundred and Seventy six and One Hundred and Seventy seven, shall be as set forth in sections One Hundred and Seventy six to One Hundred and Eighty, inclusive, and for that year the franchise tax shall be based upon such gross receipts for the year ending the thirtieth day of June, nineteen hundred and three, and such system shall so remain until the first day of January, nineteen hundred and thirteen, and thereafter until modified or changed, as may be prescribed by law provided, that, if the said system shall for any reason become inoperative, the General Assembly shall have power to adopt some other system.
SEC. 182. Until otherwise prescribed by law, the shares of stock issued by trust or security companies chartered by this State, and by incorporated banks, shall be taxed in the same manner in which the shares of stock issued by incorporated banks were taxed, by the law in force January the first, nineteen hundred and two, but from the total assessed value of the shares of stock of any such company or bank, there shall be deducted the assessed value of its real estate otherwise taxed in this State, and the value of each share of stock shall be its proportion of the remainder.
SEC. 183. Except as otherwise provided in this Constitution, the following property and no other, shall be exempt from taxation, state and local, but the General Assembly may hereafter tax any of the property hereby exempted save that mentioned in sub-section (a)
(a) Property directly or indirectly owned by the State, however held, and property lawfully owned and held by counties, cities, towns, or school districts, used wholly and exclusively for county, city, town, or public school purposes, and obligations issued by the State since the fourteenth day of February, eighteen hundred and eighty two or hereafter exempted by law. (b) Buildings with land they actually occupy, and the furniture and furnishings therein lawfully owned and held by churches or religious bodies, and wholly and exclusively used for religious worship, or for the residence of the minister of any such church or religious body, together with the additional adjacent land reasonably necessary for the convenient use of any such building.
(c) Private family burying grounds not exceeding one acre in area, reserved as such by will or deed or shown by other sufficient evidence to be reserved as such, and so exclusively used, and public burying grounds and lots therein exclusively used for burial purposes, and not conducted for profit, whether owned or managed by local authorities or by private corporations.
(d) Buildings with the land they actually occupy and the furniture, furnishings, books and instruments therein, wholly devoted to educational purposes, belonging to, and actually and exclusively occupied and used by churches, public libraries, incorporated colleges, academies, industrial schools, seminaries, or other incorporated institutions of learning, including the Virginia Historical Society, which are not corporations having shares of stock or otherwise owned by individuals or other corporations, together with such additional adjacent land owned by such churches, libraries and educational institutions as may be reasonably necessary for the convenient use of such buildings, respectively, and also the buildings thereon used as residences by the officers or instructors of such educational institutions, and also the permanent endowment funds held by such libraries and educational institutions directly or in trust, and not invested in real estate provided, that such libraries and educational institutions are not conducted for profit of any person or persons, natural or corporate directly or under any guise or pretence whatsoever. But the exemption mentioned in this sub section shall not apply to any industrial school, individual or corporate, not the property of the State, which does work for compensation, or manufactures and sells articles, in the community in which such school is located; provided, that nothing herein contained shall restrict any such school from doing work for or selling its own products or any other articles to any of its students or employees.
(e) Real estate belonging to, actually and exclusively occupied, and used by, and personal property, including endowment funds, belonging to Young Men's Christian Associations, and other similar religious associations, orphan or other asylums, reformatories, hospitals and nunneries, which are not conducted for profit, but purely and completely as charities.
(f) Buildings with the land they actually occupy, and the furniture and furnishings therein, belonging to any benevolent or charitable association and used exclusively for lodge purposes or meeting rooms by such association, together with such additional adjacent land as may be necessary for the convenient rise of the buildings for such purposes; and
(g) Property belonging to the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, the Confederate Memorial Literary Society, and the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union.
No inheritance tax shall be charged, directly or indirectly, against any legacy or devise made according to law for the benefit of any institution or other body or any natural or corporate person whose property is exempt from taxation as hereinbefore mentioned in this section.
Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to exempt from taxation the property of any person, firm, association or corporation, who shall, expressly or impliedly, directly or indirectly, contract or promise to pay any sum of money or other benefit, on account of death, sickness, or accident to any of its members or any other person; and whenever any building or land, or part thereof, mentioned in this section and not belonging to the State, shall be leased or shall be a source of revenue or profit, all of such buildings and land shall be liable to taxation as other land and buildings in the same county, city, or town; and nothing herein contained shall be construed as authorizing or requiring any county, city, or town to tax for county, city or town purposes, in violation of the rights of the lessees thereof existing under any lawful contract heretofore made, any real estate owned by such county, city or town, and heretofore leased by it.
Obligations issued by counties, cities, or towns may be exempted by the authorities of such localities from local taxation.
SEC. 184. No debt shall be contracted by the State except to meet casual deficits in the revenue, to redeem a previous liability of the State, to suppress insurrection, repel invasion, or defend the State in time of war. No scrip, certificate, or other evidence of state indebtedness, shall be issued except for the transfer or redemption of stock previously issued, or for such debts as are expressly authorized in this Constitution.
SEC. 185. Neither the credit of the State, nor of any county, city, or town, shall be, directly or indirectly, under any device or pretence whatsoever, granted to or in aid of any person, association, or corporation; nor shall the State, or any county, city, or town subscribe to or become interested in the stock or obligations of any company, association, or corporation, for the purpose of aiding in the construction or maintenance of its work; nor shall the State become a party to or become interested in any work of internal improvement, except public roads, or engaged in carrying on any such work; nor assume any indebtedness of any county, city, or town, nor lend its credit to the same; but this section shall not prevent a county, city or town from perfecting a subscription to the capital stock of a railroad company authorized by existing charter conditioned upon the affirmative vote of the voters and freeholders of such county, city or town in favor of such subscription: provided, that such vote be had prior to July first, nineteen hundred and three.
SEC. 186. All taxes, licenses, and other revenue of the State, shall be collected by its proper officers and paid into the state treasury. No money shall be paid out of the state treasury except in pursuance of appropriations made by law; and no such appropriation shall be made which is payable more than two years after the end of the session of the General Assembly, at which the law is enacted authorizing the same; and no appropriation shall be made for the payment of any debt or obligation created in the name of the State during the war between the Confederate States and the United States. Nor shall any county, city, or town pay any debt or obligation created by such county, city, or town in aid of said war.
SEC. 187. The General Assembly shall provide and maintain a sinking fund in accordance with the provisions of section Ten of the act, approved February the twentieth, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, entitled "an act to provide for the settlement of the public debt of Virginia not funded under the provisions of an act entitled an act to ascertain and declare Virginia's equitable share of the debt created before, and actually existing at the time of the partition of her territory and resources, and to provide for the issuance of bonds covering the same, and the regular and prompt payment of the interest theron, approved February the fourteenth, eighteen hundred and eighty-two." Every law hereafter enacted by the General Assembly, creating a debt or authorizing a loan, shall provide for the creation and maintenance of a sinking fund for the payment or redemption of the same.
SEC. 188. No other or greater amount of tax or revenue shall, at any time, be levied than may be required for the necessary expenses of the government, or to pay the indebtedness of the State.
SEC. 189. On all lands and the improvements thereon, and on all tangible personal property, not exempt from taxation by the provision of this article, the rate of state taxation shall be twenty cents on every hundred dollars of the assessed value thereof, the proceeds of which shall be applied to the expenses of the government and the indebtedness of the State, and a further tax of ten cents on every hundred dollars of the assessed value thereof, which shall be applied to the support of the public free schools of the State: provided, that after the first day of January, nineteen hundred and seven, the tax rate upon said real and personal property, for such purposes shall be prescribed by law. But the General Assembly during such period of four years, in addition to making annually an appropriation for pensions not to exceed the last appropriation made for such purpose prior to September the thirtieth, nineteen hundred and one, may levy annually, a special tax for pensions, on such real and personal property of not exceeding five cents on the hundred dollars of the assessed value therof.
SEC. 190. Every householder or head of a family shall be entitled, in addition to the articles now exempt from levy or distress for rent, to hold exempt from levy, seizure, garnishment, or sale under any execution, order, or other process issued on any demand for a debt hereafter contracted, his real and personal property, or either, including money and debts due him, to the value of not exceeding two thousand dollars, to be selected by him: provided, that such exemption shall not extend to any execution, order, or other process issued on any demand in the following cases:
First. For the purchase price of said property, or any part thereof. If the property purchased, and not paid for, be exchanged for, or converted into, other property by the debtor, such last- named property shall not be exempted from the payment of such unpaid purchase money under the provisions of this article;
Second. For services rendered by a laboring person or mechanic;
Third. For liabilities incurred by any public officer, or officer of a court, or any fiduciary, or any attorney-at-law for money collected;
Fourth. For a lawful claim for any taxes, levies, or assessments accruing after the first day of June, eighteen hundred and sixty- six;
Fifth. For rent;
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.
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.
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.
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:
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 adoptionof this Schedule, deliver a certified copy of the Constitution andSchedule, and of said ordinances, to the Governor of theCommonwealth.
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.