of

taken or damaged for public use without just compensation therefor. SEC. 22. All elections shall be free; and there bleedom.

elections shall be no hindrance or impediment to the right of a qualified voter to exercise the elective franchise.

SEC. 23. The writ of error shall be a writ of Writ of error. right in all cases of felony; and in capital cases 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.

Sec. 24. The right to be heard in all civil cases Rights in civil in the court of last resort by appeal, error, or otherwise, shall not be denied.

Sec. 25. No distinction shall ever be made by Aliens, law between resident aliens and citizens in reference to the possession, enjoyment, or descent of property.

Sec. 26. This enumeration of rights shall not powers per be construed to impair or deny others retained by people. the people, and all powers not herein delegated remain with the people.

cases.

tained by

ARTICLE II.- DISTRIBUTION OF POWERS.

SECTION 1. The powers of the government of Division of this state are divided into three distinct departments: the legislative, executive, and judicial, and no person, or collection of persons, being one of these departments, shall exercise any power properly belonging to either of the others, except as hereinafter expressly directed or permitted.

ARTICLE III.- LEGISLATIVE.

Legislative authority.

Census; legis. lative apporSonment.

Number of members; sessions.

SECTION 1. The legislative authority is vested in a senate and house of representatives.

Sec. 2. The legislature shall provide by law for an enumeration of the inhabitants of the state in the year eighteen hundred and eighty-five, and every ten years thereafter; and at its first regular session after each enumeration and also after each enumeration made by the authority of the United States, but at no other time, the legislature shall apportion the senators and representatives according to the number of inhabitants, excluding Indians not taxed and soldiers and officers of the United States army and navy.

Sec. 3. The house of representatives shall consist of eighty-four members, and the senate shall consist of thirty members, until the year eighteen hundred and eighty, after which time the number of members of each house shall be regulated by law; but the number of representatives shall never exceed one hundred, nor that of senators thirtythree. The sessions of the legislature shall be biennial, except as otherwise provided in this constitution.

SEC. 4. The term of office of members of the legislature shall be two years, and they shall each receive pay at the rate of five dollars per day during their sitting, and ten cents for every mile they shall travel in going to and returning from the place of meeting of the legislature, on the most usual route; Provided, however, That they shall not receive pay for more than sixty days at any one sit

Terms of office; compensation.

bills

gible.

ting, nor more than one hundred days during their
term.

That neither members of the legislature nor em-
ployes shall receive any pay or perquisites other
than their salary and mileage. Each session, ex-
cept special sessions, shall be not less than sixty
days. After the expiration of forty days of the Introduction of
session no bills or joint resolutions of the nature of
bills shall be introduced, unless the governor shall
by special message call the attention of the legis-
lature to the necessity of passing a law on the sub-
ject matter embraced in the message, and the
introduction of bills shall be restricted thereto.

Sec. 5. No person shall be eligible to the office who not eli-
of senator or member of the house of representa-
tives who shall not be an elector, and have resided
within the district from which he is elected for the
term of one year next before his election, unless he
shall have been absent on the public business of
the United States, or of this state, and no person
elected as aforesaid shall hold his office after he
shall have removed from such district.

Sec. 6. No person holding office under the au- Samo.
thority of the United States, or any lucrative office
under the authority of this state, shall be eligible
to or have a seat in the legislature; but this provis-
ion shall not extend to precinct or township officers,
justices of the peace, notaries public, or officers of
the militia; nor shall any person interested in a
contract with, or an unadjusted claim against the
state, hold a seat in the legislature.

SEC. 7. The session of the legislature shall Sessions, when commence at 12 o'clock (noon) on the first Tues- each house. day in January, in the next year ensuing the elec

held

.

tion of members thereof, and at no other time, unless as provided by this constitution. A majority of the members elected to each house shall constitute a quorum. Each house shall determine the rules of its proceedings, and be the judge of the election returns, and qualifications of its members; shall choose its own officers; and the senate shall choose a temporary president to preside when the lieutenant governor shall not attend as president, or shall act as governor. The secretary of state shall call the house of representatives to order at the opening of each new legislature, and preside over it until a temporary presiding officer thereof shall have been chosen and shall have taken his seat. No member shall be expelled by either house, except by a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to that house, and no member shall be twice expelled for the same offense. Each house may punish by imprisonment any person, not a member thereof, who shall be guilty of disrespect to the house, by disorderly or contemptuous behavior in its presence, but no such imprisonment shall extend beyond twenty-four hours at one time, unless the person shall persist in such disorderly or contemptuous behavior.

SEC. 8. Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and publish them (except such parts as may require secrecy), and the yeas and nays of the members on any question shall, at the desire of any two of them, be entered on the journal. All votes in either house shall be viva voce. The doors of each house, and of [the] committee of the whole, shall be open, unless when the business shall be such as ought to be kept secret. Neither house

Journals; votes.

Proceedings public.

vole on pas

shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for Adjournment. more than three days.

Sec. 9. Any bill may originate in either house Bills, of the legislature, except bills appropriating money, which shall originate only in the house of representatives, and all bills passed by one house may be amended by the other.

Sec. 10. The enacting clause of a law shall be, Enacting, “Be it enacted by the legislature of the state of sage. Nebraska,” and no law shall be enacted except by bill. No bill shall be passed unless by assent of a majority of all the members elected to each house of the legislature. And the question upon the final passage shall be taken immediately upon its last reading, and the yeas and nays shall be entered upon the journal.

Sec. 11. Every bill and concurrent resolution Reading and shall be read at large on three different days in each house, and the bill and all amendments thereto shall be printed before the vote is taken upon its final passage. No bill shall contain more than one subject, and the same shall be clearly expressed in its title. And no law shall be amended unless the Amending new act contains the section or sections so amended, and the section or sections so amended shall be repealed. The presiding officer of each house Signing of bills. shall sign, in the presence of the house over which he presides, while the same is in session and capable of transacting business, all bills and concurrent resolutions passed by the legislature.

Sec. 12. Members of the legislature in all Privilege from cases except treason, felony, or breach of the peace,

, shall be privileged from arrest during the session of the legislature, and for fifteen days next be

printing bills

Title of bill

laws.

arrest