shall be tried in the county wherein the defendant resides, except in cases of joint obligers, residing in different counties, which may be commenced in either county: and a copy of the petition and process, served on the party or parties 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 may direct; but the Legislature may, by law, to which two-thirds of each branch shall concur, give concurrent jurisdiction to the superior courts. The superior and inferior courts shall sit in each county twice in every year, at such stated times as the Legislature shall appoint.

2. The judges shall have salaries adequate to their services, established by law, which shall not be increased or diminished during their continuance in office; but shall not receive any other perquisites or emoluments whatever, from parties or others, on account of any duty required of them.

3. There shall be a State's attorney and solicitors appointed by the Legislature, and commissioned by the Governor, who shall hold their offices for the term of three years, unless removed by sentence on impeachment, or by the Governor, on the address of two-thirds of each branch of the General Assembly. They shall have salaries aqeduate to their services, established by law, which shall not be increased or diminished during their continuance in office.

4. Justices of the inferior courts shall be appointed by the General Assembly, and be commissioned by the Governor, and shall hold their commissions during good behavior, or as long as they respectively reside in the county for which they shall be appointed, unless removed by sentence on impeachment, or by the Governor, on the address of two-thirds of each branch of the General Assembly. They may be compensated for their services in such manner as the Legislature may by law direct.

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. They 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 two-thirds 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.

SEC. 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.

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 case 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. 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 courtmartial, or by the Governor, on the address of two-thirds of each branch of the General Assembly.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

10. No person within the State shall, upon any pretence, be deprived of the inestimable privilege of worshiping 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 any other; nor shall any person be denied the enjoyment of any civil right, merely on account of his religious principles.

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.

12. Any person who shall maliciously dismember or deprive a slave of his 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.

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.

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.

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.

AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION,
Adopted in 1839.

Whereas a part of the thirty-first section of the first article of the Constitution is in the following words, viz.: The Senate shall be

elected annually; and a part of the seventh section of the first article is in the following words: The representatives shall be chosen annually; and a part of the twelfth section of the first article is in the following words: The meeting of the General Assembly shall be annually, and whereas a part of the third section of the third article is in the following words: There shall be a State's Attorney and Solicitor appointed by the Legislature and commissioned by the Governor, who shall hold their offices for the term of three years; and a part of the fifteenth section of the fourth article is in the following words: The same shall be published at least six months previous to the next ensuing annual election for members of the General Assembly; and whereas the before-recited clauses require amendments.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Georgia, in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted, by the authority of the same, that, so soon as this act shall have passed, agreeably to the requisitions of the Constitution, the following shall be adopted in lieu of the foregoing clauses: In the third section of the first article, the following, to wit: The Senate shall be elected biennially, after the passage of this act the first election to take place on the first Monday in 1843. In lieu of the seventh section of the first article, the following: The representatives shall be elected biennially, after the passing of this act the first election to take place the first Monday in October, eighteen hundred and forty-three; and in lieu of the clause in the twelfth section in the first article, the following: The meeting of the General Assemby shall be biennially, after the passage of this act, on the first Monday in November; and in lieu of the clause in the third section of the third article, the following, to wit: There shall be a State Attorney and Solicitor elected by the Legislature, who shall hold their office for the term of four years; and in lieu of the clause in the fifteenth section of the fourth article, the following The same shall be published at least six months previous to the next ensuing biennial election for members of the General Assembly the provisions of this act not to go into effect until the year eighteen hundred and forty-three.

2. And be it further enacted, by the authority of the aforesaid, that whenever it shall so happen that the term of office of any of the judges, State Attorney, or solicitors, shall expire at any time during the recess of the General Assembly, then and in that case it shall be the duty of his excellency, the Governor, to fill such vacancy by appointment, until the next General Assembly thereafter to be held, when such vacancy shall be filled by election by the Legislature, until the next election of judges, State's Attorney, or solicitors, shall take place.