Texas Almanac, 1947-1948 Page: 81
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STATE CONSTITUTION
Article XVI.-(Continued.)
amended from the original text to eliminate that
art of the oath stating that the mincoming 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 in 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 of 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-
ploying and supplying the wants of its in-
digent and poor inhabitants.
Sec. 9. Absence on Business of the State or
United States Shall Not Forfeit a Residence
Once Obtained. Absence on business of the
State or of the United States shall not forfeit
a residence once obtained, so as to deprive
anyone of the right of suffrage, or of being
elected or appointed to any office, under the
exceptions contained in this Constitution.
Sec. 10. Deductions From Salaries to Be
Provided for.-The Legislature shall provide
for deductions from the salaries of public
officers who may neglect the performance
of any duty that may be assigned them by
law.
Sec. 11. Usurious Interest Prohibited.-All
contracts for a greater rate of interest than
ten per centum per annum shall be deemed
usurious, and the first Legislature after this
amendment is adopted shall provide appro-
priate pains and penalties to prevent the
same; but when no rate of interest Is agreed
upon the rate shall not exceed six per cent
per annum.
[Note.-The foregoing Sec. 11 of Art XVI was
amended from the original, setting 10 per centand 6 per cent as interest rates, min place of orig-
inal provision for 12 per cent and 8 per cent
Submitted by Twenty-Second Legislature (1891),
ratified in election Aug. 11, 1891, and declared
adopted Sept. 22, 18914
Sec. 12. Officers Not Eligible.-No member
of Congress, nor person holding or exercising
any office of profit or trust under the United
States, or either of them, or under any for-
eign power, shall be eligible as a member of
the Legislature or hold or exercise any office
of profit or trust under this State.
Sec. 13. Legislature Shall Pass Arbitration
Laws.-It shall be the duty of the Legislature
to pass such laws as may be necessary and
proper to decide differences by' arbitration.
when the parties shall elect that method of
trial.
Sec. 14. Residence of Officers.-All civil
officers shall reside within the State, and all
district or county officers within their dis-
tricts or counties, and shall keep their offices
at such places as may be required by law;
and failure to comply with this condition
shall vacate the office so held.
Sec. 15. Wife's Separate Property.-All
property, both real and personal, of the wife,
owned or claimed by her before marriage,
and that acquired afterward by gift, device
or descent, shall be her separate property;
and laws shall be a oe passed more clearly de-
fining the rights of the wife in relation as
well to her separate property as that held in
common with her husband. Laws shall also
be passed providing for the registration of
the wife's separate property.
Sec. 16. Banking Corporations.-rThe Legis-
lature shall, by general laws, authorize the
incorporation of corporate bodies with bank-
ing and discounting privileges, and shall pro-
vide for a system of state supervision,
regulation and control of such bodies which
will adequately protect and secure the de-
positors and creditors thereof.
No such corporate body shall be chartered
until all of the authorized capital stock has
been subscribed and paid for in full in cash.
Such body corporate shall not be authorized
to engage in business at more than one place,
which shall be designated in its charter.
No foreign corporation, other than the na-
tional banks of the United States, shall be
permitted to exercise banking or discounting
privileges in this State.
[Note.-The foregoing Sec. 16 of Art. XVI has
been twice amended from the original, as follows:
(1) To eliminate the original provision that "No
corporate body shall ..ereafter be created, re-
itewed or extended with banking or discounting
privileges," and making possible the establishment
of the present state banking system. Submitted
by the Twenty-Eighth Legislature (1903), ratified
in an election Nov. 8, 1904, and declared adopted
Dec. 29, 1904. (2) Eliminating a provision, con-
tained in the amendment of 1904, making share-
holders of banks liable to the extent of twice the
par value of the shares owned. Submitted by the
Forty-Fifth Legislature (1937), and adopted in
an election Aug. 23, 1937.3
Sec. 17. Officers to Perform Duties Until
Successor Qualified.-All officers within this
State shall continue to perform the duties of
their offices until their successors shall be
duly qualified.
Sec. 18. Vested Rights.-The rights of prop-
erty and of action, which have been acquired
under the Constitution and the laws of the
Republic and State, shall not be divested;
nor shall any rights or actions which have
been divested, barred or declared null and
void by the Constitution of the Republic and
State be reinvested, renewed or reinstated
by this Constitution, but the same shall re-
main precisely in the situation which they
weie before the adoption of this Constitu-
tion, unless otherwise herein provided, and
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Texas Almanac, 1947-1948, book, 1947; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117136/m1/83/?q=%22oil-gas%22: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.