School History of North Carolina Part 54

ARTICLE X. HOMESTEAD AND EXEMPTIONS.

SECTION 1. The personal property of any resident of this State, to the value of five hundred dollars, to be selected by such resident, shall be, and is hereby exempted from sale under execution, or other final process of any court issued for the collection of any debt.

SEC. 2. Every homestead, and the dwellings and buildings used therewith, not exceeding in value one thousand dollars, to be selected by the owner thereof, or in lieu thereof, at the option of the owner, any lot in a city, town or village, with the dwellings and buildings used thereon, owned and occupied by any resident of this State, and not exceeding the value of one thousand dollars, shall be exempt from sale under execution, or other final process obtained on any debt. But no property shall be exempt from sale for taxes, or for payment of obligations contracted for the purchase of said premises.

SEC. 3. The homestead, after the death of the owner thereof, shall be exempt from the payment of any debt during the minority of his children or any one of them.

SEC. 4. The provisions of sections one and two of this Article shall not be so construed as to prevent a laborer's lien for work done and performed for the person claiming such exemption, or a mechanic's lien for work done on the premises.

SEC. 5. If the owner of a homestead die, leaving a widow, but no children, the same shall be exempt from the debts of her husband, and the rents and profits thereof shall inure to her benefit during her widowhood, unless she be the owner of a homestead in her own right.

SEC. 6. The real and personal property of any female in this States acquired before marriages and all property, real and personal, to which she may, after marriage, become in any manner ent.i.tled, shall be and remain the sole and separate estate and property of such female, and shall not be liable for any debts, obligations or engagements of her husband, and may be devised and bequeathed, and, with the written consent of her husband, conveyed by her as if she was unmarried.

SEC. 7. The husband may insure his own life for the sole use and benefit of his wife and children, and in the case of the death of the husband, the amount thus insured shall be paid over to his wife and children, or to the guardian, if under age, for her or their own use, free from all the claims of the representatives of her husband, or any of his creditors.

SEC. 8. Nothing contained in the foregoing sections of this Article shall operate to prevent the owner of a homestead from disposing of the same by deed; but no deed made by the owner of a homestead shall be valid without the voluntary signature and a.s.sent of his wife, signified on her private examination according to law.

ARTICLE XI. PUNISHMENTS, PENAL INSt.i.tUTIONS AND PUBLIC CHARITIES.

SECTION 1. The following punishments only shall be known to the laws of this State, viz.: death, imprisonment, with or without hard labor, fines, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit under this State. The foregoing provisions for imprisonment with hard labor shall be construed to authorize the employment of such convict labor on public works, or highways, or other labor for public benefit, and the farming out thereof, where, and in such manner as may be provided by law; but no convict shall be farmed out who has been sentenced on a charge of murder, manslaughter, rape, attempt to commit rape, or arson: Provided, That no convict whose labor may be farmed out, shall be punished for any failure of duty as a laborer, except by a responsible officer of the State; but the convicts so farmed out shall be at all times under, the supervision and control, as to their government. and discipline, of the Penitentiary Board or some officer of this State.

SEC. 2. The object of punishments being not only to satisfy justice, but also to reform the offender, and thus prevent crime, murder, arson, burglary, and rape, and these only, may be punishable with death, if the General a.s.sembly shall so enact.

SEC. 3. The General a.s.sembly shall, at its first meeting, make provision for the erection and conduct of a State's Prison or Penitentiary, at some central and accessible point within the State.

SEC. 4. The General a.s.sembly may provide for the erection of Houses of Correction, where vagrants and persons guilty of misdemeanors shall be restrained and usefully employed.

SEC. 5. A House, or Houses of Refuge, may be established whenever the public interest may require it, for the correction and instruction of other cla.s.ses of offenders.

SEC. 6. It shall be required, by competent legislation, that the structure and superintendence of penal inst.i.tutions of the State, the county jails, and city police prisons, secure the health and comfort of the prisoners, and that male and female prisoners be never confined in the same roots or cell.

SEC. 7. Beneficent provisions for the poor, the unfortunate and orphan being one of the first duties of a civilized and Christian State, the General a.s.sembly shall, at its first session, appoint and define the duties of a Board of Public Charities, to whom shall be entrusted the supervision of all charitable and penal State inst.i.tutions, and who shall annually report to the Governor upon their condition, with suggestions for their improvement.

SEC. 8. There shall also, as soon as practicable, be measures devised by the State, for the establishment of one or more Orphan Houses, where dest.i.tute orphans may be cared far, educated and taught some business or trade.

SEC. 9. It shall be the duty of the Legislature, as soon as practicable, to devise means for the education of idiots and inebriates.

SEC. 10. The General a.s.sembly may provide that the indigent deaf mutes, blind and insane of the State shall be cared for at the charge of the State.

SEC. 11. It shall be steadily kept in view by the Legislature, and the Board of Public Charities, that all penal and charitable inst.i.tutions should be made as nearly self-supporting as is consistent with the purposes of their creation.

ARTICLE XII. MILITIA.

SECTION 1. All able-bodied male citizens of the State of North Carolina, between the ages of twenty-one and forty years, who are citizens of the United States, shall be liable to duty in the militia; Provided, That all persons who may be averse to bearing arms, from religious scruples, shall be exempt therefrom.

SEC. 2. The General a.s.sembly shall provide for the organization, arming, equipping and discipline of the militia, and for paying the same when called into active service.

SEC. 3. The Governor shall be Commander-in-Chief, and shall have power to call out the militia to execute the law, suppress riots or insurrections, and to repel invasion.

SEC. 4. The General a.s.sembly shall have power to make such exemptions as may be deemed necessary, and to enact laws that may be expedient for the government of the militia.

ARTICLE XIII. AMENDMENTS.

SECTION 1. No Convention of the people of this State shall ever be called by the General a.s.sembly, unless by the concurrence of two-thirds of all the members of each House of the General a.s.sembly, and except the proposition "Convention" or "No Convention" be first submitted to the qualified voters of the whole State, at the next general election, in a manner to be prescribed by law. And should a majority of the votes cast be in favor of said Convention, it shall a.s.semble on such a day as may be prescribed by the General a.s.sembly.

SEC. 2. No part of the Const.i.tution of this State shall be altered, unless a bill to alter the same shall have been agreed to by three fifths of each House of the General a.s.sembly. And the amendment or amendments so agreed to shall be submitted at the next general election to the qualified voters of the whole State, in such manner as may be prescribed by law. And in the event of their adoption by a majority of the votes cast, such amendment or amendments shall became a part of the Const.i.tution of this State.

ARTICLE XIV. MISCELLANEOUS.

SECTION 1. All indictments which shall have been found, or may hereafter be found, for any crime or offence committed before this Const.i.tution takes effect, may be proceeded upon in the proper courts, but no punishment shall be inflicted which is forbidden by this Const.i.tution.

SEC. 2. No person who shall hereafter fight a duel, or a.s.sist in the same as a second, or send, accept, or knowingly carry a challenge therefor, or agree to go out of the State to fight a duel, shall hold any office in this State.

SEC. 3. No money shall be drawn from the treasury but in consequence of appropriations made by law; and an accurate account of the receipts and expenditures of the public money shall be annually published.

SEC. 4. The General a.s.sembly shall provide, by proper legislation, for giving to mechanics and laborers an adequate lien on the subject matter of their labor.

SEC. 5. In the absence of any contrary provision, all officers of this State, whether heretofore elected or appointed by the Governor, shall hold their positions only until other appointments are made by the Governor, or if the officers are elective, until their successors shall have been chosen and duly qualified according to the provisions of this Const.i.tution.

SEC. 6. The seat of government of this State shall remain at the City of Raleigh.

SEC. 7. No person, who shall hold any office or place of trust or profit under the United States or any department thereof, or under this State, or under any other State, or government, shall hold or exercise any other office or place of trust or profit under the authority of this State, or be eligible to a seat in either House of the General a.s.sembly: Provided, that nothing herein contained shall extend to officers in the militia, Justices of the Peace, Commissioners of Public Charities, or commissioners for special purposes.

SEC. 8. All marriages between a white person and a negro, or between a white person and a person of negro descent to the third generation inclusive, are hereby forever prohibited.

QUESTIONS ON THE CONSt.i.tUTION OF NORTH CAROLINA, PREPARED BY HON. KEMP P. BATTLE., LL. D.

PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA.

PRELIMINARY QUESTIONS.

1. When was the first Const.i.tution of North Carolina adopted?

Answer--On December 18, 1776.

2. When was it first amended? Answer--In 1835.

3. When was it again amended? Answer--In 1854, 1861 and 1865.

4. When was a new Const.i.tution adopted? Answer--In 1868.

5. Was there not a Const.i.tution adopted in 1866? Answer--A new Const.i.tution was adopted in 1866 by the Convention of 1865-'66, but the people voted it down.

6. Has the Const.i.tution of 1868 been amended? Answer--Yes, it was partially amended in 1874, and greatly amended by the Convention of 1875. The people adopted these amendments in 1876- -a hundred years after the adoption of the first Const.i.tution.

7. Is there further amendment? Answer--Yes; in 1880