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ARTICLE
XVI. MISCELLANEOUS
PROVISIONS. Section
1. The Seat of Government shall be at the City of Tallahassee, in the county
of Leon. Section
2. Each and every
officer of this State, including the members of the Legislature, shall before
entering upon the discharge of his official duties take the following oath of
office: I do solemnly swear [or affirm] that I will support, protect, and defend
the Constitution and Government of the United States and of the State of Florida;
that I am duly qualified to hold office under the Constitution of the State,
and that I will well and faithfully perform the duties of _____________ on which
I am now about to enter. So help me God. Section
3. The salary
of each officer shall be payable quarterly upon his own requisition. Section
4. All county officers shall hold their respective offices, and keep their
official books and records, at the county seats of their counties; and the Clerk
and Sheriff shall either reside or have a sworn deputy within two miles of the
county seat. Section
5. The Legislature may provide for the donation of the public lands to actual
settlers, but such donation shall not exceed eighty acres to any one person.
Section
6. The Legislature
shall provide for the speedy publication and distribution of all laws it may
enact. All decisions of the Supreme Court and all laws and judicial decisions
shall be free for publication by any person. But no judgment of the Supreme
Court shall take effect until the opinion of the Court in such case shall be
filed with the Clerk of said Court. Section
7. The Legislature
shall not create any office, the term of which shall be longer than four years.
Section
8. A plurality
of votes given at an election of officers shall constitute a choice when not
otherwise provided by this Constitution. Section
9. In all criminal cases prosecuted in the name of the State, where the
defendant is insolvent or discharged, the State shall pay the legal costs and
expenses, including the fees of officers, under such regulations as shall be
prescribed by law. Section 10. The Governor, Supreme Court and all the administrative officers of the Executive Department shall keep their offices at the Seat of Government. But in case of invasion or violent epidemics the Governor may direct that the offices of the Government be removed temporarily to some other place. The sessions of the Legislature may be adjourned for the same cause to some other place, but in case of such removal all the Departments of the
Section
11. No extra
compensation shall be made to any officer, agent, employee, or contractor after
the service shall have been rendered, or the contract made; nor shall any money
be appropriated or paid on any claim, the subject matter of which shall not
have been provided for by pre-existing laws, unless such compensation or claim
be allowed by bill passed by two-thirds of the members elected to each house
of the Legislature. Section
12. The present
Seal of the State shall be and remain the Seal of the State of Florida; and
the present State Emblem shall be and remain the Emblem of the State of Florida.
Section
13. The sureties upon the official bonds of all the State officers shall
be residents of, and have sufficient visible property unencumbered within the
State, not exempt from sale under legal process, to make good their bonds; and
the sureties upon the official bonds of all county officers shall reside within
the counties where such county officers reside, and have sufficient visible
property therein unencumbered and not exempt from sale under legal process to
make good their bonds. Section
14. All State,
County and Municipal officers shall continue in office after the expiration
of their official terms until their successors are duly qualified. Section
15. No person
holding or exercising the functions of any office under any foreign Government,
under the Government of the United States, or under any other State, shall hold
any office of honor or profit under the government of this State; and no person
shall hold, or perform the functions of, more than one office under the government
of this State at the same time; Provided, Notaries Public, militia officers,
county school officers and Commissioners of Deeds may be elected or appointed
to fill any legislative, executive or judicial office. Section
16. The property
of all corporations, except the property of a corporation which shall construct
a ship or barge canal across the peninsula of Florida, if the Legislature should
so enact, whether heretofore or hereafter incorporated, shall be subject to
taxation unless such property be held and used exclusively for religious, scientific,
municipal, educational, literary or charitable purposes. Section
17. No person
shall hold any office of trust or profit under the laws of this State without
devoting his personal attention to the duties of the same. Section
18. The Legislature shall provide for deductions from the salaries of public
officers who neglect the performance of any duty assigned them by law. Section
20. The Governor
and every State officer are hereby prohibited from giving certificates of election
or other credentials to any person as having been elected to the House of Representatives
of the United States Congress, or the United States Senate, who has not been
five years a citizen of the State and ten years a citizen of the United States,
and a qualified voter. Section
21. Deeds and mortgages which have been proved for record and recorded according
to law, shall be taken as prima facie evidence in the courts of this
State without requiring proof of the execution. A certified copy of the record
of any deed or mortgage that has been or shall be duly recorded according to
law shall be admitted as prima facie evidence thereof, and of its due
execution with like effect as the original duly proved; Provided, It
be made to appear that the original is not within the custody or control of
the party offering such copy. Section
22. The Legislature
shall provide for giving to mechanics and laborers an adequate lien on the subject
matter of their labor. Section
23. No soldier
shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house without the consent of the
owner, nor in time of war except in the manner prescribed by law. Section
24. All marriages
between a white person and a negro, or between a white person and a person of
negro descent to the fourth generation, inclusive, are hereby forever prohibited.
Section
25. The term
felony, whenever it may occur in this Constitution or in the laws of the State,
shall be construed to mean any criminal offense punishable with death or imprisonment
in the State Penitentiary. Section
26. The Legislature
may make provision for the proper adjustment and settlement of the claim of
the citizens of Ocala against the State for certain aid given by the town of
Ocala for the establishment of the East Florida Seminary in 1852, and conditional
upon its location at the said town. Section
27. The Legislature
shall appropriate at least five hundred dollars each year for the purchase of
such books for the Supreme Court Library as the Court may direct. Section
28. The Legislature
may provide for the drainage of the land of one person over or through that
of another, upon just compensation therefor to the owner of the land over which
such drainage is had. Section
29. No private
property nor right of way shall be appropriated to the use of any corporation
or individual until full compensation therefor shall be first made to the owner,
or first secured to him by deposit of money; which compensation, irrespective
of any benefit from any improvement proposed by such corporation or individual,
shall be ascertained by a jury of twelve men in a court of competent jurisdiction,
as shall be prescribed by law. Section
30. The Legislature
is invested with full power to pass laws for the correction of abuses and to
prevent unjust discrimination and excessive charges by persons and corporations
engaged as common carriers in transporting persons and property, or performing
other services of a public nature; and shall provide for enforcing such laws
by adequate penalties or forfeitures. Section
31. No railroad
or other transportation company or common carrier in this State shall grant
a free pass, or discount the fare paid by the public generally, to any member
of the Legislature, or to any salaried officer of this State, and the Legislature
shall prohibit the granting or receiving such free pass, or fare at a discount,
by suitable penalties.
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