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causes in said Circuit Court shall be tried under such rules and regulations as the Legislature may prescribe-at the first term after commencing suit-that the forms of action and pleading in said Circuit Courts shall be such as were used and practiced in said Courts prior to the 1st day of October, 1851, except in the action of ejectment.

Resolved, That the Legislature, by law, require the Judges to interchange, so that no one of the Judges will hold more than one Court in the County in one year. The Counties of Davidson and Shelby may be divided into as many Circuits and Chancery Districts as may be deemed necessary.

Resolved, That there be established and held one Chancery Court in each Law Circuit; that the Legislature shall provide, by law, for the appointment of Clerks and Masters in Chancery, to reside at the respective county seats, with the authority of the Clerk and Master at the place where the Court is held, for the convenience of the people for that particular County.

Resolved, That there be established in each County a Court styled the Court of Common Pleas of that County; that the Court of Common Pleas possess such jurisdiction as is now exercised by the Quorum Courts; that the said Court be held by one Judge, who shall preside over the meetings of the Quarterly Courts, have power to assess taxes, etc., and be financial agent of the County under such rules and regulations as are now prescribed for the action of the Judges and Chairmen of the present County Courts as now prescribed by law, and as may be prescribed by law, and his salary to be $ and paid by the County. That said Court of Common Pleas shall have exclusive jurisdiction of all causes of action arising ex contractu, to the amounts of from $100 to $500, and exclusive and original jurisdiction of all causes of action arising ex delicto, from $50 to $200. That the mode of proceeding may be prescribed by the Legislature.

Resolved, That the Judges, Chancellors and Justices, be appointed during good behavior; that the Clerks of the several Courts be appointed by the Courts to hold during good behavior, and that the salary of Judges and Chancellors shall not be diminished while in office.

Resolved, That the Court of Appeals in Law, and the Court of Appeals in Equity, and the Supreme Court, shall have original jurisdiction to issue writs of mandamus.

Mr. GIBSON submitted the following propositions to amend the Constitution of the State, which were read and referred to the Committee on Miscellaneous Provisions :

Section. A tax of twenty-five cents on every taxable poll, and twenty-five cents on every one hundred dollars' worth of taxable property in this State is hereby levied for each and every year for

ever, and shall be collected each year in the same manner, at the same time, and by the same officer as and by whom the State taxes are collected, and shall be by such officers deposited with the State Treasurer, who shall pay over the same to the several Counties of the State, in proportion to their respective populations, between eight and eighteen years of age. The money thus collected and deposited shall never be applied or used for any purpose other than the maintenance and support of free schools; and the Legislature is hereby commanded to pass all necessary laws to effectuate the objects of this Section. But should the Legislature fail or refuse to act as commanded, then the said Revenue Officers shall collect and deposit the said tax as aforesaid, and the State Treasurer shall apportion said money thus collected and deposited among the several Counties as aforesaid, and shall, without unnecessary delay, pay over said apportionment to such person or persons as have general charge of the financial interests of such Counties, to be by them disbursed in the maintenance of free schools in their respective Counties: Provided, That in making his apportionment, the State Treasurer shall be governed by the last reliable enumeration of the scholastic population in each County: And provided further, That each of said officers, whose duty it is under this Section, to collect, deposit, pay over or disburse said money, or any part thereof, shall be and are hereby made liable on their respective official bonds, for any failure, default, delay or malfeasance, in discharging the duties herein and hereby imposed, and may be proceeded against summarily by motion by any citizen in any Court of original jurisdiction in the County where such default, failure, delay or malfeasance, may have occurred; and such summary proceding shall be heard and decided by the Court upon its merits without a jury, and no other form shall be necessary than five days' notice in writing: And provided still further, That nothing in this or any other Section of this Constitution shall be so construed as to prohibit or prevent the Legislature or any County from levying an additional tax or taxes for the support and maintenance of free schools and academies.

Mr. KIRKPATRICK submitted the following resolution, which was read and referred to the Committee on the Legislative Department:

Resolved, That the General Assembly shall have no power, at any time, to call into question the validity of the public debt of this State.

Mr. MARTIN submitted the following amendments to the Constitution, which were read and referred to the Committee on Franchise and Elections:

Resolved, That Article IV, Section 4, be amended to read as follows:

"Section 4. Electors shall, in all elections, vote viva voce, and the General Assembly shall enact all necessary laws for carrying this provision into effect."

In all elections to be made by the General Assembly, or either House thereof, the votes of the several members voting shall be entered on the Journal.

Mr. McNABB offered the following resolution, which was read and referred to the Committee on New Counties and County Lines:

Resolved, That in the formation of new Counties in the State of Tennessee, no part of any old County shall be stricken off only by the consent of the qualified voters of said old County or Counties, and that a majority of the votes polled in such elections shall

carry.

Mr. McNABB offered the following resolution, which was read and referred to the Committee on Miscellaneous Provisions:

Resolved, That no County seat in any County in the State of Tennessee, shall be moved only by a vote of the people qualified to vote, and that a majority of the votes polled shall carry.

Mr. SAMPLE offered the following resolution, which was read and referred to the Committee on the Judicial Department :

Resolved, That the Legislature may, by law, empower the County Courts to have Grand and traverse Juries, and to have power to try all cases of petit larceny and assault and battery; petit larceny to extend to $25, but no higher; and the Legislature shall, by law, prescribe the penalties of those crimes, and the Court have power to inflict it; said Court to consist of at least three Magistrates.

Mr. THOMPSON, of Davidson, submitted the following resolution:

Be it resolved, That the following provision be inserted in the Bill of Rights:

"Any proscribed class of citizens in the community is contrary to the genius of a free government. No citizen of this State shall ever be disfranchised of any civil or political rights, except by impeachment or conviction of infamous crime in a Court of Record." Which was referred as directed.

Mr. WARNER submitted the following resolution, which was read and referred to the Committee on Finance, Internal Improvements and Incorporations:

Resolved, That the Committee on Internal Improvements inquire as to what railroads are in default, and what disposition this Convention shall make of the defaulting railroads.

Mr. WARNER submitted the following resolution, which was read and referred to the Committee on Finance:

Resolved, That the Committee on Finance inquire into and report what bonds of the State are bona fide, and what ones are not, and that the State be required to pay only such bonds as are just and bona fide.

Mr. DROMGOOLE submitted the following, to be added to the Bill of Rights:

No power can legitimately deprive the people of this State from defining the qualifications of their own electors.

BILL OF RIGHTS CONSIDERED.

On motion of Mr. Brown, of Davidson, the report of the Committee on Bill of Rights was taken up and considered;

Whereupon, Mr. Jones, of Lincoln, offered the following amend

ment:

Insert after the word Convention, in line 12, "passed in obedience to the declared will of the voters of the State as expressed at the general election of August, in the year of our Lord one thoussand eight hundred and thirty-three."

Mr. GIBSON submitted the following in lieu of the preamble:

We the people of the State of Tennessee, in order to organize liberty, secure justice, and protect property, do ordain and establish this Constitution for our government.

After discussion, Mr. Gibson withdrew his substitute.

Mr. STEPHENS submitted the following amendment :

After the word "and" in the 15th line, add the words "Said Convention did accordingly meet and form a Constitution, which was submitted to the people and ratified by them the first Friday in March, 1835."

And the amendment was adopted.

Mr. CAMPBELL submitted the following amendments :

Resolved, That the 3d section of the Preamble be so amended as to read as follows:

WHEREAS, The General Assembly of said State of Tennessee, under and in virtue of the first Section of the first Article of the Declaration of Rights, contained in and forming a part of the existing Constitution of the State, by an act passed on the 15th day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, the people of the State did, by a vote at an election, held on the 18th day of December, 1869, determine to call a Con

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vention to meet at Nashville, on the 2d Monday in January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy, and elected delegates thereto for the purpose of amending, revising, or forming and making a new Constitution.

Mr. PORTER, of Haywood, submitted the following resolution: Resolved, That the 4th section of the Preamble be so amended as to dispense with the word "authorize" altogether.

Mr. PORTER subsequently withdrew his resolution.

Mr. GARDNER offered the following, in lieu of Mr. Campbell's: In the 19th and 20th lines strike out the following:

"Entitled an act to authorize the people to call a Convention and for other purposes, did authorize the people of the State to call a Convention," and insert in lieu thereof the following: "Provide for the calling of a Convention by the people of the State."

Mr. THOMPSON, of Davidson, offered the following, in lieu of Mr. Campbell's and Mr. Gardner's:

Resolved, That after the word "did," at the end of the nineteenth line, the word "authorize " be stricken out, and the following inserted in lieu thereof: "In obedience to the expressed will of the people provide a mode for.”

Which was rejected by the Convention.

Mr. BROWN, of Davidson, submitted the following amendment to the proposition of Mr. Gardner, which was accepted :

"Provide for the calling of a Convention by the people."

And the amendment as amended was adopted by the Convention.

Mr. GARDNER proposed to amend as follows:

In the 21st line strike out the words, "and to elect delegates," and insert the words "for the election of delegates."

Which was adopted.

Mr. GARNER submitted the following amendments :

After the word "mode," in line 23, strike out, "Authorized by said act have called said Convention and elected delegates," and insert, "Provided for by said act, did on the eighteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixtynine, at a general election, call said Convention and elected delegates"

Mr. PORTER, of Henry, offered the following in lieu of Mr. Garner's which was accepted and adopted by the Convention: WHEREAS, The people of the State, in the mode prescribed by

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