CONSTITUTION OF NEBRASKA. 1867.* PREAMBLE. We, the people of Nebraska, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, in order to secure its blessings, form a more perfect government, insure domestic tranquillity and promote the general welfare, do establish this Constitution. ARTICLE I. DECLARATION OF RIGHTS. SECTION 1. All men are born equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights; among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. To secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. § 2. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in this State, otherwise than for the punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted. § 3. Every person may freely speak, write and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right, and no laws shall be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech or of the press. In all criminal prosecutions or indictments for libel the truth may be given in evidence; and if it shall appear to the jury that the matter charged as libelous be true, and was published with good motives and for justifiable ends, the party shall be acquitted; and the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the fact. § 4. The right of the people peaceably to assemble to consult for the common good, and to petition the government, or any department thereof, shall never be abridged. § 5. The right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate, but the Legislature may authorize trial by a jury of a less number than twelve men, in inferior courts. § 6. All persons shall be bailable by sufficient sureties, except for capital offenses, where the proof is evident, or the presumption great. Excessive bail shall not be required; nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. § 7. In all criminal prosecutions and in cases involving the life or liberty of an individual, the accused shall have the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury; to be informed of the accusation against him; to have a copy of the same when demanded; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for his witnesses; and to have the assistance of counsel. § 8. No person shall be held to answer for a criminal offense unless on the presentment or indictment of a grand jury except in cases of impeachment, or in cases cognizable by Justices of the Peace, or arising in the army or navy, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war, or public danger; and no person for the same offense shall be put twice in jeopardy of punishment, nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself. All persons shall, before conviction, be bailable by sufficient sureties, except for capital offenses, when the proof is evident or the presumption great; and the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require. § 9. All courts shall be open, and every person, for an injury done him in his land, goods, person, or reputation, shall have remedy by due course of law, and justice administered without denial or delay. § 10. Treason against the State shall consist only in levying war against the same, or in adhering to its enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court. * A Territorial government was organizedün Nebraska on the 30th of May, 1854. On the 19th of April, 1864, Congress passed a law enabling the inhabitants to form a State government upon certain conditions, which being accepted, a Constitution was submitted to the people June 8, 1866, and approved by them Just before the close of the session of Congress, July 28, 1866, a bill was passed by both Houses admitting Nebraska as a State, but this was neither signed nor rejected by the Presidènt. Near the close of the Thirty-ninth Congress, March, 1867, this State was admitted as the thirty-seventh of the Union. § 11. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated; and no warrant shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the person or things to be seized. § 12. No bill of attainder, ex post facto law, nor any law impairing the obligation of contracts shall ever be passed; and no conviction shall work corruption of blood or forfeiture of estate. § 13. The property of no person shall be taken for public use without just compensation therefor. § 14. No distinction shall ever be made by law between resident aliens and citizens in reference to the possession, enjoyment or descent of property. § 15. No person shall be imprisoned for debt in any civil action on mesne or final process, unless in cases of fraud. § 16. All men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own conscience. No person shall be compelled to attend, erect, or support any place of worship, or maintain any form of worship against his consent, and no preference shall be given by law to any religious society, nor shall any interference with the rights of conscience be permitted. No religious test shall be required as a qualification for office, nor shall any person be incompetent to be a witness on account of his religious belief; but nothing herein shall be construed to dispense with oaths and affirmations. Religion, morality, and knowledge, however, being essential to good government, it shall be the duty of the Legislature to pass suitable laws to protect every religious denomination in the peaceable enjoyment of its own mode of public worship and to encourage schools and the means of instruction. § 17. The military shall be in strict subordination to the civil power. 18. The writ of error shall be a writ of right in all capital cases, and shall operate as a supersedeas to stay the execution of the sentence of death until the further order of the Supreme Court in the premises. § 19. The blessings of a free government can only be maintained by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue, and by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles. § 20. This enumeration of rights shall not be construed to impair or deny others retained by the people, and all powers not herein delegated remain with the people. ARTICLE II. LEGISLATIVE. SECTION 1. The Legislative authority of this State shall be vested in a General Assembly which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives, and the style of every law shall be "Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Nebraska." § 2. Every male person of the age of twenty-one years, or upwards, belonging to either of the following classes, who shall have resided in the State, county, precinct and ward, for the time provided by law, shall be an elector: First. White citizens of the United States. Second. White persons of foreign birth who shall have declared their intention to become citizens conformable to the laws of the United States on the subject of natural-ization. § 3. The Legislature shall provide by law for an enumeration of the inhabitants of the State in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, and at the end of every ten years thereafter; and at their first session after such enumeration, and also after each enumeration made by the authority of the United States, the Legislature shall apportion and district anew the members of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the number of inhabitants, excluding Indians not taxed, and soldiers and officers of the United States army and navy. § 4. Senators and Representatives shall be elected biennially, by the electors in the respective counties or districts, on the second Tuesday of October. Their term of office shall commence on the first day of January next thereafter, and continue two years, except the Senators and Representatives to the first Legislature under this Constitution, whose election and term of office shall be as hereinafter provided. § 5. The Senators and Representatives shall be chosen by districts of convenient contiguous territory, as-compact as may be, to be defined by law, except as to the first election which is hereinafter provided for. § 6. Every white male citizen, who shall be a qualified elector in the district which he may be chosen to represent, shall be eligible to a seat in the Legislature. § 7. Each House shall be the judge of the election and qualifications of its own members, and a majority of each shall constitute a quorum to do business, but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may compel the attendance of absent members in such manner and under such penalties as each House may provide. § 8. The Senate shall consist of thirteen members, and the House of Representatives shall consist of thirty-nine members and shall not be increased for the term of ten years after the adoption of this Constitution; Provided, That after the expiration of said ten years, the Legislature shall have power to increase the number of Senators and Representatives, so as to correspond with the increase of the population of the State; Provided, Such number shall at no time be more than twenty-five in the Senate and seventy-five in the House of Representatives. § 9. The mode of organizing the House of Representatives at the commencement of each regular session shall be prescribed by law. § 10. Fach House shall choose its own officers, may determine its own rule of proceedings, punish its members for disorderly conduct, and with the concurrence of twothirds expel a member, but not the second time for the same cause; and shall have all other powers necessary to provide for its safety and the undisturbed transaction of its business. § 11. Each House shall keep a correct journal of its proceedings, which shall be published. At the desire of any three members in the Senate, or any five members in the House, the ayes and nays shall be entered upon the journal, and on the passage of every bill, in either House, the vote shall be taken by yeas and nays, and entered upon the journal, and no law shall be passed in either House without the concurrence of a majority of all the members elected thereto. § 12. The first session of the Legislature under this Constitution shall be held on the fourth day of July, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-six; and all regular sessions thereafter shall commence on the first Thursday after the first Monday in January, biennially. But the Legislature may on extraordinary occasions be convened by proclamation of the Governor, and when so convened shall transact no business, except such as relates to the objects for which they were so convened, to be stated in the proclamation of the Governor. § 13. No member of the Legislature shall, during the term for which he was elected, be appointed or elected to any civil office in the State which shall have been created, or the emoluments of which shall have been increased, during the term for which he was elected. § 14. No person being a member of Congress, or holding any military or civil office under the United States, shall be eligible to a seat in the Legislature; and if any person shall, after his election as a member of the Legislature, be elected to Congress, or be appointed to any office, civil or military, under the Government of the United States, his acceptance thereof shall vacate his seat. 1 § 15. The Governor shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies as may occur in either House of the Legislature. § 16. Members of the Legislature shall in all cases, except treason, felony, or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest, nor shall they be subject to any civil process, during the session of the Legislature. nor for fifteen days next before the commencement, and after the termination of each session. § 17. No member of the Legislature shall be liable in any civil action or criminal prosecution whatever, for words spoken in debate. § 18. Bills may originate in either House; but may be altered, amended, or rejected in the other. § 19. Every bill shall be fully and distinctly read on three different days, unless, in case of urgency, three-fourths of the House in which it shall be pending, shall dispense with this rule. No bill shall contain more than one subject, which shall be clearly expressed in its title; and no law shall be revived or amended, unless the new act contain the entire act revived, and the sections amended; and the section or sections so amended shall be repealed. § 20. The presiding officer of each House shall sign publicly, in the presence of the House over which he presides, while the same is in session and capable of transacting business, all bills and joint resolutions passed by the Legislature. § 21. Each member of the Legislature shall receive for his services three dollars for each day's attendance during the session, and ten cents for every mile he shall travel in going to and returning from the place of the meeting of the Legislature, on the most usual route. Provided however, That they shall not receive pay for more than forty days at any one session. § 22. The Legislature shall never authorize any lottery, or grant any divorce. § 23. The Legislature shall provide by law that all stationery required for the use of the State, and all printing authorized and required by them to be done for their use, or for the State, shall be let by contract to the lowest bidder; but the Legislature may establish a maximum price. No member of the Legislature, or other State officer, shall be interested, either directly or indirectly, in any such contract. § 24. The Legislature shall never grant any extra compensation to any public officer, agent, servant, or contractor, after the services shall have been rendered or the contract entered into. Nor shall the compensation of any public officer be increased or diminished during his term of office. § 25. Members of the Legislature, and all officers, executive and judicial, except such inferior officers as may be by law exempted, shall, before they enter upon the duties of their respective offices, take and subscribe an oath or affirmation to support the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the State of Nebraska, and faithfully to discharge the duties of their respective offices to the best of their ability. § 26. The Legislature shall determine what persons shall constitute the militia of the State, and may provide for organizing and disciplining the same, in such manner as shall be prescribed by law. § 27. In all elections by the Legislature, the members thereof shall vote viva voce, and their votes shall be entered on the journal. § 28. The House of Representatives shall have the sole power of impeachment; but a majority of the members elected must concur therein. Impeachments shall be tried by the Senate; and the Senators when sitting for that purpose, shall be upon oath or affirmation to do justice according to law and evidence. No person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the Senators. § 29. The Governor, Secretary of State, Auditor, Treasurer, and Judges of the Supreme and District Courts, shall be liable to impeachment for any misdemeanor in office; but judgment in such cases shall extend only to removal from office, and disqualification to hold any office of honor, trust, or profit under this State; but the party convicted or acquitted, shall nevertheless be liable to indictment, trial, and punishment, according to law. All other civil officers shall be tried for misdemeanors in office in such manner as the Legislature may provide. § 30. No money shall be drawn from the Treasury, except in pursuance of a specific appropriation made by law; and no appropriation shall be made for a longer period than two years. § 31. The Legislature may declare the cases in which any office shall be deemed vacant, and also the manner of filling the vacancy where no provision is made for that purpose in this Constitution. § 32. The Legislature shall not authorize the borrowing of money or the issuance of State bonds for any sum exceeding in the aggregate fifty thousand dollars, without submitting a proposition therefor to a vote of the people for their approval or rejection, except in case of war, to repel invasion, or suppress insurrection. EXECUTIVE. SECTION 1. The Executive Department shall consist of a Governor, Secretary of State, Auditor, and Treasurer, who shall be chosen by the electors of the State on the second Tuesday of October. and at the places of voting for members of the Legislature. § 2. The Governor, Secretary of State, and Treasurer shall hold their offices for two years; and the Auditor for four years. Their terms of office shall commence on the second Monday of January next after their election, and continue until their successors are elected and qualified. § 3. The returns of every election, for the officers named in the foregoing section, shall be sealed up and transmitted to the seat of Government, by the returning officers, directed to the President of the Senate, who, during the first week of the session, shall open and publish them, and declare the result, in the presence of a majority of the members of each House of the Legislature. The person having the highest number of votes shall be declared duly elected; but if any two or more shall be highest and equal in votes for the same office, one of them shall be chosen by the joint vote of both Houses. § 4. No person except a citizen of the United States and a qualified elector of the State, shall be eligible to any office provided for by this Constitution. § 5. Should there be no session of the Legislature in January next after an election for any of the officers aforesaid, the returns of such election shall be made to the Secretary of State, and opened, and the result declared by the Governor, in such manner as may be provided by law. § 6. The Supreme Executive power of this State shall be vested in the Gov ernor. § 7. He may require information, in writing, from the officers in the executive department, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices; and shall see that the laws are faithfully executed. § 8. He shall communicate at every session, by message to the Legislature, the condition of the State, and recommend such measures as he shall deem expedient. § 9. He may, on extraordinary occasions, convene the Legislature by proclamation, and shall state to both Houses, when assembled, the purpose for which they have been convened. § 10. In case of disagreement between the two Houses in respect to the time of adjournment, he shall have power to adjourn the Legislature to such time as he may think proper, but not beyond the regular meetings thereof. § 11. He shall be Commander-in-Chief of the military and naval forces of the State, except when they shall be called into the service of the United States. § 12. He shall have power, after conviction, to grant reprieves, commutations and pardons, for all crimes and offenses except treason and cases of impeachment, upon such conditions as he may think proper; subject, however, to such regulations as to the manner of applying for pardon as may be prescribed by law. Upon conviction for treason he may suspend the execution of the sentence, and report the case to the Legislature at its next meeting, when the Legislature shall either pardon, commute the sentence, direct its execution, or grant a further reprieve. He shall communicate to the Legislature at every regular session, each case of reprieve, commutation, or pardon granted; stating the name and crime of the convict, the sentence, its date, and the date of the commutation, pardon, or reprieve, with his reasons therefor. § 13. There shall be a seal of the State, which shall be kept by the Governor, and used by him officially, and shall be called "the great seal of the State of Nebraska." § 14. All grants and commissions shall be issued in the name, and by the authority of the State of Nebraska, sealed with the great seal, signed by the Governor, and countersigned by the Secretary of State. § 15. No member of Congress, or other person holding office under the authority of this State, or of the United States, shall execute the office of Governor, except as herein provided. § 16. In case of the impeachment of the Governor, his removal from office, death, resignation, or absence from the State, the powers and duties of the office shall devolve upon the Secretary of State, until such disability shall cease, or the vacancy be filled. § 17. If, during the vacancy of the office of Governor, the Secretary of State shall be impeached, displaced, resign, die, or be absent from the State, the powers and duties of the office of Governor shall devolve upon the President of the Senate; and should a vacancy occur by impeachment, death, resignation, or absence from the State of the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall act as Governor till the vacancy be filled. § 18. The Governor shall receive during his continuance in office an annual compensation of one thousand dollars; the Secretary of State, six hundred dollars; the State Treasurer, four hundred dollars; and the State Auditor, eight hundred dollars. § 19. Every bill which shall have passed the Legislature shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the Governor. If he approve, he shall sign it; but if not, he shall return it, with his objections, to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the objections at large upon the journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration, two-thirds of the members present shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two-thirds of the members present, it shall become a law. But in all such cases the votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the members voting for or against the bill shall be entered on the journal of each House respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the Governor within three days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law, unless the Legislature shall, by their adjournment prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law. § 20. The Secretary, Auditor, and Treasurer of State, shall severally perform such duties as shall be prescribed by law. |