Texas Almanac, 1952-1953 Page: 380
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380 TEXAS ALMANAC.-1952-1953.
Article XIV.-(Continued.); Articles XV, XVI.
valid, or to interfere with the rights of third
persons.
ARTICLE XV.-IlMPEACHMENT.
Sec. 1. Power of Impeachment Vested in
The House of Representatives.-The power of
impeachment shall be vested in the House of
Representatives.
Sec. 2. Trial by Senate.-Impeachment of
the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney
General, Treasurer, Commissioner of the
General Land Office, Comptroller, and the
Judges of the Supreme Courts, Courts of
Appeal and District Courts shall be tried by
the Senate.
Sec. 3. Oath of Senators.-When the Senate
is sitting as a court of impeachment, the
Senators shall be on oath, or affirmation,
impartially to try the party impeached, and
no person shall be convicted without the
concurrence of two thirds of the Senators
present.
Sec. 4. Judgment; Party Convicted Subject
to Indictment Under the Criminal Laws.-
Judgment in cases of impeachment shall ex-
tend only to removal from office and dis-
qualification from holding any office of
honor, trust or profit under this State. A
party convicted on impeachment shall also
be subject to indictment, trial and punish-
ment, according to law.
Sec. 5. Officers Suspended During Pending
Proceedings.-All officers against whom arti-
cles of impeachment may be preferred shall
be suspended from the exercise of the duties
of their office during the pendency of such
impeachment. The Governor may make a
provisional appointment to fill the vacancy
occasioned by the suspension of an officer
until the decision on the impeachment.
Sec. 6. Removal of District Judges.-Any
Judge of the District Courts of the State who
is incompetent to discharge the duties of his
office, or who shall be guilty of partiality,
or oppression, or other official misconduct,
or whose habits and conduct are such as to
:ender him unfit to hold such office, or who
shall negligently fail to perform his duties as
Judge, or who shall fail to execute in a rea-
sonable measure the business in his courts.
may be removed by the Supreme Court. The
Supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction
to hear and determine the causes aforesaid
when presented in writing, upon the oaths,
taken before some Judge of a court of record,
of not less than ten lawyers, practicing in
the courts held by such Judge, and licensed
to practice in the Supreme Court; sald pre-
sentment to be founded either upon the
knowledge of the persons making it or upon
the written oaths as to facts of creditable
witnesses. The Supreme Court may issue all
needful process and prescribe all needful
rules to give effect to this section. Causes of
this kind shall have precedence and be tried
as soon as practicable.
Sec. 7. Trial and Removal of Other Officers.
-The Legislature shall provide by law for
the trial and removal from office of all offi-
cers of this State, the modes for which have
not been provided in this Constitution.
Address.
Sec. 8. Removal of Judges of Supreme
Court and Courts of Appeal and of District
Courts.-The Judges of the Supreme Court.
Courts of Appeals and District courts shall be
removed by the Governor on the address of
two thirds of each house of the Legislature,
for willful neglect of duty, incompetency.
habitual drunkenness, oppression in office.
or other reasonable oause which shall not be
sufficient ground for impeachment; provided.
however that the cause or causes for which
such removal shall be required shall be stated
at length in such address and entered on the
journals of each house; and provided, further,
that the cause or causes shall be notified tothe Judge so intended to be removed, and he
shall be admitted to a hearing in his own
defense before any vote for such address
shall pass; and in all such cases the vote
shall be taken by" yeas and nays and entered
on the journals of each house, respectively
ARTICLE XVI.-GENERAL PROVISIONS.
Sec. 1. Official Oaths.-Members of the Leg-
islature, and all officers, before they enter
upon the duties of their offices, shall take
the following Oath or Affirmation:
"I ..........., do solemnly swear (or
affirm) that I will faithfully execute the
duties of the office of of the
State of Texas, and will to the best of my
ability preserve, protect, and defend the Con-
stitution and laws of the United States and
of this state; and I furthermore solemnly
swear (or affirm), that I have not, directly
nor indirectly paid, offered, or promised to
pay, contributed, nor promised to- contribute
any money, or valuable thing, or promised
any public office or employment, as a re-
ward for the giving or withholding a vote
at the election at which I was elected. So
help me God."
[Note-The foregoing Sec. 1 of Art. XVI was
amended from the original text to eliminate that
part of the oath stating that the incoming official
had not fought a duel or sent or accepted a chal-
lenge to a duel or acted as a second in a duel
Submitted by Forty-fifth Legislature (1937 and
adopted in an election Nov 8, 1938.]
Sec. 2. Right of Suffrage to Be Protected;
Criminals Disfranchised.-Laws shall be made
to exclude from office, serving on juries, and
from the right of suffrage, those who may
have been or shall hereafter be convicted of
bribery, perjury, forgery or other high
crimes. The privilege of free suffrage shall
be protected by laws, regulating elections
and prohibiting, under adequate penalties,
all undue influence therein from power.
bribery, tumult, or other improper practice
Sec. 3. Fines and Costs to Be Discharged by
Manual Labor.-The Legislature shall make
provisions whereby persons convicted of mis-
demeanors and committed to the county jails
in default of payment of fines and costs shall
be required to discharge such fines and costs
by manual labor, under such regulations as
may be prescribed by law.
Sec. 4. Dueling Prohibited.-Any citizen of
this State who shall, after the adoption of
this Constitution, fight a duel with deadly
weapons, or send or accept a challenge to
fight a duel with deadly weapons, either
within this State or out of it, or who shall
act as second, or knowingly assist in any
manner those thus offending, shall be de-
prived of the right of suffrage, or of holding
any office of trust or profit under this State.
Sec. 5. Bribery i,n Elections Disqualification
for Holding Office.-Every person shall be
disqualified from holding any office of profit
or trust in this State who shall have been
convicted oqf having given or offered a bribe
to procure his election or appointment. -
Sec. 6. Appropriations for Private Purposes
Prohibited; Expenditures to Be Published.-
No appropriation for private or, individual
purposes shall be made. A regular statement,
under oath, and an account of the receipts
and expenditures of all public money, shall
be published annually, in such manner as
shall be prescribed by law.
Sec. 7. No Paper to Circulate as Money.-
The Legislature shall in no case have power
to issue "treasury warrants," "treasury
notes," or paper of any description intended
to circulate as money.
Sec. 8. Counties May Provide Workhouses,
Poorhouses and Farms.-Each county In the
State may provide, in such manner as may be
prescribed by law, a manual labor poorhouse
and farm, for taking care of, managing, em-
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Texas Almanac, 1952-1953, book, 1951; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117137/m1/382/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.