of General ART. 159. The General Assembly, elected under this Constitution, shall hold its first session in the City of New First session Orleans on the third Monday after the official promulgation Assembly. aforesaid, and proceed, immediately upon its organization, to vote upon the adoption of the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States, proposed by Congress, and Adoption passed June thirteenth, eighteen hundred and sixty-six; said Fourteenth General Assembly shall not have power to enact any laws relative to the per diem of members, or any other subject, after organization, until said constitutional amendment shall have been acted upon. of the Amendment. and commis ART. 160. All registrars and commissioners, appointed under this Constitution, shall, before entering upon their Registrars duties, take and subscribe the oath of office prescribed by sioners. Congress, approved July second, eighteen hundred and sixtytwo, entitled "An Act to prescribe an oath of office;" the said oath of office shall be administered to each registrar by the Chairman of the Committee of Seven, and to each commissioner by the registrar appointing him. Oath. commission officers. ART. 161. All registrars, commissioners, and other Payment of officers, necessary to carry into effect the provisions of this registrars, ordinance, except as otherwise provided for by the reconstruc- ers and other tion acts of Congress, shall be paid out of any funds raised by virtue of the tax ordinance, adopted by the Convention, December twenty-fourth, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, not otherwise appropriated. JAMES G. TALIAFERRO, President. C. C. ANTOINE, L. W. BAKER, S. BELDEN, A. BERTONNEAU, W. JASPER BLACKBURN, O. C. BLANDIN, W. R. CRANE, ULGER DUPART, C. B .H. DUPLESSIS, J. B. ESNARD, LOUIS FRANCOIS, HY. W. FULLER, JOHN GAIR, R. G. GARDINER, O. H. HEMPSTEAD, Jr., W. H. HIESTAND, Members of the Convention who signed the Constitution JAMES H. LANDERS, P. B. S. PINCHBACK, Classes of persons disfranchised. Defaulters Ineligible to office. GEO. W. REAGAN, J. H. A. ROBERTS, G. M. WICKLIFFE, HENDERSON WILLIAMS, DAVID WILSON. WM. VIGERS, Secretary. NEW ORLEANS, LA., March 11, 1868. I certify that the foregoing is a correct copy of the Constitution as taken from the official records of the Convention. HUGH J. CAMPBELL, Minute Clerk. AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION OF 1868. Ratified by the People of Louisiana at the General Election held on the Seventh Day of November, 1870. ART. 50. Abrogated and stricken out. ART. 99. No person shall hold any office, or shall be permitted to vote at any election, or to act as a juror, who, in due course of law, shall have been convicted of treason, perjury, forgery, bribery or other crime punishable by imprisonment in the Penitentiary, or who shall be under interdiction. ᎪᎡᎢ. No person who, at any time, may have been a Collector of Taxes, whether State, parish or municipal, or who may have been otherwise intrusted with public money, shall be eligible to the General Assembly or to any office of profit or trust under the State Government, until he shall have obtained a discharge for the amount of such collections and for all public moneys with which he may have been intrusted. ART. Prior to the first day of January, one thousand Limit of State eight hundred and ninety, the debt of the State shall not be so increased as to exceed twenty-five millions of dollars. debt. CONSTITUTION OF 1879. Adopted at New Orleans, July 23, 1879. PREAMBLE. We, the people of the State of Louisiana, in order to establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, acknowledging and invoking the guidance of Almighty God, the author of all good government, do ordain and establish this Constitution. BILL OF RIGHTS. ARTICLE 1. All government of right originates with the people, is founded on their will alone, and is instituted solely for the good of the whole, deriving its just powers from the consent of the governed. Its only legitimate end is to protect the citizen in the enjoyment of life, liberty and property. When it assumes other functions, it is usurpation and oppression. ART. 2. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated, and no warrant shall issue except upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched and the person or things, to be seized. ART. 3. A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be abridged. This shall not prevent the passage of laws to punish those who carry weapons concealed. ART. 4. No laws shall be passed respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances. ART. 5. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in this State, otherwise than for the punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted. Prosecutions shall be by indictment or information; provided, that no person shall be held to answer for a capital crime unless on a presentment or indictment by a grand jury, except in cases arising in the militia when in actual service in time of war or public danger, nor shall any person be put twice in jeopardy of life or liberty for the same offense, except on his own application for a new trial, or where there is a mistrial, or a motion in arrest of judgment is sustained. ART. 6. No person shall be compelled to give evidence against himself in a criminal case or in any proceedings that may subject him to criminal prosecution, except where otherwise provided in this Constitution, nor be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law. ART. 7. In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy public trial by an impartial jury, except that in cases where the penalty is not necessarily imprisonment at hard labor or death the General Assembly may provide for a trial thereof by a jury, less than twelve in number; provided, that the accused in every instance shall be tried in the parish wherein the offense shall have been committed, except in cases of change of venue. ART. 8. In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation, to be confronted with the witnesses against him, to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to defend himself, and to have the assistance of counsel and to have the right to challenge jurors per. emptorily, the number of challenges to be fixed by statute. ART. 9. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines be imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. All persons shall be bailable by sufficient sureties, unless for capital offenses, where the proof is evident or the presumption great; or unless after conviction for any crime or offense punishable with death or imprisonment at hard labor. ART. 10. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when, in case of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it. ART. 11. All courts shall be open, and every person for injury done him in his rights, lands, goods, person or reputation shall have adequate remedy by due process of law and justice administered without denial or unreasonable delay. ART. 12. The military shall be in subordination to the civil power. ART. 13. This enumeration of rights shall not be construed to deny or impair other rights of the people not herein expressed. DISTRIBUTION OF POWERS. ART. 14. The powers of the government of the State of Louisiana shall be divided into three distinct departments, and each of them to be confided to a separate body of magistracy, to-wit: Those which are legislative to one, those which are executive to another, and those which are judicial to another. ART. 15. No one of these departments, nor any person or collection of persons holding office in one of them, shall exercise power properly belonging to either of the other, except in the instances hereinafter expressly directed or permitted. LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. APPORTIONMENT. ART. 16. Representation in the House of Representatives shall be equal and uniform, and shall be regulated and ascertained by the total population. Each parish shall have at least one Representative. The first enumeration to be made by the State authorities under this Constitution shall be made in the year eighteen hundred and ninety, and subsequent enumerations shall be made every tenth year thereafter, in such manner as shall be prescribed by law, for the purpose of ascertaining the total population and the number of qualified electors in each parish and election district. At its first regular session after each enumeration, the General Assembly shall apportion the representation among the several parishes and election districts on the basis of the total population as aforesaid. A representative number shall be fixed, and each parish and clection district shall have as many Representatives as the aggregate number of its population will entitle it to, and an additional Representative for any fraction exceeding one-half the representative number. The number of Representatives shall not be more than ninety-eight, nor less than seventy. ART. 17. The General Assembly, in every year in which they shall apportion representation in the House of Representatives, shall divide the State into Senatorial districts. No parish shall be divided in the formation of a Senatorial district, the parish of Orleans excepted. Whenever a new parish shall be created, it shall be attached to the Senatorial district from which most of its territory was taken, or to another contiguous district, at the discretion of the General Assembly, but shall not be attached to more than one district. The number of Senators shall not be more than thirty-six nor less than twenty-four, and they shall be apportioned among the Senatorial districts according to the total population contained in the several districts. ART. 18. Until an enumeration shall be made in accordance with articles 16 and 17, the State shall be divided into the following Senatoria! districts, with the number of Senators hereinafter designated to each district: The First Senatorial District shall be composed of the eighth and ninth wards of Orleans, and of the parishes of St. Bernard and Plaquemines, and shall elect two Senators. The Second District shall be composed of the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh wards of Orleans, and shall elect two Senators. The Third District shall be composed of the third ward of Orleans, and shall elect one Senator. The Fourth District shall be composed of the second and fifteenth wards (Orleans right bank) of Orleans, and shall elect one Senator. |