Section 1. the Legislative Authority Shall Be Vested in Two

distinct branches, both dependent on the people, to wit: A Senate and a House of Representatives.

SEC. 2. The Senate and House of Representatives shall meet biennially on the first Wednesday after the first Monday in January next after their election; and when assembled shall be denominated the General Assembly. Neither House shall proceed upon public business unless a majority of all the members are actually present.

SEC. 3. The Senate shall be composed of fifty Senators, biennially chosen by ballot.

SEC. 4. The Senate Districts shall be so altered by the General Assembly, at the first session after the return of every enumeration by order of Congress, that each Senate District shall contain, as near as may be, an equal number of inhabitants, excluding aliens and Indians not taxed, and shall remain unaltered until the return of another enumeration, and shall at all times consist of contiguous, territory; and no county shall be divided in the formation of a Senate District, unless such county shall be equitably entitled to two or more Senators.

SEC. 5. The House of Representatives shall be composed of one hundred and twenty Representatives, biennially chosen by ballot, to be elected by the counties respectively, according to their population, and each county shall have at least one Representative in the House of Representatives, although it may not contain the requisite ratio of representation; this apportionment shall be made by the General Assembly at the respective times and periods when the districts for the Senate are herein before directed to be laid off.

SEC. 6. In making the apportionment in the House of Representatives, the ratio of representation shall be ascertained by dividing the amount of the population of the State, exclusive of that comprehended within those counties which do not severally contain the one hundred and twentieth part of the population of the State, by the number of Representatives, less the number assigned to such counties; and in ascertaining the number of the population of the State, aliens and Indians not taxed shall not be included. To each county containing the said ratio, and not twice the said ratio, there shall be assigned one Representative; to each county containing twice but not three times the said ratio, there shall be assigned two Representatives, and so on progressively, and then the remaining Representatives shall be assigned severally to, the counties having the largest fractions.

SEC. 7. Each member of the Senate shall not be less than twenty- five years of age, shall have resided in the State as a citizen two years, and shall have usually resided in the district for which he is chosen one year immediately preceding his election.

SEC. 8. Each member of the House of Representatives shall be a qualified elector of the State, and shall have resided in the county for which he is chosen for one year immediately preceding his election.

SEC. 9. In the election of all officers, whose appointment shall be conferred upon the General Assembly by the Constitution, the vote shall be viva voce.

SEC. 10. The General Assembly shall have power to pass general laws regulating divorce and alimony, but shall not have power to grant a divorce or secure alimony in any individual case.

SEC. 11. The General Assembly shall not have power to pass any private law to alter the name of any person or to legitimate any person not born in lawful wedlock, or to restore to the rights of citizenship any person convicted of an infamous crime, but shall have power to pass general laws regulating the same.

SEC. 12. The General Assembly shall not pass any private law, unless it shall be made to appear thirty days' notice of application to pass such a law shall have been given, under such directions and in such manner as shall be provided by law.

SEC. 13. If vacancies shall occur in the General Assembly by death, resignation or otherwise, writs of election shall be issued by the Governor under such regulations as may be prescribed by law.

SEC. 14. No law shall be passed to raise money on the credit of the State, or to pledge the faith of the State, directly or indirectly, for the payment of any debt, or to impose any tax upon the people of the State, or to allow the counties, cities or towns to do so, unless the bill for the purpose shall have been read three several times in each House of the General Assembly, and passed three several readings, which readings shall have been on three different days, and agreed to by each House respectively, and unless the yeas and nays on the second and third reading of the bill shall have been entered on the journal.

SEC. 15. The General Assembly shall regulate entails in such manner as to prevent perpetuities.

SEC. 16. Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, which shall be printed and made public immediately after the adjournment of the General Assembly.

SEC. 17. Any member of either House may dissent from, and protest against, any act or resolve which he may think injurious to the public, or any individual, and have the reason of his dissent entered on the journal.

SEC. 18. The House of Representatives shall choose their own Speaker and other officers.

SEC. 19. The Lieutenant-Governor shall preside in the Senate, but shall have no vote unless it may be equally divided.

SEC. 20. The Senate shall choose its other officers, and also a Speaker (pro tempore) in the absence of the Lieutenant-Governor, or when he shall exercise the office of Governor.

SEC. 21. The style of the acts shall be: "The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact"

SEC. 22. Each House shall be judge of the qualifications and elections of its own members, shall sit upon its own adjournments from day to day, prepare bills to be passed into laws; and the two Houses may also jointly adjourn to any feature day, or other place.

SEC. 23. All bills and resolutions of a legislative nature shall be read three times in each House before they pass into laws; and shall be signed by the presiding officers of both Houses.

SEC. 24. Each member of the General Assembly, before taking his seat, shall take an oath or affirmation, that he will support the Constitution and laws of the United States, and the Constitution of the State of North Carolina and will faithfully discharge his duty as a member of the Senate or House of Representatives.

SEC. 25. The terms of office for Senators and members of the House of Representatives shall commence at the time of their election.

SEC. 26. Upon motion made and seconded in either House, by one- fifth, of the members present, the yeas and nays upon any question shall be taken and entered upon the journals.

SEC. 27. The election for members of the General Assembly shall be held for the respective districts and counties, at the places where they are now held, or may be directed hereafter to be held, in such manner as may be prescribed by law, on the first Thursday in August in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy, and every two years thereafter. But the General Assembly may change the time of holding the elections.

SEC. 28. The members of the General Assembly for the term for which they have been elected, shall receive as a compensation for their services the sum of four dollars per day for each day of their session, for a period not exceeding sixty days; and should they remain longer in session, they shall serve without compensation. They shall also be entitled to receive ten cents per mile, both while coming to the seat of government and while returning home, the said distance to be computed by the nearest line or mute of public travel. The compensation of the presiding officers of the two Houses shall be six dollars per day and mileage. Should an extra session of the General Assembly be called, the members and presiding officers shall receive a like rate of compensation for a period not exceeding twenty days.

ART1CLE III. EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT.