SEC. 11. That no person shall, for any indictable offence, be proceeded against criminally by information, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or the militia, when in actual service, in time of war or public danger, by leave of the court, for oppression or misdemeanor in office.

SEC. 12. No person shall, for the same offence, be twice put in jeopardy of his life or limb, nor shall any man's property be taken or applied to public use without the consent of his representatives, and without just compensation being previously made to him.

SEC. 13. That all courts shall be open, and every person, for any injury done him in his lands, goods, person, or reputation, shall have remedy by the due course of laws, and right and justice administered without sale, denial, or delay.

SEC. 14. That no power of suspending laws shall be exercised, unless by the legislature or its authority.

SEC. 15. That excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel punishments inflicted.

SEC. 16. That all prisoners shall be bailable by sufficient securities, unless for capital offences, when the proof is evident or presumption great; and the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it.

SEC. 17. That the person of a debtor, where there is not strong presumption of fraud, shall not be continued in prison after delivering up his estate for the benefit of his creditors, in such manner as shall be prescribed by law.

SEC. 18. That no ex post facto law, nor any law impairing contracts, shall be made.

SEC. 19. That no person shall be attainted of treason or felony by the legislature.

SEC. 20. That no attainder shall work corruption of blood, nor, except during the life of the offender, forfeiture of estate to the commonwealth.

SEC. 21. That the estates of such persons as shall destroy their own lives shall descend or vest as in case of natural death; and if any person shall be killed by casualty, there shall be no forfeiture by reason thereof.

SEC. 22. That the citizens have a right in a peaceable manner to assemble together for their common good, and to apply to those invested with the powers of government for redress of grievances, or other proper purposes, by petition, address, or remonstrance.

SEC. 23. That the rights of the citizens to bear arms in defence of themselves and the State shall not be questioned.

SEC. 24. That no standing army shall, in time of peace, be kept up, without the consent of the legislature; and the military shall, in all cases and at all times, be in strict subordination to the civil power.

SEC. 25. That no soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

SEC. 26. That the legislature shall not grant any title of nobility. or hereditary distinction, nor create any office the appointment to which shall be for a longer term than during good behavior.

SEC. 27. That emigration from this State shall not be prohibited.

SEC. 28. To guard against transgressions of the high powers which we have delegated, we declare that everything in this article is excepted out of the general powers of government, and shall forever remain inviolate; and that all laws contrary thereto, or contrary to this constitution, shall be void.

SCHEDULE

That no inconvenience may arise from the alterations and amendments made in the constitution of this commonwealth, and in order to carry the same into complete operation, it is hereby declared and ordained:

SECTION 1. That all laws of this commonwealth in force at the time of making the said alterations and amendments, and not inconsistent therewith, and all rights, actions, prosecutions, claims, and contracts, as well of individuals as of bodies-corporate, shall continue as if the said alterations and amendments had not been made.

SEC. 2. That all officers now filling any office or appointment shall continue in the exercise of the duties of their respective offices or appointments for the terms therein expressed, unless by this constitution it is otherwise directed.

SEC. 3. The oaths of office herein directed to be taken may be administered by any justice of the peace until the legislature shall otherwise direct.

SEC. 4. The general assembly, to be held in November next, shall apportion the representatives and senators, and lay off the State into senatorial districts conformable to the regulations prescribed by this constitution. In fixing those apportionments, and in establishing those districts, they shall take for their guide the enumeration directed by law to be made in the present year by the commissioners of the tax, and the apportionments thus made shall remain unaltered until the end of the stated annual session of the general assembly in the year eighteen hundred and three.

SEC. 5. In order that no inconvenience may arise from the change made by this constitution in the time of holding the general election, it is hereby ordained that the first election for governor, lieutenantgovernor, and members of the general assembly shall commence on the first Monday in May, in the year eighteen hundred. The persons then elected shall continue in office during the several terms of service prescribed by this constitution, and until the next general election which shall be held after their said terms shall have respectively expired. The returns for the said first election of governor and lieutenant-governor shall be made to the secretary within fifteen days from the day of election, who shall, as soon as may be, examine and count the same in the presence of at least two judges of the court of appeals or district courts, and shall declare who are the persons thereby duly elected, and give them official notice of their election; and if any person shall be equal and highest on the poll, the said judges and secretary shall determine the election by lot.

SEC. 6. This constitution, except so much thereof as is therein otherwise directed, shall not be in force until the first day of June, in the year eighteen hundred; on which day the whole thereof shall take full and complete effect.

7252-VOL 2-07-27

Done in convention, at Frankfort, the seventeenth day of August, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the twenty-fourth.

ALEXANDER S. BULLIT, President.

CONSTITUTION OF KENTUCKY-1850 * a

PREAMBLE

We, the representatives of the people of the State of Kentucky in convention assembled, to secure to all the citizens thereof the enjoyment of the rights of life, liberty, and property, and of pursuing happiness, do ordain and establish this constitution for its government:

ARTICLE I

CONCERNING THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT

SECTION 1. The powers of the government of the State of Kentucky shall be divided into three distinct departments, and each of them 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 judiciary to another.

SEC. 2. No person, or collection of persons, being of one of those departments, shall exercise any power properly belonging to either of the others, except in the instances hereinafter expressly directed or permitted.

ARTICLE II

CONCERNING THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT

SECTION 1. The legislative power shall be vested in a house of representatives and senate, which together shall be styled "The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky."

SEC. 2. The members of the house of representatives shall continue in service for the term of two years from the day of the general election, and no longer.

SEC. 3. Representatives shall be chosen on the first Monday in August in every second year, and the mode of holding the elections shall be regulated by law.

SEC. 4. No person shall be a representative who, at the time of his election, is not a citizen of the United States, has not attained the age of twenty-four years, and who has not resided in this State two years. next preceding his election, and the last year thereof in the county, preceding his election, and the last year thereof in the county, town, or city for which he may be chosen.

SEC. 5. The general assembly shall divide each county of this commonwealth into convenient election-precincts, or may delegate power

* Verified from "The Statutes of Kentucky." pp. 91-155. (See note to Kentucky constitution of 1792.)

@ This constitution was framed by a convention which met at Frankfort October 1, 1849, and completed its labors June 11, 1850. It was submitted to the people, and ratified by 71,563 votes against 20,302 votes,

to do so to such county authorities as may be designated by law; and elections for representatives for the several counties shall be held at the places of holding their respective courts, and in the several election-precincts into which the counties may be divided: Provided, That when it shall appear to the general assembly that any city or town hath a number of qualified voters equal to the ratio then fixed, such city or town shall be invested with the privilege of a separate representation, in either or both houses of the general assembly, which shall be retained so long as such city or town shall contain a number of qualified voters equal to the ratio which may, from time to time, be fixed by law; and, thereafter, elections for the county in which such city or town is situated shall not be held therein; but such city or town shall not be entitled to a separate representation, unless such county, after the separation, shall also be entitled to one or more representatives. That whenever a city or town shall be entitled to a separate representation in either house of the general assembly, and by its numbers shall be entitled to more than one representative, such city or town shall be divided, by squares which are contiguous, so as to make the most compact form, into representative districts, as nearly equal as may be, equal to the number of representatives to which such city or town may be entitled; and one representative shall be elected from each district. In like manner shall said city or town be divided into senatorial districts, when by the apportionment more than one senator shall be allotted to such city or town, and a senator shall be elected from each senatorial district; but no ward or municipal division shall be divided by such division of senatorial or representative districts, unless it be necessary to equalize the elective, senatorial, or representative districts.

SEC. 6. Representation shall be equal and uniform in this commonwealth, and shall be forever regulated and ascertained by the number of qualified voters therein. In the year 1850, again in the year 1857, and every eighth year thereafter, an enumeration of all the qualified voters of the State shall be made; and, to secure uniformity and equality of representation, the State is hereby laid off into ten districts. The first district shall be composed of the counties of Fulton, Hickman, Ballard, McCracken, Graves, Calloway, Marshall, Livingston, Crittenden, Union, Hopkins, Caldwell, and Trigg. The second district shall be composed of the counties of Christian, Muhlenburg, Henderson, Daviess, Hancock, Ohio, Breckinridge, Meade, Grayson, Butler, and Edmonson. The third district shall be composed of the counties of Todd, Logan, Simpson, Warren, Allen, Monroe, Barren, and Hart. The fourth district shall be composed of the counties of Cumberland, Adair, Green, Taylor, Clinton, Russell, Wayne, Pulaski, Casey, Boyle, and Lincoln. The fifth district shall be composed of the counties of Harden, Larue, Bullitt, Spencer, Nelson, Washington, Marion, Mercer, and Anderson. The sixth district shall be composed of the counties of Garrard, Madison, Estill, Owsley, Rockcastle, Laurel, Clay, Whitley, Knox, Harlan, Perry, Letcher, Pike, Floyd, and Johnson. The seventh district shall be composed of the counties of Jefferson, Oldham, Trimble, Carroll, Henry, and Shelby, and the city of Louisville. The eighth district shall be composed of the counties of Bourbon, Fayette, Scott, Owen, Franklin, Woodford, and Jessamine. The ninth district shall be composed of the counties of Clarke, Bath, Montgomery, Fleming,

Lewis, Greenup, Carter, Lawrence, Morgan, and Breathitt. The tenth district shall be composed of the counties of Mason, Bracken, Nicholas, Harrison, Pendleton, Campbell, Grant, Kenton, Boone, and Gallatin. The number of representatives shall, at the several sessions of the general assembly next after the making of the enumerations, be apportioned among the ten several districts according to the number of qualified voters in each; and the representatives shall be apportioned, as near as may be, among the counties, towns, and cities in each district; and in making such apportionment the following rules shall govern, to wit: Every county, town, or city, having the ratio, shall have one representative; if double the ratio, two representatives, and so on. Next, the counties, towns, or cities having one or more representatives, and the largest number of qualified voters above the ratio, and counties having the largest number under the ratio, shall have a representative, regard being always had to the greatest number of qualified voters: Provided, That when a county may not have a sufficient number of qualified voters to entitle it to one representative, then such county may be joined to some adjacent county or counties, which counties shall send one representative. When a new county shall be formed of territory belonging to more than one district, it shall form a part of that district having the least number of qualified voters.

SEC. 7. The house of representatives shall choose its speaker and other officers.

SEC. 8. Every free white male citizen of the age of twenty-one years, who has resided in the State two years, or in the county, town, or city in which he offers to vote one year, next preceding the election, shall be a voter; but such voter shall have been for sixty days next preceding the election a resident of the precinct in which he offers to vote, and he shall vote in said precinct, and not elsewhere.

SEC. 9. Voters, in all cases except treason, felony, breach or surety of the peace, shall be privileged from arrest during their attendance at, going to, and returning from elections.

SEC. 10. Senators shall be chosen for the term of four years, and the senate shall have power to choose its officers biennially.

SEC. 11. Senators and representatives shall be elected, under the first apportionment after the adoption of this constitution, in the year 1851.

SEC. 12. At the session of the general assembly next after the first apportionment under this constitution, the senators shall be divided by lot, as equally as may be, into two classes; the seats of the first class shall be vacated at the end of two years from the day of the election, and those of the second class at the end of four years, so that one-half shall be chosen every two years.

SEC. 13. The number of representatives shall be one hundred, and the number of senators thirty-eight.

SEC. 14. At every apportionment of representation, the State shall be laid off into thirty-eight senatorial districts, which shall be so formed as to contain, as near as may be, an equal number of qualified voters, and so that no county shall be divided in the formation of a senatorial district, except such county shall be entitled, under the enumeration, to two or more senators; and where two or more counties compose a district they shall be adjoining.