Corpus.

SEC. 5. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be sus- Habeas pended, unless, when in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require its suspension.

SEC. 6. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines im- Bail. posed; nor shall cruel or unusual punishments be inflicted; nor shall witnesses be unreasonably detained.

bailable.

tried.

SEC. 7. All persons shall be bailable by sufficient sureties; unless When for capital offenses, when the proof is evident, or the presumption great. SEC. 8. No person shall be tried for a capital or other infamous Capital or crime (except in cases of impeachment, and in cases of the militia when infamous in actual service, and the land and naval forces in time of war, or which crime, when this State may keep with the consent of Congress in time of peace, and in cases of petit larceny, under the regulation of the Legislature) except on presentment or indictment of a grand jury; and in any trial in any court whatever, the party accused shall be allowed to appear and defend in person, and with counsel, as in civil actions. No person shall be subject to be twice put in jeopardy for the same offense; nor shall he be compelled, in any criminal case, to be a witness against himself; When nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; property nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compen- taken sation having been first made or secured, except in cases of war, riot, without fire, or great public peril, in which case compensation shall be afterward tion. made.

may be

compensa

speech and

SEC. 9. Every citizen may freely speak, write, and publish his senti- Freedom of ments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right; and of the press. no law shall be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech or of the press. In all criminal prosecutions, and civil actions for libels, the truth may be given in evidence to the jury, and if it shall appear to the jury that the matter charged as libelous is true, and was published with good motives and for justifiable ends, the party shall be acquitted or exonerated.

SEC. 10. The people shall have the right freely to assemble together Right to to consult for the common good, to instruct their representatives, and to petition the Legislature for redress of grievances.

assemble and peti

tion.

maintained..

SEC. 11. The military shall be subordinate to the civil power. No Standing standing army shall be maintained by this State in time of peace, and army not in time of war no appropriation for a standing army shall be for a longer time than two years.

SEC. 12. No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, except in the manner to be prescribed by law.

Apportion

SEC. 13. Representation shall be apportioned according to popu- ment of replation.

resentation.

of debtors.

SEC. 14. The privilege of the debtor to enjoy the necessary com- Privileges forts of life shall be recognized by wholesome laws, exempting a reasonable amount of property from seizure or sale for payment of any debts or liabilities hereafter contracted; and there shall be no imprisonment for debt, except in cases of fraud, libel, or slander, and no person shall be imprisoned for a militia fine in time of peace.

Ex post

SEC. 15. No bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing facto law. the obligation of contracts, shall ever be passed.

SEC. 16. Foreigners who are, or who may hereafter become, bona Rights of bona fide fide residents of this State, shall enjoy the same rights in respect to the residents. possession, enjoyment, and inheritance of property as native-born citi

zens.

Slavery SEC. 17. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, unless for the prohibited. punishment of crimes, shall ever be tolerated in this State. Rights SEC. 18. The right of the people to be secure in their against persons, seizures and houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable seizures and searches searches. shall not be violated; and no warrant shall issue but on probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, particularly describing the place or places to be searched, and the person or persons, and thing or things, to be seized.

Treason, what to consist of.

SEC. 19. Treason against the State shall consist only in levying war against it, adhering to its enemies, or giving them aid and comfort. And no person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open

court.

SEC. 20. This enumeration of rights shall not be construed to impair or deny others retained by the people.

ARTICLE II.

Right of suffrage. Who entitled.

Residence, when not gained or lost.

Right of suffrage to

in military

RIGHT OF SUFFRAGE.

SECTION 1. Every white male citizen of the United States, (not laboring under the disabilities named in this Constitution) of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, who shall have actually and not constructively resided in the State six months, and in the district or county thirty days next preceding any election, shall be entitled to vote for all officers that now are, or hereafter may be, elected by the people, and upon all questions submitted to the electors at such election; provided, that no person who has been, or may be, convicted of treason or felony in any State or Territory of the United States, unless restored to civil rights, and no person who, after arriving at the age of eighteen years, shall have voluntarily borne arms against the United States, or held civil or military office under the so-called Confederate States, or either of them, unless an amnesty be granted to such by the Federal Government, and no idiot or insane person, shall be entitled to the privilege of an elector.

SEC. 2. For the purpose of voting, no person shall be deemed to have gained or lost a residence by reason of his presence or absence while employed in the service of the United States, nor while engaged in the navigation of the waters of the United States or of the high seas; nor while a student of any seminary of learning; nor while kept at any almshouse or other asylum, at public expense; nor while confined in any public prison.

SEC. 3. The right of suffrage shall be enjoyed by all persons othbe enjoyed erwise entitled to the same who may be in the military or naval service by persons of the United States; provided, the votes so cast shall be made to apply service. to the county and township of which said voters were bona fide residents at the time of their enlistment; and, provided further, that the payment of a poll tax or a registration of such voters shall not be required as a condition to the right of voting. Provision shall be made by law regulating the manner of voting, holding elections and making returns of such elections, wherein other provisions are not contained in this Constitution.

Proviso.

Elector, not to be arrested.

SEC. 4. During the day on which any general election shall be held in this State, no qualified elector shall be arrested by virtue of any civil process.

SEC. 5. All elections by the people shall be by ballot, and all Elections. elections by the Legislature, or by either branch thereof, shall be viva

voce.

tion of

SEC. 6. Provision shall be made by law for the registration of Registrathe names of the electors within the counties of which they may be electors residents, and for the ascertainment, by proper proofs, of the persons required. who shall be entitled to the right of suffrage, as hereby established, to preserve the purity of elections and to regulate the manner of holding and making returns of the same; and the Legislature shall have power to prescribe by law any other or further rules or oaths as may be deemed necessary, as a test of electoral qualification.

SEC. 7. The Legislature shall provide by law for the payment of Poll tax. an annual poll tax of not less than two nor exceeding four dollars from each male person resident in the State, between the ages of twenty-one and sixty years, (uncivilized American Indians excepted) one-half to be applied for State, and one-half for county purposes; and the Legislature may, in its discretion, make such payment a condition to the right of voting.

voters.

SEC. 8. All persons qualified by law to vote for representatives to Qualified the General Assembly of the Territory of Nevada on the twenty-first day of March, A.D. eighteen hundred and sixty-four, and all other persons who may be lawful voters in said Territory on the first Wednesday of September next following, shall be entitled to vote directly upon the question of adopting or rejecting this Constitution.

ARTICLE III.

DISTRIBUTION OF POWERS.

restricted.

SECTION 1. The powers of the Government of the State of Ne- Powers vada shall be divided into three separate departments—the Legislative, the Executive and the Judicial; and no persons charged with the exercise of powers properly belonging to one of these departments shall exercise any functions appertaining to either of the others, except in the cases herein expressly directed or permitted.

ARTICLE IV.

LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT.

SECTION 1. The Legislative authority of this State shall be vested Howvested. in a Senate and Assembly, which shall be designated "The Legislature

of the State of Nevada," and the sessions of such Legislature shall be Where held. held at the seat of government of the State.

SEC. 2. The sessions of the Legislature shall be biennial, and Sessions. shall commence on the first Monday of January next ensuing the election of members of the Assembly, unless the Governor of the State shall, in the interim, convene the Legislature by proclamation. SEC. 3. The members of the Assembly shall be chosen biennially, by the qualified electors of their respective districts, on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November, and their term of office shall Term of be two years from the day next after their election.

Assemblymen, when

chosen.

office.

SEC. 4. Senators shall be chosen at the same time and places as Senators, members of the Assembly, by the qualified electors of their respective chosen.

when

Term of office.

Senators

and Assem

districts, and their term of office shall be four years from the day next after their election.

SEC. 5. Senators and members of the Assembly shall be duly blymen to qualified electors in the respective counties and districts which they be qualified represent, and the number of Senators shall not be less than one-third nor more than one-half of that of the members of the Assembly.

electors.

Right to judge of qualification.

SEC. 6. Each House shall judge of the qualifications, elections and returns of its own members, choose its own officers, (except the President of the Senate) determine the rules of its proceedings, and may May punish punish its members for disorderly conduct, and with the concurrence and expel. of two-thirds of all the members elected, expel a member. May punish for con

SEC. 7. Either House, during the session, may punish, by impristempt, etc. onment, any person not a member who shall have been guilty of disrespect to the House by disorderly or contemptuous behavior in its presence; but such imprisonment shall not extend beyond the final adjournment of the session.

Not eligible to appoint

ment to

civil office.

Who not

eligible to office.

When disqualified.

Members

exempt

SEC. 8. No Senator or Member of Assembly shall, during the term for which he shall have been elected, nor for one year thereafter, be appointed to any civil office of profit under this State which shall have been created, or the emoluments of which shall have been increased during such term, except such office as may be filled by elections by the people.

SEC. 9. No person holding any lucrative office under the Government of the United States, or any other power, shall be eligible to any civil office of profit under this State; provided, that Postmasters whose compensation does not exceed five hundred dollars per annum, or Commissioners of Deeds, shall not be deemed as holding a lucrative office.

SEC. 10. Any person who shall be convicted of the embezzlement or defalcation of the public funds of this State, or who may be convicted of having given or offered a bribe to procure his election or appointment to office, or received a bribe to aid in the procurement of office for any other person, shall be disqualified from holding any office of profit or trust in this State; and the Legislature shall, as soon as practicable, provide by law for the punishment of such defalcation, bribery or embezzlement as a felony.

SEC. 11. Members of the Legislature shall be privileged from from arrest. arrest on civil process during the session of the Legislature, and for fifteen days next before the commencement of each session.

Vacancies,

SEC. 12. When vacancies occur in either House, the Governor how filled. shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancy.

Quorum.

Journal

required.

Doors may

SEC. 13. A majority of all the members elected to each House shall constitute a quorum to transact business, but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may compel the attendance of absent members in such manner and under such penalties as each House may prescribe.

SEC. 14. Each House shall keep a journal of its own proceedings, which shall be published, and the yeas and nays of the members of either House on any question shall, at the desire of any three members present, be entered on the journal.

SEC. 15. The doors of each House shall be kept open during its be closed. session, except the Senate while sitting in executive session; and neither shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which they may be holding their sessions.

SEC. 16. Any bill may originate in either House of the Legislature, Where bills and all bills passed by one may be amended in the other.

may originate. SEC. 17. Each law enacted by the Legislature shall embrace but Laws, what one subject and matter properly connected therewith, which subject to embrace. shall be briefly expressed in the title; and no law shall be revised or amended by reference to its title only; but, in such case, the Act as revised, or section as amended, shall be re-enacted and published at length.

read.

SEC. 18. Every bill shall be read by sections on three several Bills, how days in each House, unless in case of emergency two-thirds of the House where such bill may be pending shall deem it expedient to dispense with this rule; but the reading of a bill by sections, on its final passage, shall in no case be dispensed with, and the vote on the final passage of every bill or joint resolution shall be taken by yeas and How nays, to be entered on the journals of each House; and a majority of passed. all the members elected to each House shall be necessary to pass every bill or joint resolution; and all bills or joint resolutions so passed shall How be signed by the presiding officers of the respective Houses, and by signed. the Secretary of the Senate and Clerk of the Assembly.

to be drawn.

SEC. 19. No money shall be drawn from the Treasury but in con- Money, how sequence of appropriations made by law. An accurate statement of the receipts and expenditures of the public money shall be attached to and published with the laws at every regular session of the Legislature.

restricted.

SEC. 20. The Legislature shall not pass local or special laws in Legislation of the following enumerated cases, that is to say:

any

Regulating the jurisdiction and duties of Justices of the Peace and

of Constables:

For the punishment of crimes and misdemeanors:

Regulating the practice of Courts of Justice:

Providing for changing the venue in civil and criminal cases:
Granting divorces:

Changing the names of persons:

Vacating roads, town plots, streets, alleys and public squares: Summoning and impanneling grand and petit juries and providing for their compensation:

Regulating county and township business:

Regulating the election of county and township officers:

For the assessment and collection of taxes for State, county and township purposes:

Providing for opening and conducting elections of State, county or township officers, and designating the places of voting:

Providing for the sale of real estate belonging to minors or other

persons laboring under legal disabilities.

general.

SEC. 21. In all cases enumerated in the preceding section, and in Laws to be all other cases where a general law can be made applicable, all laws shall be general and of uniform operation throughout the State.

SEC. 22. Provision may be made by general law for bringing suit Suits against the State, as to all liabilities originating after the adoption of against the this Constitution.

State.

SEC. 23. The enacting clause of every law shall be as follows: Enacting "The People of the State of Nevada, represented in Senate and As- clause. sembly, do enact as follows," and no law shall be enacted except by

bill.