separate districts, and that the additional district shall be laid off adjoining and between the first and third districts, as they are now numbered.-Passed 1806, ch. 29-confirmed 1807, ch. 8. 11. That, upon the death, resignation, or removal out of this state, of the governor, it shall not be necessary to call a meeting of the legislature, to fill the vacancy occasioned thereby, but the first named of the council for the time being shall qualify and act as governor, until the next meeting of the general assembly, at which meeting a governor shall be chosen in the manner heretofore appointed and directed. § 2. No governor shall be capable of holding any other office of profit during the time for which he shall be elected.-Passed June, 1809, ch. 16-confirmed November, 1809, ch. 11. Art. 12. That all such parts of the constitution and form of government, as require a property qualification in persons to be appointed or holding offices of profit or trust in this state, and in persons elected members of the legislature or electors of the senate, shall be and the same are hereby repealed and abolished.-Passed November, 1809, ch. 198confirmed 1810, ch. 18. 13. That it shall not be lawful for the general assembly of this state to lay an equal and general tax, or any other tax, on the people of this state, for the support of any religionPassed November, 1809, ch. 167-confirmed 1810, ch. 24. 14. That every free white male citizen of this state, above twenty-one years of age, and no other, having resided twelve months within this state, and six months in the county, or in the city of Annapolis or Baltimore, next preceding the election at which he offers to vote, shall have a right of suffrage, and shall vote, by ballot, in the election of such county or city, or either of them, for electors of the president and vice president of the United States, for representatives of this state in the congress of the United States, for delegates to the general assembly of this state, electors of the senate, and sheriffs.-Passed November, 1809, ch. 83-confirmed 1810, ch. 33. 15. That no person residing in the city of Annapolis shall have a vote in the county of Anne Arundel, for delegates for the said county: and all and every part of the constitu tion which enables persons holding fifty acres of land to vote in said county, be and is hereby abolished.-Passed November, 1809, ch. 38-confirmed 1810, ch. 49. 16. That the forty-fifth article of the constitution and form of government be and the same is hereby repealed and utterly abolished.-Passed November, 1809, ch. 65-confirmed 1810, ch. 78. 17. That the time of the meeting of the general assembly shall be on the first Monday in December, in each year, instead of the first Monday in November, as [is now] prescri bed by the constitution and form of government. §2. The governor of this state shall be chosen on the second Monday of December, in each and every year, in the same manner as is now prescribed by the constitution and form of government; and the council to the governor shall be elected on the first Tuesday after the second Monday of December, in each and every year, in the same manner as is now prescribed by the constitution and form of govern ment. § 3. All annual appointments of civil officers in this state shall be made in the third week of December, in every year, in the same manner as the constitution and form of government now directs. -Passed, 1811, ch. 211-confirmed November, 1812. CONSTITUTION OF The Constitution or Form of Government, agreed to and resolved upon by the delegates and representatives of the several counties and corporations corporations of Virginia, in a general convention, held at Williamsburgh, on the 6th of May, and continued by adjournments to the 5th of July, 1776. WE, the delegates and representatives of the good people of Virginia, do declare the future form of government of Virginia, to be as followeth: The legislative, executive, and judiciary departments shall be separate and distinct, so that neither exercise the powers properly belonging to the other; nor shall any person exercise the powers of more than one of them at the same time, except that the justices of the county courts shall be eligible to either house of the assembly. The legislative shall be formed of two distinct branches, who, together, shall be a complete legislature. They shall meet once or oftener, every year, and shall be called the general assembly of Virginia. One of these shall be called the house of delegates, and consist of two representatives, to be chosen for each county, and for the district of West Augusta, annually, of such men as actually reside in, and are freeholders of the same, or duly qualified according to law, and also of one delegate or representative, to be chosen annually, for the city of Williamsburgh, and one for the borough of Norfolk, and a representative for each of such other cities and boroughs as may hereafter be allowed particular representation by the legislature; but when any city or bor ough shall so decrease, as that the number of persons having right of suffrage therein shall have been, for the space of seven years successively, less than half the number of voters in some one county in Virginia, such city or borough thenceforward shall cease to send a delegate or representative to the assembly. The other shall be called the senate, and consist of twenty-four members, of whom thirteen shall constitute a house to proceed on business; for whose election, the different counties shall be divided into twenty-four districts; and each county of the respective district, at the time of the election of its delegates, shall vote for one senator, who is actually a resident and freeholder within the district, or duly qualified according to law, and is upwards of twenty-five years of age; and the sheriffs of each county, within five days at farthest, after the last county election in the district, shall meet at some convenient place, and, from the poll so taken in their respective counties, return as a senator the man who shall have the greatest number of votes in the whole district. To keep up this assembly, by rotation, the districts shall be equally divided into four classes, and numbered by lot. At the end of one year after the general election, the six mem bers elected by the first division shall be displaced, and the vacancies thereby occasioned supplied from such classes or division, by new election, in the manner aforesaid. This rotation shall be applied to each division, according to its number, and continued in due order annually. The right of suffrage in the election of members for both 1 houses shall remain as exercised at present; and each house shall choose its own speaker, appoint its own officers, settle its own rules of proceeding, and direct writs of election, for the supplying intermediate vacancies, All laws shait originate in the house of delegates, to be ap proved of or rejected by the senate, or to be amended, with consent of the house of delegates; except money bills, which in no instance shall be altered by the senate, but wholly approved or rejected. A governor, or chief magistrate, shall be chosen annually, by joint ballot of both houses, (to be taken in each house respectively,) deposited in the conference room; the boxes examined jointly by a committee of each house, and the numbers severally reported to them, that the appointments may be entered, (which shall be the mode of taking the joint ballot of both houses, in all cases,) who shall not continue in that office longer than three years successively, nor be eligible until the expiration of four years after he shall have been out of that office. An adequate, but moderate salary, shall be settled on him during his continuance in office; and he shall, with the advice of a council of state, exercise the executive powers of government, according to the laws of this commonwealth; and shall not, under any pretence, exercise any power or prerogative, by virtue of any law, statute, or custom of England. But he shall, with the advice of the council of state, have the power of granting reprieves or pardons, except where the prosecution shall have been carried on by the house of delegates, or the law shall otherwise particularly direct; in which cases, no reprieve or pardon shall be granted, but by resolve of the house of delegates. Either house of the general assembly may adjourn themselves respectively. The governor shall not prorogue or adjourn the assembly during their sitting, nor dissolve them at any time; but he shall, if necessary, either by advice of the council of state, or on application of a majority of the house of delegates, call them before the time to which they shail stand prorogued or aujourned. A privy council or councils of state, consistung of eight members, shall be chosen by jom ballot of both houses of assembly, either from their own members or the people at large, to assist in the administration of government. They shall annually choose, out of their own members, a president, who, in case of death, inability, or absence of the governor, from the government, shall act as lieutenant governor. Four members shall be sufficient to act, and their advice and proceedings shall be Entered on record, and signed by the members present, (to any part whereof any member may enter his dissent,) to be laid before the general assembly, when called for by them. This council may appoint their own clerk, who shall have a salary settled by law, and take an oath of secrecy, in such matters as he shall be directed by the board to conceal. A sum of money appropriated to that purpose shall be divided annually among the members, in proportion to their attendance; and they shall be incapable, during their continuance in office of sitting in either house of assembly. Two members shall be removed, by joint ballot of both houses of assembly, at the end of every three years, and be ineligible for the three next years. These vacancies as well as those occasioned by death or ineapacity, shall be supplied by new elections, in the same man ner. The delegates for Virginia to the continental congress shall be chosen annually, or superseded in the mean time, by joint ballot of both houses of assembly. The present militia officers shall be continued, and vacancies supplied by appointment of the governor, with the advice of the privy council, on recommendations from the respective county courts: but the governor and council shall have a power of suspending any officer, and ordering a court martial on complaint of misbehaviour or inability, or to supply vacancies of officers, happening when in actual service. The governor may embody the militia, with the advice of the privy council; and, when embodied, shall alone have the direction of the militia, under the laws of the country. The two houses of assembly shall, by joint ballot, appoint judges of the supreme court of appeals, and general court judges in chancery, judges of admiralty, secretary, and the attorney general, to be commissioned by the governor, and continue in office during good behaviour. In case of death, incapacity, or resignation, the governor, with the advice of the privy council, shall appoint persons to succeed in office, to be approved or disapproved by both houses. These officers shall have fixed and adequate salaries, and, together with all others holding lucrative offices, and all ministers of the gospel, of every denomination, be incapable of being elected members of either house of assembly or the privy council. The governor with the advice of the privy council, shall appoint justices of the peace for the counties: and in case of vacancies, or a necessity of increasing the number hereafter, such appointments to be made upon recommendation of the respective county courts. The present acting secretary in Virginia, and clerks of all the county courts, shall continue in |