Page images
PDF
EPUB

ment within this state, or to the senate of the United States, from the governor, the governor and senate, or from the general assembly, during the term for which he shall have been elected; and all such appointments, and all votes given for any such member for any such office or appointment, shall be void; nor shall any member of the general assembly be interested, either directly or indirectly, in any contract with the state, or any county thereof, authorised by any law passed during the time for which he shall have been elected, or during one year after the expiration thereof.

8. In the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, and every tenth year thereafter, an enumeration of all the inhabitants of this state shall be made in such manner as shall be directed by law; and in the year eighteen hundred and fifty, and every tenth year thereafter, the census taken by authority of the government of the United States, shall be adopted by the general assembly as the enumeration of this state; and the number of senators and representatives shall, at the first regular session holden after the returns herein provided for are made, be apportioned among the several counties or districts to be established by law, according to the number of white inhabitants.

9. Senatorial and representative districts shall be composed of contiguous territory, bounded by county lines; and only one senator allowed to each senatorial, and not more than three representatives to any representative district : Provided, that cities and towns, containing the requisite population, may be erected into separate districts.

10. In forming senatorial and representative districts, counties containing a population of not more than one-fourth over the existing ratio, shall form separate districts, and the excess shall be given to the nearest county or counties not having a senator or representative, as the case may be, which has the largest white population.

11. The first session of the general assembly shall commence on the first Monday of January, one thousand eight hundred and forty-nine; and for ever after the general assembly shall meet on the first Monday of January next ensuing the election of the members thereof, and at no other period, unless as provided by this constitution.

12. The senate and house of representatives, when assembled, shall each choose a speaker and other officers (the speaker of the senate excepted). Each house shall judge of the qualifications and election of its members, and sit upon its own adjournments. Two-thirds of each house shall constitute a quorum; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and compel the attendance of absent members.

13. Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and publish them. The yeas and nays of the members on any question shall, at the desire of any two of them, be entered on the journals.

14. Any two members of either house shall have liberty to dissent and

protest against any act or resolution, which they may think injurious to the public, or to any individual, and have the reasons of their dissent entered on the journals.

15. Each house may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds of all the members elected, expel a member, but not a second time for the same cause; and the reason for such expulsion shall be entered upon the journal, with the names of the members voting on the question.

16. When vacancies happen in either house, the governor, or the person exercising the powers of governor, shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies.

17. Senators and representatives shall in all cases, except treason, felony, or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during the session of the general assembly, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any speech or debate in either house, they shall not be questioned in any other place.

18. Each house may punish by imprisonment, during its session, any person, not a member, who shall be guilty of disrespect to the house, by any disorderly or contemptuous behavior in their presence: Provided, such imprisonment shall not, at any one time, exceed twenty-four hours.

19. The doors of each house, and of committees of the whole, shall be kept open, except in such cases as, in the opinion of the house, require secresy. Neither house shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than two days, nor to any other place than that in which the two houses shall be sitting.

20. The style of the laws of this state shall be: "Be it enacted by the people of the state of Illinois, represented in the general assembly."

21. Bills may originate in either house, but may be altered, amended, or rejected by the other; and on the final passage of all bills, the vote shall be by ayes and noes, and shall be entered on the journal; and no bill shall become a law without the concurrence of a majority of all the members elect in each house.

22. Bills making appropriations for the pay of the members and officers of the general assembly, and for the salaries of the officers of the government, shall not contain any provision on any other subject.

23. Every bill shall be read on three different days in each house, unless, in case of urgency, three-fourths of the house, where such bill is so depending, shall deem it expedient to dispense with this rule; and every bill, having passed both houses, shall be signed by the speakers of their respective houses; and no private or local law which may be passed by the general assembly, shall embrace more than one subject, and that shall be expressed in the title. And no public act of the general assembly shall take effect or be in force, until the expiration of sixty days from the end of the session at which the same

may be passed, unless, in case of emergency, the general assembly shall otherwise direct.

24. The sum of two dollars per day, for the first forty-two days' attendance, and one dollar per day for each day's attendance thereafter, and ten cents for each necessary mile's travel, going to and returning from the seat of government, shall be allowed to the members of the general assembly, as a compensation for their services, and no more. The speaker of the house of representatives shall be allowed the sum of one dollar per day, in addition to his per diem as a member.

25. The per diem and mileage allowed to each member of the general assembly, shall be certified by the speakers of their respective houses, and entered on the journals, and published at the close of each session.

26. No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law; and an accurate statement of the receipts and expenditures of the public money shall be attached to, and published with, the laws at the rising of each session of the general assembly. And no person, who has been or may be a collector or holder of public moneys, shall be eligible to a seat in either house of the general assembly, nor be eligible to any office of profit or trust in this state, until such person shall have accounted for, and paid into the treasury, all sums for which he may be accountable.

27. The house of representatives shall have the sole power of impeaching; but a majority of all the members elected, must concur in an impeachment. All impeachments shall be tried by the senate; and when sitting for that purpose, the senators shall be upon oath, or affirmation, to do justice according to law and evidence. No person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the senators elected.

28. The governor, and other civil officers under this state, shall be liable to impeachment for any misdemeanor in office; but judgment in such cases shall not extend further than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold any office of honor, profit, or trust, under this state. The party, whether convicted or acquitted, shall, nevertheless, be liable to indictment, trial, judgment, and punishment, according to law.

29. No judge of any court of law or equity, secretary of state, attorneygeneral, attorney for the state, recorder, clerk of any court of record, sheriff or collector, member of either house of Congress, or person holding any lucrative office under the United States or of this state-provided, that appointments in the militia, or justices of the peace, shall not be considered lucrative offices-shall have a seat in the general assembly; nor shall any person, holding any office of honor or profit under the government of the United States, hold any office of honor or profit under the authority of this state.

30. Every person who shall be chosen or appointed to any office of trust or profit shall, before entering upon the duties thereof, take an oath to support the constitution of the United States, and of this state, and also an oath of office.

31. The general assembly shall have full power to exclude from the privilege of electing, or being elected, any person convicted of bribery, perjury, or other infamous crime.

32. The general assembly shall have no power to grant divorces, but may authorize the courts of justice to grant them for such causes as may be specified by law: Provided, that such laws be general and uniform in their operation.

33. The general assembly shall never grant or authorize extra compensation to any public officer, agent, servant, or contractor, after the service shall have been rendered, or the contract entered into.

34. The general assembly shall direct by law in what manner suits may be brought against the state.

35. The general assembly shall have no power to authorize lotteries for any purpose, nor to revive or extend the charter of the State bank, or the charter of any other bank heretofore existing in this state, and shall pass laws to prohibit the sale of lottery-tickets in this state.

36. The general assembly shall have no power to authorize, by private or special law, the sale of any lands or other real estate belonging in whole or in part to any individual or individuals.

37. Each general assembly shall provide for all the appropriations necessary for the ordinary and contingent expenses of the government until the adjournment of the next regular session, the aggregate amount of which shall not be increased without a vote of two-thirds of each house, nor exceed the amount of revenue authorized by law to be raised in such time: Provided, the state may, to meet casual deficits or failures in revenues, contract debts, never to exceed in the aggregate, fifty thousand dollars; and the moneys thus borrowed shall be applied to the purpose for which they were obtained, or to repay the debt thus made, and to no other purpose; and no other debt, except for the purpose of repelling invasion, suppressing insurrection, or defending the state in war (for payment of which the faith of the state shall be pledged), shall be contracted, unless the law authorizing the same shall, at a general election, have been submitted to the people, and have received a majority of all the votes cast for members of the general assembly at such election. The general assembly shall provide for the publication of said law for three months, at least, before the vote of the people shall be taken upon the same; and provision shall be made, at the time, for the payment of the interest annually, as it shall accrue, by a tax levied for the purpose, or from other sources of revenue; which law, providing for the payment of such interest by such tax, shall be irrepealable until such debt be paid: And provided, further, that the law levying the tax shall be submitted to the people with the law authorizing the debt to be contracted.

38. The credit of the state shall not, in any manner, be given to, or in aid of, any individual, association, or corporation.

39. The general assembly shall provide, by law, that the fuel and stationery furnished for the use of the state, the copying, printing, binding, and distributing the laws and journals, and all other printing ordered by the general assembly, shall be let, by contract, to the lowest responsible bidder; and that no member of the general assembly, or other officer of the state, shall be interested, either directly or indirectly, in any such contract: Provided, that the general assembly may fix a maximum price.

40. Until there shall be a new apportionment of senators and representatives, the state shall be divided into senatorial and representative districts; and the senators and representatives shall be apportioned among the several districts as follows, viz:

Senatorial Districts.

1. The counties of Alexander, Union, Pulaski, Johnson, Massac, Pope, and Hardin, shall constitute the first senatorial district, and shall be entitled to one senator.

2. The counties of Gallatin, Saline, Williamson, Franklin, and White, shall constitute the second senatorial district, and be entitled to one senator.

3. The counties of Jefferson, Wayne, Marion, and Hamilton, shall constitute the third senatorial district, and be entitled to one senator.

4. The counties of Washington, Perry, Randolph, and Jackson, shall constitute the fourth senatorial district, and be entitled to one senator.

5. The counties of St. Clair and Monroe, shall constitute the fifth senatorial district, and be entitled to one senator.

6. The counties of Madison and Clinton, shall constitute the sixth senatorial district, and be entitled to one senator.

7. The counties of Christian, Shelby, Montgomery, Bond, and Fayette, shall constitute the seventh senatorial district, and be entitled to one senator.

8. The counties of Effingham, Jasper, Clay, Richland, Lawrence, Edwards, and Wabash, shall constitute the eighth senatorial district, and be entitled to one senator.

9. The counties of Edgar, Clark, and Crawford, shall constitute the ninth senatorial district, and be entitled to one senator

10. The counties of Vermilion, Champaign, Piatt, Moultrie, Coles, and Cumberland, shall constitute the tenth senatorial district, and be entitled to one senator.

11. The counties of Tazewell, McLean, Logan, De Witt, and Macon, shall constitute the eleventh senatorial district, and be entitled to one senator.

12. The counties of Sangamon, Menard, and Mason, shall constitute the twelfth senatorial district, and be entitled to one senator.

13. The counties of Macoupin, Jersey, Greene, and Calhoun, shall constitute the thirteenth senatorial district, and be entitled to one senator.

14. The counties of Morgan, Scott, and Cass, shall constitute the fourteenth senatorial district, and be entitled to one senator.

« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »