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ARTICLE IV.

Oath of office.

All persons who shall be chosen or appointed to any office of Amended 1834. profit or trust, before entering on the execution thereof, shall take the following oath: "I do swear, (or affirm,) that I am duly qualified, according to the constitution of this State, to exercise the office to which I have been appointed, and will, to the best of my abilities, discharge the duties thereof, and preserve, protect, and defend the constitution of this State, and of the United States."

ARTICLE V.

SEC. 1. The House of Representatives shall have the sole Representatives shall impeach. power of impeaching; but no impeachment shall be made, unless with the concurrence of two-thirds of the House of Representatives.

SEC. 2. All impeachments shall be tried by the Senate. When Senate to try im penchments. sitting for that purpose, the Senators shall be on oath, or affirmation; and no person shall be convicted, without the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present.

Punishment in

SEC. 3. The Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, and all the civil Amended 182g. officers, shall be liable to impeachment, for any misdemeanor in Who liable to office; but judgment in such cases shall not extend further than impeachment. to a removal from office, and disqualification to hold any office of case of conhonor, trust, or profit, under this State. The party convicted shall, nevertheless, be liable to indictment, trial, judgment, and punishment, according to law.

ARTICLE VI.

viction.

Limitation of

sions.

SEC. 1. The Judges of the Superior Courts, the Commission- How officers ers of the Treasury, Secretary of the State, and Surveyor Gene- shall be elected ral, shall be elected by the joint ballot of both Houses, in the some cominisHouse of Representatives. The Commissioners of the Treasury, Secretary of the State, and Surveyor General, shall hold their offices for four years; but shall not be eligible again for four years after the expiration of the time for which they shall have been elected.

SEC. 2. All other officers shall be appointed as they hitherto Other officers, how appointed. have been, until otherwise directed by law; but Sheriffs shall Sheriffs elected hold their offices for four years, and not be again eligible for for 4 years. four years after the term for which they shall have been elected.

Style of commissions.

Laws to con

until altered.

SEC. 3. All commissions shall be in the name, and by the authority of the State of South Carolina, and be sealed with the seal of the State, and be signed by the Governor.

ARTICLE VII.

All laws of force in this State, at the passing of this constitutinue of force tion, shall so continue, until altered or repealed by the legislature; except where they are temporary, in which case they shall expire at the times respectively limited for their duration, if not continued by Act of the Legislature.

Free exercise of any religious profession. Proviso.

Rights &c. preserved to corporate and

other bodies.

ARTICLE VIII.

SEC. 1. The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall, forever hereafter, be allowed within this State, to all mankind; provided, that the liberty of conscience thereby declared, shall not be so construed as to excuse acts of licentiousness, or justify practices inconsistent with the peace or safety of this State.

SEC. 2. The rights, privileges, immunities, and estates of both civil and religious societies and of corporate bodies, shall remain as if the constitution of this State had not been altered or amended.

Declaration of rights.

ARTICLE IX.

SEC. 1. All power is originally vested in the people; and all free governments are founded on their authority, and are instituted for their peace, safety and happiness.

SEC. 2. No freeman of this State shall be taken, or imprisoned, or disseized of his freehold, liberties, or privileges; or outlawed, or exiled, or in any manner destroyed, or deprived of his life, liberty, or property, but by the judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land; nor shall any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts, ever be passed by the Legislature of this State.

SEC. 3. The military shall be subordinate to the civil power. SEC. 4. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel punishments inflicted.

SEC. 5. The Legislature shall not grant any title of nobility, or hereditary distinction, nor create any office, the appointment

to which shall be for any longer time than during good behaviour. SEC. 6. The trial by jury, as heretofore used in this State, and the liberty of the press, shall be forever inviolably preserved.

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ARTICLE X.

con

SEC. 1. The business of the Treasury shall be in future ducted by two Treasurers, one of whom shall hold his office and reside in Columbia; the other shall hold his office and reside in Charleston.

Treasury, how conducted.

office, &c.

SEC. 2. The Secretary of State, and the Surveyor General, And secretary's shall hold their offices both in Columbia and Charleston. They shall reside at one place, and their deputies at the other.

bia after circuit.

SEC. 3. At the conclusion of the Circuits, the Judges shall Amended 1816. Judges shall meet and sit at Columbia, for the purpose of hearing and deter- meet at Colummining all motions which may be made for new trials, and in arrest of judgments, and such points of law as may be submitted to them. From Columbia they shall proceed to Charleston, and there hear and determine all such motions for new trials, and in arrest of judgment, and such points of law, as may be submitted to them.

reside where

SEC. 4. The Governor shall always reside, during the sitting Governor shall of the Legislature, at the place where their session may be held, legislature sits, and at all other times, wherever, in his opinion, the public good may require.

during session.

SEC. 5. The Legislature shall, as soon as may be convenient, Rights of primogeniture pass laws for the abolition of the rights of primogeniture, and to be abolished. for giving an equitable distribution of the real estate of intes

tates.

ARTICLE XI.

be called by

No Convention of the people shall be called, unless by the Convention to concurrence of two-thirds of both branches of the whole repre- two-thirds of sentation.

legislature.

No part of this Constitution shall be altered, unless a bill to Constitution, how to be alter the same shall have been read three times in the House of altered. Representatives, and three times in the Senate, and agreed to by two-thirds of both branches of the whole representation; neither shall any alteration take place, until the bill, so agreed to, be published three months previous to a new election for members to the House of Representatives; and if the alteration pro.

posed by the Legislature, shall be agreed to in the first session, by two-thirds of the whole representation in both branches of the Legislature, after the same shall have been read three times, on three several days, in each House, then, and not otherwise, the same shall become a part of the Constitution.

Done in Convention, at Columbia, in the State of South Carolina, the third day of June, in the Year of our Lord 1790, and in the 14th year of the Independence of the United States of America.

By the unanimous order of the Convention.

CHARLES PINCKNEY,
President

Attest,

JOHN S. DART, Secretary.

THAT NO INCONVENIENCE MAY ARISE FROM THE ALTERATIONS AND
AMENDMENTS IN THE CONSTITUTION OF THIS STATE, IT IS HERE-

BY DECLARED AND ORDAINED:

PROVISIONS

until new constitution can operate.

SEC. 1. That the government shall be administered as heretofore, until the meeting and sitting of the Legislature, to be held under this constitution.

SEC. 2. And whereas, the existing laws render it highly inconvenient for the Legislature to meet on the fourth Monday in November, next, it is therefore ordained, that instead thereof, the members of the Senate and House of Representatives, to be elected on the second Monday in October, and on the day following, shall meet at Columbia, the seat of Government, on the first Monday in January next.

SEC. 3. It is also ordained, that the Commissioners of the Treasury shall, with all convenient dispatch, take a balance of the treasury books, which balance shall be lodged in the Treasurer's office, in Columbia, and the original books in the Treasurer's office, in Charleston.

SEC. 4. It is the opinion of the Convention, that the Legisla ture, at the first session which shall be held under this constitution, should regulate and establish by law, all the fees of the respective courts and offices throughout this State.

SEC. 5. That they also provide for the annual and final settle ment of the accounts of the Commissioners of the Treasury, so

that the pecuniary interest of the State be duly attended to, and the persons who faithfully discharge the duties of that important office, be quieted therein, and their sureties released in a fixed and reasonable time.

SEC. 6. That the Legislature shall make effectual provision for revising, digesting and publishing the laws of this State, so that a general knowledge thereof may be diffused among the citizens of this State.

SEC. 7. The Legislature, at their next meeting, shall proceed to the election of Justices of the Peace, throughout the State, and Justices of the county courts, where county courts are established, and that all former commissions of the peace, then cease; and that, in future, all commissions of the peace expire at fixed periods, to be declared by law.

SEC. 8. That all rotatory officers, at the first meeting of the Legislature, under this constitution, may be re-elected, notwithstanding any time they may have before served under the former constitution.

By the unanimous order of the Convention, June 3, 1790.

Attest,

CHARLES PINCKNEY,

President.

JOHN SANDFORD DART, Secretary.

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AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE

STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

AMENDMENTS, RATIFIED DECEMBER 17, 1808.

SEC. 1. The following sections, in amendment of the third, Secs. 3, 7 and 9 seventh, and ninth sections of the first article of the constitution ed.

of this State, shall be, and they are hereby declared, to be valid

parts of the said constitution: and the said third, seventh and

ninth sections, or such parts thereof as are repugnant to such

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amendments, are hereby repealed and made void.

of Art 1, amend

SEC. 2. The House of Representatives shall consist of one 124 Represenhundred and twenty-four members; to be apportioned among the

tatives,

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