of the State, nor for paying interest on any bonds issued by such chartered companies, or by counties, or by corporations, for the above-mentioned purpose.

SEC. 8. No person or corporation shall be relieved by any court from the payment of any tax that may be illegal, or illegally or irregularly assessed, until he or it shall have paid such portion of his or its taxes as may be legal, and legally and regularly assessed.

SEC. 9. There shall be exempt from taxation property to the value of five hundred dollars to every widow that has a family dependent on her for sup port, and to every person who is a bona fide resident of the State and has lost a limb or been disabled in war or by misfortune,21

SEC. 10. The credit of the State shall not be pledged or loaned to any individual, company, corporation or association; nor shall the State become a joint owner or stockholder in any company, association or corporation. The Legislature shall not authorize any county, city, borough, township or incorporated district to become a stockholder in any company, association or corporation, or to obtain or appropriate money for, or to loan its credit to, any corporation, association, institution or individual.

ARTICLE X.

HOMESTEAD AND EXEMPTIONS.

SECTION 1. A homestead to the extent of one hundred and sixty acres of land, or the half of one acre within the limits of any incorporated city or town. owned by the head of a family residing in this State, together with one thou sand dollars worth of personal property, and the improvements on the real estate, shall be exempt from forced sale under process of any court, and the estate shall not be alienable without the joint consent of husband and wife, when that relation exists. But no property shall be exempt from sale for taxes or assessments, or for the payment of obligations contracted for the purchase of said property, or for the erection or repair of improvements on the real estate exempted, or for house, field or other labor performed on the same. The exemption herein provided for in a city or town shall not extend to more improvements or buiklings than the residence and business house of the owner: and no judgment or decree or execution shall be a lien upon exempted property except as provided in this Article.

SEC. 2. The exemptions provided for in section one shall inure to the widow and heirs of the party entitled to such exemption, and shall apply to all debts. except as specified in said section.

SEC. 3. The exemption provided for in the Constitution of this State adopted in 1868 shall apply as to all debts contracted and judgments rendered since the adoption thereof and prior to the adoption of this Constitution.

SEC. 4. Nothing in this Article shall be construed to prevent the holder of a homestead from alienating his or her homestead so exempted by deed or mortgage duly executed by himself or herself, and by husband and wife, if such relation exists, nor if the holder be without children to prevent him or her from disposing of his or her homestead by will in a manner prescribed by law.

SEC. 5. No homestead provided for in section one shall be reduced in area on account of its being subsequently included within the limits of an incorporated city or town, without the consent of the owner.

SEC. 6. The Legislature shall enact such laws as may be necessary to enforce the provisions of this Article.

ARTICLE XI.

MARRIED WOMEN'S PROPERTY.

SECTION 1. All property, real and personal, of a wife owned by her before marriage, or lawfully acquired afterward by gift, devise, bequest, descent, or purchase, shall be her separate property, and the same shall not be liable for

21Amendment proposed by the legislature of 1915 and ratified at the general election of 1916.

the debts of her husband without her consent given by some instrument in writing executed according to the law respecting conveyances by married women.

SEC. 2. A married woman's separate real or personal property may be charged in equity and sold, or the uses, rents and profits thereof sequested for the purchase money thereof; or for money or thing due upon any agreement made by her in writing for the benefit of her separate property; or for the price of any property purchased by her, or for labor and material used with her knowledge or assent in the construction of buildings, or repairs, or imrovements upon her property, or for agricultural or other labor bestowed thereon, with her knowledge and consent.

SEC. 3. The Legislature shall enact such laws as shall be necessary to carry into effect this Article.

ARTICLE XII.
EDUCATION.

SECTION 1. The Legislature shall provide for a uniform system of public free schools, and shall provide for the liberal maintenance of the same.

SEC. 2. There shall be a Superintendent of Public Instruction, whose duties shall be prescribed by law, and whose term of office shall be four years and until the election and qualification of his successor.

SEC. 3. The Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney-General, State Treasurer and State Superintendent of Public Instruction shall constitute a body corporate, to be known as the State Board of Education of Florida, of which the Governor shall be President, and the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Secretary. This Board shall have power to remove any subordinate school officer for cause, upon notice to the incumbent; and shall have the management and investment of all State School Funds under such regulations as may be prescribed by law, and such supervision of schools of higher grades as the law shall provide.

SEC. 4. The State School Fund, the interest of which shall be exclusively applied to the support and maintenance of public free schools, shall be derived from the following sources:

The proceeds of all lands that have been or may hereafter be granted to the State by the United States for public school purposes.

Donations to the State when the purpose is not specified.

Appropriations by the State.

The proceeds of escheated property or forfeitures.

Twenty-five per cent. of the sales of public lands which are now or may hereafter be owned by the State.

SEC. 5. The principal of the State School Fund shall remain sacred and inviolate.

SEC. 6. A special tax of one mill on the dollar of all taxable property in the State, in addition to the other means provided, shall be levied and apportioned annually for the support and maintenance of public free schools.

SEC. 7. Provision shall be made by law for the apportionment and distribution of the interest on the State School Fund, and all other means provided, including the special tax, for the support and maintenance of public free schools among the several counties of the State in proportion to the average attendance upon schools in the said counties respectively.22

SEC. 8. Each county shall be required to assess and collect annually for the support of public free schools therein, a tax of not less than three (3) mills, nor more than seven (7) mills on the dollar, of all taxable property in the same.23

SEC. 9. The County School Fund shall consist, in addition to the tax provided for in section eight of this Article, of the proportion of the interest of the State School Fund and of the one mill State tax apportioned to the county;

#Amendment proposed by the legislature of 1893 and ratified at the general election of 1894.

Amendment proposed by the legislature of 1903 and ratified at the general election of 1904.

the net proceeds of all fines collected under the penal laws of the State within the county; all capitation taxes collected within the county; and shall be disbursed by the County Board of Public Instruction solely for the maintenance and support of public free schools.

SEC. 10. The Legislature may provide for the division of any county or counties into convenient school districts; and for the election biennially of three school trustees, who shall hold their office for two years, and who shall have the supervision of all the schools within the district; and for the levying and collection of a district school tax, for the exclusive use of public free schools within the district, whenever a majority of the qualified electors thereof that pay a tax on real or personal property shall vote in favor of such levy: Provided, That any tax authorized by this section shall not exceed three mills on the dollar in any one year on the taxable property of the district.

SEC. 11. Any incorporated town or city may constitute a School District. The fund raised by section 10 may be expended in the district where levied for building or repairing school houses, for the purchase of school libraries and text-books, for salaries of teachers, or for other educational purposes, so that the distribution among all the schools of the district be equitable.

SEC. 12. White and colored children shall not be taught in the same school. but impartial provision shall be made for both.

SEC. 13. No law shall be enacted authorizing the diversion or the lending of any County or District School Funds, or the appropriation of any part of the permanent or available school fund to any other than school purposes; nor shall the same, or any part thereof, be appropriated to or used for the support of any sectarian school.

SEC. 14. The Legislature at its first session shall provide for the estab lishment, maintenance and management of such Normal Schools, not to exceed two, as the interests of public education may demand.

SEC. 15. The compensation of all county school officers shall be paid from the school fund of their respective counties, and all other county officers receiving stated salaries shall be paid from the general funds of their respective counties.

SEC. 17. The Legislature may provide for Special Tax School Districts. to issue bonds for the exclusive use of public free schools within any such Special Tax School District, whenever a majority of the qualified electors thereof. who are freeholders, shall vote in favor of the issuance of such bonds.

Whenever any such Special Tax School District has voted in favor of the issuance of such bonds, a tax not to exceed five mills on the dollar, in any one year, on the taxable property within the district voting for the issue of bonds shall be levied in accordance with law providing for the levying of taxes, to become a fund for the payment of the interest and redemption of such bonds.24

ARTICLE XIII.

PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS.

SECTION 1. Institutions for the benefit of the insane, blind and deaf, and such other benevolent institutions as the public good may require, shall be fostered and supported by the State, subject to such regulations as may be prescribed by law. SEC. 2. A State Prison shall be established and maintained in such manner as may be prescribed by law. Provision may be made by law for the estab lishment and maintenance of a house of refuge for juvenile offenders; and the Legislature shall have power to establish a home and work-house for common vagrants.

SEC. 3. The respective counties of the State shall provide in the manner prescribed by law for those of the inhabitants that, by reason of age, infirmity or misfortune, may have claims upon the aid and sympathy of society.

SEC. 4. The first Legislature that convenes after the adoption of this Con"Section 17 is a new section; it was proposed by the legislature of 1911 and ratified at the general election of 1912. There is no section 16 of Article XII. A section numbered 16 was prepared by the legislature of 1907. but was defeated at the election of 1908.

stitution shall enact the necessary laws to carry into effect the provisions of this Article.

ARTICLE XIV.

MILITIA.

SECTION 1. All able-bodied male inhabitants of the State, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years, that are citizens of the United States, or have declared their intention to become citizens thereof, shall constitute the militia of the State; but no male citizen of whatever religious creed or opinion shall be exempt from military duty except upon such conditions as may be prescribed by law.

SEC. 2. The Legislature may provide by law for organizing and disciplining the militia of the State, for the encouragement of volunteer corps, the safe keeping of the public arms, and for a guard for the State Prison.

SEC. 3. The Governor, by and with the consent of the Senate, shall appoint two Major-Generals and four Brigadier-Generals of Militia. They shall take rank according to the dates of their commissions. The officers and soldiers of the State Militia, when uniformed, shall wear the uniform prescribed for the United States Army; Provided, That volunteer companies may select their own uniforms.

SEC. 4. The Governor shall have power to call out the Militia to preserve the public peace, to execute the laws of the State, to suppress insurrection, or to repel invasion.

ARTICLE XV.
PUBLIC HEALTH.

SECTION 1. The Legislature shall establish a State Board of Health and also County Boards of Health in all counties where it may be necessary.

SEC. 2. The State Board of Health shall have supervision of all matters relating to public health, with such duties, powers and responsibilities as may be prescribed by law.

SEC. 3. The County Boards of Health shall have such powers and be under the supervision of the State Board to such extent as the Legislature may prescribe.

ARTICLE XVI.

MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS.

SECTION 1. The Seat of Government shall be at the City of Tallahassee. in the county of Leon.

SEC. 2. Each and every officer of this State, including the members of the Legislature, shall before entering upon the discharge of his official duties take the following oath of office: I do solemnly swear [or affirm] that I will support, protect, and defend the Constitution and Government of the United States and of the State of Florida; that I am duly qualified to hold office under the Constitution of the State, and that I will well and faithfully perform the duties of on which I am now about to enter. So help me God.

SEC. 3. The salary of each officer shall be payable quarterly upon his own requisition.

SEC. 4. All county officers shall hold their respective offices, and keep their official books and records, at the county seats of their counties; and the Clerk and Sheriff shall either reside or have a sworn deputy within two miles of the county seat.

SEC. 5. The Legislature may provide for the donation of the public lands to actual settlers, but such donation shall not exceed eighty acres to any one person.

SEC. 6. The Legislature shall provide for the speedy publication and distribution of all laws it may enact. Decisions of the Supreme Court and all laws and judicial decisions shall be free for publication by any person. But

no judgment of the Supreme Court shall take effect until the decision of the Court in such case shall be filed with the Clerk of said Court.25

SEC. 7. The Legislature shall not create any office, the term of which shall be longer than four years.

SEC. S. A plurality of votes given at an election of officers shall constitute a choice when not otherwise provided by this Constitution.

SEC. 9. In all criminal cases prosecuted in the name of the State, when the defendant is insolvent er discharged, the legal costs and expenses, including the fees of officers, shall be paid by the counties where the crime is committed, under such regulations as shall be prescribed by law; and all fines and forfeitures collected under the penal laws of the State shall be paid into the county treasuries of the respective counties as a general county fund to be applied to such legal costs and expenses.26

SEC. 10. The Governor, Supreme Court and all the administrative officers of the Executive Department shall keep their offices at the Seat of Government. But in case of invasion or violent epidemics the Governor may direct that the offices of the Government be removed temporarily to some other place. The sessions of the Legislature may be adjourned for the same cause to some other place, but in case of such removal all the Departments of the Government shall be removed to one place. But such removal shall not continue longer than the necessity for the same shall continue.

SEC. 11. No extra compensation shall be made to any officer, agent, employee, or contractor after the service shall have been rendered, or the contract made; nor shall any money be appropriated or paid on any claim, the subject matter of which shall not have been provided for by pre-existing laws, unless such compensation or claim be allowed by bill passed by two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the Legislature.

SEC. 12. The present seal of the State shall remain the seal of the State of Florida. The State flag shall be of the following proportions and description: Depth to be three-fourths length of flag. The seal of the State, of diameter one-third of the flag, in the center of a white ground; red bars, in width one-eighth the length of flag extending from each corner toward the center, to the outer rim of the seal.27

SEC. 13. The sureties upon the official bonds of all State, county and municipal officers shall be residents of, and have sufficient visible property unencumbered within the State, not exempt from sale under legal process, to make good their bonds; and the sureties upon the official bonds of all county and municipal officers shall reside within the county where their principals upon such bonds reside, and shall have sufficient visible and unencumbered property in such county that is not exempt from sale under legal process to make good their liability on such bonds; Provided, That any duly organized and responsible guarantee or surety company, either foreign or domestic, lawfully doing business in this State, may become and be accepted as surety on all such official bonds.28

SEC. 14. All State, County, and Municipal officers shall continue in office after the expiration of their official terms until their successors are duly qualified.

SEC. 15. No person holding or exercising the functions of any office under any foreign Government, under the Government of the United States, or under any other State. shall hold any office of honor or profit under the government of this State; and no person shall hold, or perform the functions of, more than one office under the government of this State at the same time; Provided, Notaries Public, militia officers, county school officers and Commissioners of Deeds may be elected or appointed to fill any legislative, executive or judicial office.

Amendment proposed by the legislature of 1895 and ratified at the general election of 1896.

Amendment proposed by the legislature of 1893 and ratified at the general election of 1894.

Amendment proposed by the legislature of 1899 and ratified at the general election of 1900.

Amendment proposed by the legislature of 1897 and ratified at the general election of 1898.