SEC. 23. The General Assembly shall not grant any title of nobility or hereditary distinction, nor create any office, the appointment of which shall be for a longer time than a term of years.

SEC. 24. Emigration from the State shall not be prohibited.

SEC. 25. Slavery and involuntary servitude in this State are forbidden, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.

SEC. 26. To guard against transgression of the high powers which we have delegated, WE DECLARE that every thing in this Bill of Rights is excepted out of the general powers of government, and shall forever remain inviolate; and all laws. contrary thereto, or contrary to this Constitution, shall be void.

DISTRIBUTION OF THE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT.

SEC. 27. The powers of the government of the Commonwealth of Kentucky shall be divided into three distinct departments, and each of them be confided to a separate body of magistracy, to-wit: Those which are legislative, to one; those which are executive, to another; and those which are judicial, to another.

SEC. 28. No person, or collection of persons, being of one of those departments, shall exercise any power properly belonging to either of the others, except in the instances hereinafter expressly directed or permitted.

LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT.

SEC. 29. The legislative power shall be vested in a House of Representatives and a Senate, which, together, shall be styled the "General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky."

SEC. 30. Members of the House of Representatives and Senators elected at the August election in one thousand eight hundred and ninety-one, and Senators then holding over, shall continue in office until and including the last day of December, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-three. Thereafter the term of office of Representatives and Senators shall begin upon the first day of January of the year succeeding their election.

SEC. 31. At the general election in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-three one Senator shall be elected in each Senatorial District, and one Representative in each Representa

tive District. The Senators then elected shall hold their offices, one-half for two years and one-half for four years, as shall be determined by lot at the first session of the General Assembly after their election, and the Representatives shall hold their offices for two years. Every two years thereafter there shall be elected for four years one Senator in each Senatorial District in which the term of his predecessor in office will then expire, and in every Representative District one Representative for two years.

SEC. 32. No person shall be a Representative who, at the time of his election, is not a citizen of Kentucky, has not attained the age of twenty-four years, and who has not resided in this State two years next preceding his election, and the last year thereof in the county, town or city for which he may be chosen. No person shall be a Senator who, at the time of his election, is not a citizen of Kentucky, has not attained the age of thirty years, and has not resided in this State six years next preceding his election, and the last year thereof in the district for which he may be chosen.

SEC. 33. The first General Assembly after the adoption of this Constitution shall divide the State into thirty-eight Senatorial districts, and one hundred Representative districts, as nearly equal in population as may be without dividing any county, except where a county may include more than one district, which districts shall constitute the Senatorial and Representative districts for ten years. Not more than two counties shall be joined together to form a Representative district: Provided, In doing so the principle requiring every district to be as nearly equal in population as may be shall not be violated. At the expiration of that time, the General Assembly shall then, and every ten years thereafter, redistrict the State according to this rule, and for the purposes expressed in this section. If, in making said districts, inequality of population should be unavoidable, any advantage resulting therefrom shall be given to districts having the largest territory. No part of a county shall be added to another county to make a district, and the counties forming a district shall be contiguous.

SEC. 34. The House of Representatives shall choose its Speak

er and other officers, and the Senate shall have power to choose its officers biennially.

SEC. 35. The number of Representatives shall be one hundred, and the number of Senators thirty-eight.

SEC. 36. The first General Assembly, the members of which shall be elected under this Constitution, shall meet on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in January, eighteen hundred and ninety-four, and thereafter the General Assembly shall meet on the same day every second year, and its sessions shall be held at the seat of government, except in case of war, insurrection or pestilence, when it may, by proclamation of the Governor, assemble, for the time being, elsewhere.

SEC. 37. Not less than a majority of the members of each House of the General Assembly shall constitute a quorum to do business, but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and shall be authorized by law to compel the attendance of absent members in such manner and under such penalties as may be prescribed by law.

SEC. 38. Each House of the General Assembly shall judge of the qualifications, elections and returns of its members, but a contested election shall be determined in such manner as shall be directed by law.

SEC. 39. Each House of the General Assembly may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish a member for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member, but not a second time for the same cause, and may punish for contempt any person who refuses to attend as a witness, or to bring any paper proper to be used as evidence before the General Assembly, or either House thereof, or a Committee of either, or to testify concerning any matter which may be a proper subject of inquiry by the General Assembly, or offers or gives a bribe to a member of the General Assembly, or attempts by other corrupt means or device to control or influence a member to cast his vote or withhold the same. The punishment and mode of proceeding for contempt in such cases shall be prescribed by law, but the term of imprisonment in any such case shall not extend beyond the session of the General Assembly.

SEC. 40. Each House of the General Assembly shall keep and

publish daily a journal of its proceedings; and the yeas and nays of the members on any question shall, at the desire of any two of the members elected, be entered on the journal.

SEC. 41. Neither House, during the session of the General *Assembly, shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which it may be sitting.

SEC. 42. The members of the General Assembly shall severally receive from the State Treasury compensation for their services, which shall be five dollars a day during their attendance on, and fifteen cents per mile for the necessary travel in going to and returning from, the sessions of their respective Houses : Provided, The same may be changed by law; but no change shall take effect during the session at which it is made; nor shall a session of the General Assembly continue beyond sixty legislative days, exclusive of Sundays and legal holidays; but this limitation as to length of session shall not apply to the first session held under this Constitution, nor to the Senate. when sitting as a court of impeachment. A legislative day shall be construed to mean a calendar day.

SEC. 43. The members of the General Assembly shall, in all cases except treason, felony, breach or surety of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance on the sessions of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any speech or debate in either House they shall not be questioned in any other place.

SEC. 44. No Senator or Representative shall, during the term for which he was elected, nor for one year thereafter, be appointed or elected to any civil office of profit in this Commonwealth, which shall have been created, or the emoluments of which shall have been increased, during the said term, except to such offices as may be filled by the election of the people.

SEC. 45. No person who may have been a collector of taxes or public moneys for the Commonwealth, or for any county, city town or district, or the assistant or deputy of such collector, shall be eligible to the General Assembly, unless he shall have obtained a quietus six months before the election for the amount of such collection, and for all public moneys for which he may have been responsible.

SEC. 46. No bill shall be considered for final passage, unless the same has been reported by a Committee and printed for the use of the members. Every bill shall be read at length on three different days in each House, but the second and third readings may be dispensed with by a majority of all the members elected to the House in which the bill is pending. But whenever a Committee refuses or fails to report a bill submitted to it in a reasonable time, the same may be called up by any member, and be considered in the same manner it would have been considered if it had been reported. No bill shall become a law unless, on its final passage, it receives the votes of at least twofifths of the members elected to each House, and a majority of the members voting, the vote to be taken by yeas and nays and entered in the journal: Provided, Any act or resolution for the appropriation of money or the creation of debt shall, on its final passage, receive the votes of a majority of all the members elected to each House.

SEC. 47. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives, but the Senate may propose amendments thereto: Provided, No new matter shall be introduced, under color of amendment, which does not relate to raising

revenue.

SEC. 48. The General Assembly shall have no power to enact laws to diminish the resources of the Sinking Fund as now established by law until the debt of the Commonwealth be paid, but may enact laws to increase them; and the whole resources of said fund, from year to year, shall be sacredly set apart and applied to the payment of the interest and principal of the State debt, and to no other use or purpose, until the whole debt of the State is fully satisfied.

SEC. 49. The General Assembly may contract debts to meet casual deficits or failures in the revenue; but such debts, direct or contingent, singly or in the aggregate, shall not at any time exceed five hundred thousand dollars, and the moneys arising from loans creating such debts shall be applied only to the purpose or purposes for which they were obtained, or to repay such debts: Provided, The General Assembly may contract debts to repel invasion, suppress insurrection, or, if hostilities are threatened, provide for the public defense.