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ARTICLE XVII.
Schedule and Ordinance.
In order that no inconvenience may
arise from the organization and establishment of the State Government, it is
declared:
Section 1. That all laws and parts of laws, now in force, or which
may be hereafter passed by the Governor and Legislative Council, of the
Territory of Florida, not repugnant to the provisions of this Constitution,
shall continue in force, until by operation of their provisions or limitations,
the same shall cease to be in force, or until the General Assembly of this State
shall alter or repeal the same; and all writs, actions, prosecutions, judgments,
and contracts, shall be, and continue unimpaired, and all process which has
heretofore issued, or which may be issued, prior to the last day of the first
session of the General Assembly of this State, shall be as valid as if issued in
the name of the State; and nothing in this Constitution shall impair the
obligation of contracts, or violate vested rights, either of individuals or of
associations, claiming to exercise corporate privileges in this State.
Section
2. All fines, penalties, forfeitures, obligations, and escheats, accruing to
the Territory of Florida, shall accrue to the use of the State of Florida.
Section
3. All recognizances heretofore taken, or which may be taken before the
organization of the Judicial Department under this Constitution, shall remain
valid, and shall pass over to, and may be prosecuted in the name of the State;
and all bonds, executed to the Governor of the Territory of Florida, or to any
other officer in his official capacity, shall pass over to the Governor or other
proper State authority, and to their successors in office for the uses therein
respectively expressed, and may be sued for, and recovered accordingly; and all
criminal prosecutions and penal actions, which have arisen, or which may arise
before the organization of the Judicial Department under this Constitution, and
which shall then be depending, may be prosecuted to judgment and execution in
the name of the State.
Section 4. All officers, civil and military,
now holding their offices and appointments in the Territory, under the authority
of the United States, or under the authority of the Territory, shall continue to
hold and exercise their respective offices and appointments until superseded
under this constitution; and all actions at law, or suits in chancery, or any
proceeding pending, or which may be pending, in any Court of the Territory of
Florida, may be commenced in or transferred to such Court of the State as may
have jurisdiction of the subject-matter thereof.
Section 5. This Constitution
shall be submitted to the people for ratification at the election for Delegate
on the first Monday of May next. Each qualified voter shall express his assent
or dissent to the Constitution by directing the managers of said election to
write opposite to his name on the poll-book, either the word "Constitution," or
"No Constitution." And in case the time of election for Delegate be changed to
any other day, than the first Monday of May next, then the Judges or Clerks of
the County Courts respectively, shall appoint managers to hold an election on
the said first Monday of May, for ratification of the Constitution, and said
managers shall conduct said election in the manner provided by the laws of the
Territory respecting elections, and make return of the result of such vote
forthwith, by depositing the original poll-book in the Clerk's Office of their
Counties respectively, and by transmitting a certificate of the result to the
President of the Convention, who shall forthwith make Proclamation of the same;
and in case the
Constitution be ratified by the People, and immediately after official
information shall have been received that Congress have approved the
Constitution, and provided for the admission of Florida, the President of this
Convention shall issue writs of election to the proper officers in the different
Counties, enjoining them to cause an election to be held for Governor,
Representative in Congress, and Members of the General Assembly in each of their
respective Counties. The election shall be held on the first Monday after the
lapse of sixty days following the day of the date of the President's
proclamation, and shall take place on the same day throughout the State. The
said election shall be conducted according to the then existing election laws of
the Territory of Florida: Provided, however that in case of the absence or
disability of the President of the Convention, to cause the said election to be
carried into effect, the Secretary of this Convention shall discharge the duties
hereby imposed upon the President; and in case of the absence or disability of
the Secretary, a committee consisting of five, to wit: Leigh Read, George T.
Ward, James D. Westcott, Jr., Thomas Brown, and Leslie A. Thompson, or a
majority of them, shall discharge the duties herein imposed on the Secretary of
the Convention, and, the Members of the General Assembly, so elected, shall
assemble on the fourth Monday thereafter, at the Seat of Government. The
Governor, Representative in Congress, and Members of the General Assembly, shall
enter upon the duties of their respective offices immediately after their
election, under the provisions of this Constitution, and shall continue in
office in the same manner, and during the same period, they would have done, had
they been elected on the first Monday in October.
Section 6. The General
Assembly shall have power by the votes of two-thirds of both Houses to accede to
such propositions as may be made by the Congress of the United States, upon the
admission of the State of Florida into the National confederacy and Union, if
they shall be deemed reasonable and just, and to make declaration of such assent
by law; and such declaration when made shall be binding upon the people and the
State of Florida as a compact; and the Governor of the State of Florida, shall
notify the President of the United States of the Acts of the General Assembly
relating thereto; and in case of declining to accede to such propositions or any
part thereof, the General Assembly shall instruct the Senators and
Representative of the State of Florida in Congress, to procure such modification
or alteration thereof as may be deemed reasonable and just, and assent thereto,
subject to the ratification of the General Assembly by law as aforesaid.
Section 7.
The Courts of this State shall never entertain jurisdiction of any grants of
land, in the Floridas, made by the King of Spain, or by his authority,
subsequent to the twenty-fourth day of January, eighteen hundred and eighteen,
nor shall the said Courts receive as evidence, in any case, certain grants said
to have been made by the said King of Spain, in favor of the Duke of Alagon, the
Count Punon Rostro, and Don Pedro de Vargas, or any title derived from either of
said Grants, unless with the express assent of the Congress of the United
States.
| NEW AND
NOTEWORTHY
ON FLORIDA MEMORY |
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| Bedell Collection 126 prints of Deaconess Harriet Bedell working among the Seminole Indians in South Florida from 1933 to 1960. |
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Pets with a Florida Flair From dogs and cats, to fawns, monkeys and macaws, Floridians have shared their lives with their animal friends. |
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Postcard Collection Over 6,300 picture postcards of Florida attractions, cities, and people, circa 1900s-1970s. |
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