(H. B. 193.) AN ACT IN RELATION TO ACTIONS FOR THE USURPATION OF AN OFFICE OR Actions for usupation advanced upon the docket. An appeal to supreme court likewise advanced. May be brought court. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of SECTION I. Whenever an action is brought against any person who is alleged to usurp, intrude into, or to unlawfully hold or exercise any public office, civil or military, or any franchise, it shall be the duty of the court when such action is brought to advance such action on the docket, and to give the same a preference over all other civil actions, except actions of a similar nature, whose priority shall be determined by the order in which they were commenced. SEC. 2. When such actions are appealed, or otherwise transferred to the supreme court, they shall by said court be advanced on the hearing docket in preference to all other actions, except those of the same nature, and criminal actions in the discretion of the court, and said court shall make its orders in relation to briefs, abstracts and hearings of such actions with the view to the earliest determination of such actions consistent with justice. SEC. 3. The action mentioned in the first section hereof in the supreme may be brought in the first instance, in the supreme court, and the said court shall take cognizance thereof and proceed to hear and determine the same in accordance with the provisions of this act, under such rules in relation to issues and the taking of evidence, and the hearing, as the supreme court may prescribe. Approved March 11, 1885. (H. B. 142.) AN ACT TO ALLOW AND REGULATE CHANGES OF VENUE IN CRIMINAL CASES. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of deemed incom SECTION I. In any criminal cause, pending in any when a judge is court of record of competent jurisdiction, the judge of petent to try a said court shall be deemed incompetent to hear or try said criminal cause. cause in either of the following cases: First-When the judge is related to the defendant by blood or marriage within the third degree; or, Second-When the offense charged is alleged to have been committed against the person or property of such judge, or some person related to him by blood or marriage within the third degree; or, Third-When the judge is in any wise interested or prejudiced, or shall have been of counsel in the cause; or, Fourth-When the defendant shall make and file an affidavit, stating that they believe the judge is so prejudiced against the defendant that he cannot have a fair and impartial trial. changed to some some other county, or before SEC. 2. In case the judge shall be incompetent to sit for any of the causes mentioned in the last preceding section, he may change the venue to some other court of competent jurisdiction in the same county, or in some Venue may be other county, or he may set the cause down for trial on other court, or some day in term time or vacation, and notify and request the judge of some other court, having jurisdiction of a like another judge. offense, to try the cause; and it shall be the duty of the judge so requested to appear and hold the court at the time appointed for the trial of said cause, and he shall, during said trial and in relation to said cause, possess all the powers and perform all the duties of the judge at a regular term of such court, and may adjourn the case from day to day, or to some other time, as the exigencies of the case may require. When inhabi prejudiced SEC. 3. When any defendant, in any indictment or information in any court of record of this State, shall fear tants are that he will not receive a fair and impartial trial in the against court in which the case is pending, because the inhabitants defendant. Affidavit for of the county in which the case is pending are prejudiced against him, the court, or the judge thereof in vacation, may award a change of venue, upon application of the defendant, as hereinafter provided. SEC. 4. Every application for a change of venue shall change of venue. be by petition, verified by the affidavit of the defendant, and when such application is made for the cause mentioned in section 3 of this act, it shall be supported by the affidavit of at least three reputable citizens of the county, and not of kin to the defendant, stating they believe the inhabitants of the county in which the case is pending are so prejudiced against the defendant that he can not have a fair and impartial trial in such county; Provided, That reasonable notice of such application shall in all cases be given to the attorney on behalf of the people; and when such application is for the cause mentioned in section 3 of this act, the attorney on behalf of the people may, within such time as the court or judge shall direct, file counter affidavits, controverting the matters alleged in the petition of the defendant and the affidavits filed in support thereof, and the defendant may, in turn, be allowed to file rebutting affidavits; and such application shall thereupon be granted or refused by the court or judge, upon the consideration of said petition and all such affidavits. Prosecuting attorney may file counter affidavits. SEC. 5. When a change of venue is granted on account of the prejudice of the inhabitants of the county against the defendant, it may be to some other court of record of competent jurisdiction, in some other convenient county to which there is no valid objection. SEC. 6. No more than one change of venue shall be granted to the same defendant. SEC. 7. Every order for the removal of a cause, if made in term, shall be entered by the clerk on the records of the court; if made by a judge in vacation, shall be in writing and signed by such judge, and shall be filed by the clerk with the petition as a part of the record in the cause. SEC. 8. When such order shall be made, the defendant, if not in confinement or custody, shall enter into a Recognizance. recognizance, with sufficient surety, for his appearance to answer the charge in the court to which the cause is to be removed, at the next term thereof, and not to depart such court without leave. SEC. 9. Such recognizance may be taken by the court or judge making the order, or by any court or officer authorized by law to let to bail after indictment or information filed, and when taken out of the court in which the cause is pending, shall be filed with the clerk thereof. SEC. 10. No order for the removal of a cause shall be effectual in the case of any defendant not in confinement or custody, unless a recognizance, taken as herein directed, be entered into in open court, or filed with the clerk thereof within such time as the court or judge may direct. SEC. II. In all cases of change of venue the clerk of Transcript. the court from which the change is granted shall immediately make a full transcript of the record and proceedings in the case, and of the petition and order for the change of venue, and transmit the same, together with all papers filed in the case, including the indictment or information and recognizances of the defendant and all witnesses to the proper court; Provided, That when the change is granted to a part but not all of several defendants, a certified copy of the indictment or information, and of the other papers in the case, shall be transmitted to the court to which the change of venue is ordered, and such certified copies shall stand as the originals, and the defendant be tried upon the same; such transcript and papers may be transmitted by mail, or in such way as the court or judge may direct. papers shall be SEC. 12. The clerk of the court to which the venue is changed shall file the transcript and papers transmitted to Transcript and him, and docket the case; and such case shall be proceeded filed. in and determined in all things, as well before as after judgment, as if it had originated in such court. Defendant, when be turned over to venue is changed. SEC. 13. When the applicant is in custody or confine-. ment in jail, the court or judge shall make an order to the in prison, shall sheriff, or other officer having custody of the applicant, to sheriff of the remove his body to the common jail of the county to which county to which the venue is changed, and there deliver him to the keeper of said jail, together with the warrant by virtue of which he is confined or held in custody, not more than three days next before the first day of the next term of said court; and the sheriff or other officer shall obey such order, and shall endorse on such warrant of commitment the reason of the change of custody, and shall deliver such warrant, with the body of the prisoner, to the keeper of the jail of Witnesses for be recognized. the proper county, who shall receive the same and give to the sheriff a receipt therefor, and shall take charge of and keep the prisoner in the same manner as if he had originally been committed to his custody. SEC. 14. When the venue is changed in term time, prosecution may the attorney for the people may have any or all the witnesses on the part of the prosecution recognized to appear at the court to which the change is ordered on the first day of the term at which the trial is to be had. Waived. SEC. 15. All questions concerning the regularity of proceedings in obtaining changes of venue, and the right of the court to which the change is made to try the cause and execute the judgment, shall be considered as waived after trial and verdict. Approved April 10, 1885. WIDOW'S ALLOWANCE. (H. B. 410.) AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE SETTLEMENT OF ESTATES WHERE THE PER- Widows allow ance may exhaust estate. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of SECTION 1. Upon the ascertainment by the county court that the amount of personal property of the estate of a decedent does not exceed the amount of the widow's allowance, and that the decedent left no real estate, the court shall at once enter an order setting aside to the widow the personal property so belonging to the estate, freed from debts of the estate. And thereupon the court shall further enter an order settling the estate and discharging the administrator, or executor, without waiting one |