SEC. 5. The justices of the peace shall be nominated by the inferior courts of the several counties, and commissioned by the governor; and there shall be two justices of the peace in each captain's district, either or both of whom shall have power to try all cases of a civil nature within their district, where the debt or litigated demand does not exceed thirty dollars, in such manner as the legislature may by law direct. shall hold their appointments during good behavior, or until they shall be removed by conviction on indictment in the superior court, for malpractice in office, or for any felonious or infamous crime, or by the governor on the address of two-thirds of each branch of the legislature.

They

SEC. 6. The powers of a court of ordinary, or register of probates, shall be invested in the inferior courts of each county, from whose decision there may be an appeal to the superior court, under such restrictions and regulations as the general assembly may by law direct; but the inferior court shall have power to vest the care of the records, and other proceedings therein, in the clerk, or such other person as they may appoint, and any one or more justices of the said court, with such clerk or other person, may issue citations and grant temporary letters, in time of vacation, to hold until the next meeting of the said court; and such clerk or other person may grant marriage-licenses.

SEC. 7. The judges of the superior courts, or any one of them, shall have power to issue writs of mandamus, prohibition, scire facias, and all other writs which may be necessary for carrying their powers fully into effect.

SEC. 8. Within five years after the adoption of this constitution, the body of our laws, civil and criminal, shall be revised, digested, and arranged under proper heads, and promulgated in such manner as the legislature may direct; and no person shall be debarred from advocating or defending his cause before any court or tribunal, either by himself or counsel, or both.

SEC. 9. Divorces shall not be granted by the legislature until the parties shall have had a fair trial before the superior court, and a verdict shall have been obtained authorizing a divorce upon legal principles. And in such cases two-thirds of each branch of the legislature may pass acts of divorce accordingly.

SEC. 10. The clerks of the superior and inferior courts shall be appointed in such manner as the legislature may by law direct; shall be commissioned by the governor, and shall continue in office during good behavior.

SEC. 11. Sheriffs shall be appointed in such manner as the general assembly may by law direct, and shall hold their appointments for the term of two years, unless sooner removed by sentence on impeachment, or by the governor on the address of twothirds of the justices of the inferior court and of the peace in the county; but no person shall be twice elected sheriff within any term of four years; and no county officer after the next election shall be chosen at the time of electing a senator or representative.

ARTICLE IV.

SECTION 1. The electors of members of the general assembly shall be citizens and inhabitants of this State, and shall have attained the age of twenty-one years, and have paid all taxes which may have been required of them, and which they may have had an opportunity of paying, agreeably to law, for the year preceding the election, and shall have resided six months within the county: Provided, That in case of an invasion, and the inhabitants shall be driven from any county, so as to prevent an election therein, such refugee inhabitants, being a majority of the voters of such county, may meet under the direction of any three justices of the peace thereof, in the nearest county not in a state of alarm, and proceed to an election, without having paid such tax so required of electors; and the persons elected thereat shall be entitled to their seats.

SEC. 2. All elections by the general assembly shall be by joint ballot of both branches of the legislature; and when the senate and house of representatives unite for the purpose of electing, they shall meet in the representative chamber, and the president of the senate shall in such cases preside, receive the ballots, and declare the person or persons elected. In all elections by the people the electors shall vote viva voce until the legislature shall otherwise direct.

SEC 3. The general officers of the militia shall be elected by the general assembly, and shall be commissioned by the governor. All other officers of the militia shall be elected in such manner as the legislature may direct, and shall be commissioned by the governor; and all militia officers now in commission, and those which may be hereafter commissioned, shall hold their commissions during their usual residence within the division, brigade, regiment, battalion, or company to which they belong, unless removed by sentence of a court-martial, or by the governor, on the address of two-thirds of each branch of the general assembly.

SEC. 4. All persons appointed by the legislature to fill vacancies shall continue in office only so long as to complete the time for which their predecessors were appointed.

SEC. 5. Freedom of the press, and trial by jury, as heretofore used in this State, shall remain inviolate; and no ex post facto law shall be passed.

SEC. 6. No person who heretofore hath been, or hereafter may be, a collector, or holder of public moneys, shall be eligible to any office in this State until such person shall have accounted for and paid into the treasury all sums for which he may be

accountable or liable.

SEC. 7. The person of a debtor, where there is not a strong presumption of fraud, shall not be detained in prison after delivering up, bona fide, all his estate, real and personal, for the use of his creditors, in such manner as shall be hereafter regulated by law.

SEC. 8. Convictions on impeachments which have heretofore taken place are hereby released, and persons lying under such convictions restored to citizenship.

SEC. 9. The writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in case of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.

SEC. 10. No person within this State shall, upon any pretence, be deprived of the inestimable privilege of worshipping God in a manner agreeable to his own conscience, nor be compelled to attend any place of worship contrary to his own faith and judgment; nor shall he ever be obliged to pay tithes, taxes, or any other rate, for the building or repairing any place of worship, or for the maintenance of any minister or ministry, contrary to what he believes to be right, or hath voluntarily engaged to do. No one religious society shall ever be established in this State, in preference to another; nor shall any person be denied the enjoyment of any civil right merely on account of his religious principles.

SEC. 11. There shall be no future importation of slaves into this State, from Africa or any foreign place, after the first day of October next. The legislature shall have no power to pass laws for the emancipation of slaves without the consent of each of their respective owners, previous to such emancipation. They shall have no power to prevent emigrants from either of the United States to this State from bringing with them such persons as may be deemed slaves by the laws of any one of the United States.

SEC. 12. Any person who shall maliciously dismember or deprive a slave of life shall suffer such punishment as would be inflicted in case the like offence had been committed on a free white person, and on the like proof, except in case of insurrection by such slave, and unless such death should happen by accident in giving such slave moderate correction.

SEC. 13. The arts and sciences shall be promoted, in one or more seminaries of learning; and the legislature shall, as soon as conveniently may be, give such further donations and privileges to those already established as may be necessary to secure the objects of their institution; and it shall be the duty of the general assembly, at their next session, to provide effectual measures for the improvement and permanent security of the funds and endowments of such institutions.

SEC. 14. All civil officers shall continue in the exercise of the duties of their several offices during the periods for which they were appointed, or until they shall be superseded by appointments made in conformity to this constitution; and all laws now in force shall continue to operate, so far as they are compatible with this constitution, until repealed; and it shall be the duty of the general assembly to pass all necessary laws and regulations for carrying this constitution into full effect.

SEC. 15. No part of this constitution shall be altered, unless a bill for that purpose, specifying the alterations intended to be made, shall have been read three times in the house of representatives, and three times in the senate, on three several days in each house, and agreed to by two-thirds of each house respectively; and when any such bill shall be passed in manner aforesaid, the same shall be published at least six months previous to the next ensuing annual election for members of the general assembly; and if such alterations, or any of them, so proposed, shall be agreed to in their first session thereafter, by two-thirds of each branch of the general assembly, after the same shall have been read three times, on three separate days, in each respective house, then, and not otherwise, the same shall become a part of this constitution.

We, the underwritten delegates of the people of the State of Georgia, chosen and authorized by them to revise, alter, or amend the powers and principles of their government, do declare, ordain, and ratify the several articles and sections contained in the six pages hereunto prefixed, as the constitution of this State; and the same shall be in operation from the date hereof.

In testimony whereof we, and each of us, respectively, have hereunto set our hands, at Louisville, the seat of government, this thirtieth day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety-eight, and in the twenty-second year of the Independence of the United States of America; and have caused the great seal of the State to be affixed thereto.

Article 4, section 11, and the first line, the following words being interlined, to wit, "after the first day of October next."

JAMES M. SIMMONS, Secretary.

JARED IRWIN, President.

AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION OF 1798.*

RATIFIED DECEMBER 16, 1808.

ART. III. SEC. 10. So altered and amended as to read: That the clerks of the superior and inferior courts shall be elected on the same day as pointed out by law for the election of other county officers.

RATIFIED 1812.†

ART. III. SEC. 4. So altered and amended as to read: The justices of the inferior courts shall be elected on the third Tuesday in October, eighteen hundred and thirteen, and on the third Tuesday in October in every fourth year thereafter, by the electors entitled to vote for members of the general assembly, which election shall be held and conducted in the same manner as pointed out by law for the elections of clerks and sheriffs; and the persons so elected shall be commissioned by the governor, and continue in office for the term of four years, unless removed by impeachment for malpractice in office, or by the governor, on the address of two-thirds of both branches of the general assembly. They may be compensated for their services in such manner as the legislature may by law direct; and there shall be five justices for each county, who shall hold their offices until their successors are elected and qualified; and when any vacancy shall happen by death, resignation, or otherwise, of any justice of the inferior court, it shall be the duty of two or more justices of the inferior court, or justices of the peace, to give at least twenty days' notice by advertisement, at three of the most public places in the county, previous to the election, to fill such vacancy; which election shall be held in the same manner as is by this section before expressed. ART. III. SEC. 5. So altered and amended as to read: There shall be two justices of the peace in each captain's district, in the several counties of this State, either or both

* These amendments were successively passed by the legislature, and adopted by the legislature of the following year, as prescribed by the constitution, without ratification by the people.

+ Changed by the amendment of 1819.

of whom shall have power to try all cases of a civil nature within their district, where the debt or liquidated demand does not exceed thirty dollars, in such manner as the legislature may by law direct; they shall be elected on the first Saturday in January, eighteen hundred and thirteen, and on the first Saturday in January in every fourth year thereafter, by the citizens of the district to which they respectively belong, entitled to vote for members of the general assembly; which election shall be superintended by three freeholders of the district, whose duty it shall be to take the following oath, to be administered by the captain or commanding officer of said district, to wit: "I, A B, do solemnly swear that I will, to the best of my abilities, superintend the election of justices of the peace for this district; so help me God;" and they shall transmit a return of said election, within twenty days, to his excellency the governor, who is hereby authorized to commission the persons so elected accordingly; and they shall hold their appointments during the term of four years, and until their successors are elected and qualified, unless they shall be removed by conviction on indictment in the superior court, for malpractice in office, or for any felonious or infamous crime, or by the governor on the address of two-thirds of each branch of the legislature. And when any vacancy shall happen by death, resignation, or otherwise, of any justice of the peace, between the time of such election and the expiration of the time for which such justice or justices were elected, it shall be the duty of two of the justices of the peace, in any of the adjoining districts, where such vacancy or vacancies may happen, to advertise in three of the most public places in the district, where such vacancy or vacancies may happen, the time of holding an election for the purpose of filling such vacancy or vacancies, and give at least fifteen days' notice of the time and place where such election shall be held, which shall be in the district where such vacancy or vacancies shall have happened; and it shall be the duty of the said justices to superintend such election, and certify the same, under their hands, to his excellency the governor, who shall, within ten days after receiving the same, commission the person having the highest number of votes, provided the same is not contested.

RATIFIED DECEMBER 15, 1818.

ART. II. SEC. 4. So amended and altered as to read: In case of the death, resignation, or disability of the governor, the president of the senate, or the last acting president of the senate, shall exercise the executive powers of the government until such disability be removed, in the election and qualification of a governor by the general assembly; and in case of the death, resignation, or disability of the president of the senate, or of the last acting president of the senate, the speaker of the house of representatives, or the acting speaker of the house of representatives, shall exercise the executive powers of the government, until such disability be removed in the election and qualification of a governor by the general assembly.

RATIFIED DECEMBER 18, 1818.*

ART. III. SECTION 1. So altered and amended as to read: The judicial powers of this State shall be vested in a superior, inferior, and justices' courts, and such other courts as the legislature shall from time to time ordain and establish. The judges of the superior courts shall be elected for the term of three years, and shall continue in office until their successors shall be elected and qualified; removable by the governor, on the address of two-thirds of both branches of the general assembly for that purpose, or by impeachment and conviction thereon. The superior courts shall have exclusive and final jurisdiction in all criminal cases, (except as relates to people of color, and fines for neglect of duty, and for contempt of court, for violations against road-laws, and for obstructing water-courses, which shall be vested in such judicature or tribunal as shall be or may have been pointed out by law; and except in all other minor offences, committed by free white persons, and which do not subject the offender or offenders to loss of life, limb, or member, or to confinement in the penitentiary; in all such cases corporation courts, such as now exist, or may hereafter be constituted,

* Changed by the amendment of 1835.

in any incorporated city, being a sea-port town and port of entry, may be vested with jurisdiction, under such rules and regulations as the legislature may hereafter by law direct;) which shall be tried in the county where the crime was committed; and in all cases respecting titles to lands, which shall be tried in the county where the land lies; and also concurrent jurisdiction in all other civil cases; and shall have power to correct errors in inferior judicatories by writ of certiorari, as well as errors in the superior courts, and order new trials on proper and legal grounds: Provided, That such new trials shall be determined, and such errors corrected, in the superior court of the county in which such action originated; and the said court shall have appellate jurisdiction in such other cases as are or may be pointed out by law, which shall in no case tend to move the cause from the county in which the action originated; and the judges thereof, in all cases of application for new trials or correction of errors, shall enter their opinion on the minutes of the court. The inferior courts shall also have concurrent jurisdiction in all civil cases, (except in cases respecting the titles to lands,) which shall be tried in the county where the defendant resides; and in case of joint obligors and joint promissors, residing in different counties, the same may be brought in either county, and a copy of the petition and process served on the party residing out of the county in which the suit may be commenced, shall be deemed sufficient service, under such rules and regulations as the legislature have or may direct. The superior and inferior courts shall sit in each county twice in every year, at such stated times as have or may be appointed by the legislature.

RATIFIED NOVEMBER 23, 1819.†

ART. III. SEC. 4. So altered and amended as to read: The justices of the inferior court shall be elected by the persons entitled to vote for members of the legislature, in such manner as the legislature may by law direct.

ART. III. SEC. 5. So altered and amended as to read: The justices of the peace throughout this State shall be elected by the persons residing in their respective districts, entitled to vote for members of the general assembly, under such rules and regulations as the legislature may by law direct.

RATIFIED NOVEMBER 17, 1824.

ART. II. SEC. 2. So altered and amended as to read: The governor shall be elected by the persons qualified to vote for members of the general assembly, on the first Monday in October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twentyfive; and on the first Monday in October in every second year thereafter, until such time be altered by law; which election shall be held at the place of holding general elections, in the several counties of this State, in the same manner as is prescribed for the election of members of the general assembly. The returns for every election of governor shall be sealed up by the presiding justices, separately from other returns, and directed to the president of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives, and transmitted to his excellency the governor, or the person exercising the duties of governor for the time being, who shall, without opening the said returns, cause the same to be laid before the senate, on the day after the two houses shall have been organized, and they shall be transmitted by the senate to the house of representatives. The members of each branch of the general assembly shall convene in the representative chamber, and the president of the senate, and the speaker of the house of representatives, shall open and publish the returns in presence of the general assembly; and the person having the majority of the whole number of votes given in shall be declared duly elected governor of this State. But if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the two highest number of votes who shall be in life, and shall not decline an election at the time appointed for the legislature to elect, the general assembly shall elect immediately a governor by joint ballot; and in all cases of election of a governor by the general assembly, a majority of the votes of the members present shall be necessary for a choice. Contested elections shall be determined by both houses of the general assembly, in such manner as shall be pre scribed by law.

This amendment was adopted in the place of a previous amendment of the same sections, in 1812.