SEC. 22. At every election of a governor, an attorney-general shall be elected by the voters of the commonwealth for the term of four years. He shall be commissioned by the governor, shall perform such duties and receive such compensation as may be prescribed by law, and be removable in the manner prescribed for the removal of judges. SEC. 23. Judges and all other officers, whether elected or appointed, shall continue to discharge the duties of their respective offices after their terms of service have expired, until their successors are qualified. SEC. 24. Writs shall run in the name of the commonwealth of Virginia, and be attested by the clerks of the several courts. Indictments shall conclude, "against the peace and dignity of the commonwealth." COUNTY COURTS SEC. 25. There shall be in each county of the commonwealth a county court, which shall be held monthly, by not less than three nor more than five justices, except when the law shall require the presence of a greater number. SEC. 26. The jurisdiction of the said courts shall be the same as that of the existing county courts, except so far as it is modified by this constitution, or may be changed by law. SEC. 27. Each county shall be laid off into districts, as nearly equal as may be in territory and population. In each district there shall be elected, by the voters thereof, four justices of the peace, who shall be commissioned by the governor, reside in their respective districts, and hold their offices for the term of four years. The justices so elected shall choose one of their own body, who shall be the presiding justice of the county court, and whose duty it shall be to attend each term of said court. The other justices shall be classified by law for the performance of their duties in court. SEC. 28. The justices shall receive for their services in court a perdiem compensation, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the county treasury; and shall not receive any fee or emolument for other judicial services. SEC. 29. The power and jurisdiction of justices of the peace within their respective counties shall be prescribed by law. COUNTY OFFICERS SEC. 30. The voters of each county shall elect a clerk of the county court, a surveyor, an attorney for the commonwealth, a sheriff, and so many commissioners of the revenue as may be authorized by law, who shall hold their respective offices as follows: The clerk and the surveyor for the term of six years; the attorney for the term of four years; the sheriff and the commissioners for the term of two years. Constables and overseers of the poor shall be elected by the voters, as may be prescribed by law. SEC. 31. The officers mentioned in the preceding section, except the attorneys, shall reside in the counties or districts for which they were respectively elected. No person elected for two successive terms to the office of sheriff shall be reëligible to the same office for the next succeeding term; nor shall he, during his term of service, or within one year thereafter, be eligible to any political office. SEC. 32. The justices of the peace, sheriffs, attorneys for the commonwealth, clerks of the circuit and county courts, and all other county officers, shall be subject to indictment for malfeasance, misfeasance, or neglect of official duty; and, upon conviction thereof, their offices shall become vacant. CORPORATION COURTS AND OFFICERS SEC. 33. The general assembly may vest such jurisdiction as shall be deemed necessary in corporation courts, and in the magistrates who may belong to the corporate body. SEC. 34. All officers appertaining to the cities and other municipal corporations shall be elected by the qualified voters, or appointed by the constituted authorities of such cities or corporations, as may be prescribed by law. Done in convention, in the city of Richmond, on the first day of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, and in the seventy-sixth year of the commonwealth of Virginia. S. D. WHITTLE, Secretary. SCHEDULE JOHN Y. MASON, President. SECTION 1. It shall be the duty of the president of this convention, immediately on its adjournment, to certify to the governor a copy of the bill of rights and constitution adopted, together with this schedule. SEC. 2. Upon the receipt of such certified copy, the governor shall forthwith announce the fact by proclamation, to be published in such newspapers of the State as may be deemed requisite for general information; and shall annex to his proclamation a copy of the bill of rights and constitution, together with this schedule; which proclamation, bill of rights, constitution, and schedule shall be published in the manner indicated, for the period of one month; and ten printed copies thereof shall, by the secretary of the commonwealth, be immediately transmitted by mail to the clerk of each county and corporation court in this commonwealth, to be by such clerk submitted to the examination of any person desiring the same. SEC. 3. The officers authorized by existing laws to conduct general elections shall, at the places appointed for holding the same, open a poll-book on the fourth Thursday in October next, to be headed" The constitution as amended and schedule," and to contain two separate columns; the first column to be headed "For ratifying;" the other to be headed "For rejecting." And such officers keeping said polls open for the space of three days, shall then and there receive and record in said poll-book the votes for and against this constitution and schedule, of all persons qualified under the existing or amended constitution, to exercise the right of suffrage. SEC. 4. The taking of the polls, the duties to be performed by the officers, the privilege of the voters, and the penalties attaching for misconduct on the part of any person, shall be in all things as prescribed by the second, third, fourth, seventh, eighth, and ninth sections of the act of the general assembly passed March the fourth, one thousand eight hundred and fifty, entitled "An act to take the sense of the people upon the call of a convention, and providing for organizing the same," so far as the provisions of the said sections may be applicable. SEC. 5. It shall be the duty of the governor, upon receiving the returns of said officers, to ascertain the result thereof, and forthwith to declare the same by his proclamation, stating the aggregate vote in the State for and against the ratification of the amended constitution and schedule, which shall be published at least once a week until the second Monday in December next, in such newspapers as, in his opinion, will be best calculated to diffuse general information thereof; and if it appear that a majority of the votes cast is in favor of ratification, the governor, at the same time, and in like manner, shall make proclamation for holding, on the day last mentioned, a general election throughout the State for delegates and senators to the general assembly, according to the apportionment and districts prescribed in this constitution; and also for the election of a governor, lieutenant-governor, and attorney-general. SEC. 6. The officers authorized by existing laws to hold and conduct general elections, shall hold and conduct the elections herein required; and such officers and all other persons shall be governed and controlled therein by the provisions of said laws, so far as the same may be applicable to and necessary for the proper conducting of the said elections. Duplicate polls shall be separately kept for governor and lieutenant-governor, for attorney-general, and for senators and delegates to the general assembly, which shall be verified by the oaths of the officers conducting the elections. SEC. 7. The verified duplicate polls for governor, lieutenant-governor, and attorney-general shall be deposited with the clerks of the several counties and cities, who shall retain one in their respective offices, and transmit the other by mail to the secretary of the commonwealth. SEC. 8. In the election of senators and delegates for districts formed of more than one county and city, the officers conducting the same at the court-house of the several counties and cities forming each district shall assemble, on the eighth day after the commencement of the said election, at the court-house of the county or city first named as one of the counties of the district; shall compare the polls and ascertain the result, and shall deliver and return certificates of election according to the laws now in force. SEC. 9. The members of the general assembly so elected shall meet at the capitol in the city of Richmond on the second Monday in January, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, and then and there organize as the general assembly of Virginia; but before such organization, they shall respectively take the oath of fidelity to the commonwealth, and the other oaths of office required by the laws now in force. SEC. 10. The election of members of the general assembly under this constitution shall vacate the seats of those elected under the present constitution. SEC. 11. The official terms of the delegates first elected to the general assembly under this constitution shall expire on the thirtieth day of June, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-three. SEC. 12. The official terms of the first governor, lieutenant-governor, and attorney-general elected under this constitution shall expire on the thirty-first day of December, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five. SEC. 13. The present judges of the supreme court of appeals and of the circuit courts, and their successors, who may be appointed under the existing constitution, shall remain in office until such time as the law may prescribe for the commencement of the official terms of the judges under the amended constitution, and no longer; which time shall not be more than six months after the termination of the first session of the general assembly under the amended constitution. SEC. 14. The executive department of the government shall remain as at present organized; and the governor and councillors of state and their successors appointed under the existing constitution shall continue in office until a governor elected under this constitution shall be qualified; and all other persons in office when this constitution is adopted, except as is herein otherwise expressly directed, shall continue in office until their successors are qualified; and vacancies in office, happening before such qualification, shall be filled in the manner now prescribed by law. SEC. 15. All the courts of justice now existing shall continue with their present jurisdiction until and except so far as the judicial system may or shall be otherwise organized; and all laws in force when this constitution is adopted, and not inconsistent therewith, and all rights, prosecutions, actions, claims, and contracts shall remain and continue as if this constitution was not adopted. SEC. 16. The general assembly shall pass all laws necessary for carrying this constitution into full effect and operation. Done in convention, in the city of Richmond, on the first day of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred "and fifty-one, and in the seventy-sixth year of the commonwealth of Virginia. S. D. WHITTLE, Secretary. JOHN Y. MAasox, President. CONSTITUTION OF VIRGINIA-1861 [A convention which met at Richmond February 13, 1861, passed an ordinance of secession, subject to the ratification or rejection of the people, and amended the constitution. The ordinance of secession was ratified by 128,884 votes against 32,734 votes.] CONSTITUTION OF VIRGINIA-1864 * « BILL OF RIGHTS [This bill of rights was adopted from the constitution of 1830, as amended from its original passage in 1776.] * Journal of the Constitutional Convention which convened at Alexandria, on the 13th day of February, 1864. Alexandria: D. Turner, Printer to the State, 1864, pp. 52. Also see note to constitution of 1850. This constitution was framed by a convention which assembled at Alexandria February 13, 1864, composed of delegates from such portions of Virginia as were then within the Union lines, and had not been included in the recently formed State of West Virginia. It was adopted April 11, 1864, and was not submitted to the people for ratification. CONSTITUTION Whereas the delegates and representatives of the good people of Virginia in convention assembled, on the twenty-ninth day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-six, reciting and declaring, that whereas George the Third, King of Great Britain and Ireland and elector of Hanover, before that time intrusted with the exercise of the kingly office in the government of Virginia, had endeavored to pervert the same into a detestable and insupportable tyranny, by putting his negative on laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public good; by denying his governors permission to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation for his assent, and when so suspended, neglecting to attend to them for many years, by refusing to pass certain other laws, unless the persons to be benefited by them would relinquish the inestimable right of representation in the legislature; by dissolving legislative assemblies repeatedly and continually, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions of the rights of the people; when dissolved, by refusing to call others for a long space of time, thereby leaving the political system without any legislative head; by endeavoring to prevent the population of our country, and for that purpose obstructing the laws for the naturalization of foreigners; by keeping among us, in time of peace, standing armies and ships of war: by affecting to render the military independent of and superior to the civil power; by combining with others to subject us to a foreign jurisdiction, giving his assent to their pretended acts of legislation, for quartering large bodies of armed troops among us, for cutting off our trade with all parts of the world, for imposing taxes on us without our consent, for depriving us of the benefits of the trial by jury, for transporting us beyond seas for trial for pretended offences, for suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever; by plundering our seas, ravaging our coasts, burning our towns, and destroying the lives of our people; by inciting insurrections of our fellow-subjects with the allurements of forfeiture and confiscation; by prompting our negroes to rise in arms amongst us, those very negroes whom, by an inhuman use of his negative, he had refused us permission to exclude by law; by endeavoring to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions of existence; by transporting hither a large army of foreign mercenaries to complete the work of death, desolation, and tyranny, then already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy unworthy the head of a civilized nation; by answering our repeated petitions for redress with a repetition of injuries; and finally, by abandoning the helm of government, and declaring us out of his allegiance and protection; by which several acts of misrule the government of this country, as before exercised under the crown of Great Britain, was totally dissolved, did, therefore, having maturely considered the premises, and viewing with great concern the deplorable condition to which this once happy country would be reduced, unless some regular, adequate mode of civil policy should be speedily adopted, and in compliance with the recommendation of the |