State of Arkansas

“ No tax shall be levied except in pursuance of law, and every law imposing a tax shall state distinctly the object of the same; and no moneys arising from a tax levied for one purpose shall be used for any other purpose. ”

“ No State tax shall be allowed, or appropriation of money made, except to raise means for the payment of the just debts of the State, for defraying the necessary expenses of government, to sustain common schools, to repel invasion and suppress insurrection, except by a majority of two-thirds of both houses of the General Assembly. ”

“ No person shall be qualified to serve as an election officer who shall hold at the time of the election any office, appointment or employment in or under the government of the United States or of this State, or in any city or county, or any municipal board, commission or trust in any city, save only the justices of the peace and aldermen, notaries public and persons in the militia service of the State. ”

“ A judge of the circuit court shall be a citizen of the United States, at least twenty-eight years of age, of good moral character, learned in the law, two years a resident of the State, and shall have practiced law six years, or whose service upon the bench of any court of record, when added to the time he may have practiced law, shall be equal to six years. ”

“ No private corporation shall issue stocks or bonds, except for money or property actually received or labor done, and all fictitious increase of stock or indebtedness shall be void; nor shall the stock or bonded indebtedness of any private corporation be increased, except in pursuance of general laws, nor until the consent of the persons holding the larger amount in value of stock shall be obtained at a meeting held after notice given for a period not less than sixty days, in pursuance of law. ”

“ No property, nor right of way, shall be appropriated to the use of any corporation until full compensation therefor shall be first made to the owner, in money, or first secured to him by a deposit of money which compensation, irrespective of any benefit from any improvement proposed by such corporation, shall be ascertained by a jury of twelve men, in a court of competent jurisdiction, as shall be preseribed by law. ”

“ Religion, morality and knowledge being essential to good government, the General Assembly shall enact suitable laws to protect every religious denomination in the peaceable enjoyment of its own mode of public worship. ”

“ In trials of contested elections and in proceedings for the investigation of elections no person shall be permitted to withhold his testimony on the ground that it may criminate himself or subject him to public infamy ”

“ The judicial power of the State shall be vested in one Supreme Court; in circuit courts; in county and probate courts, and in justices of the peace. The General Assembly may also vest such jurisdiction as may be deemed necessary in municipal corporation courts, courts of common pleas, where established, and when deemed expedient, may establish separate courts of chancery. ”

“ Any person who shall, directly or indirectly, offer, give or promise any money or thing of value, testimonial, privilege or personal advantage to any executive or judicial officer or member of the General Assembly, and any such executive or judicial officer or member of the General Assembly who shall receive or consent to receive any such consideration, either directly or indirectly, to influence his action in the performance or non-performance of his public or official duty, shall be guilty of a felony and be punished accordingly. ”

“ Intelligence and virtue being the safeguards of liberty and the bulwark of a free and good government, the State shall ever maintain a general, suitable and efficient system of free schools, where-by all persons in the State between the ages of six and twenty-one years may receive gratuitious instruction. ”

“ The boards of county election supervisors shall at once proceed to appoint three judges of election for each election precinct in their respective counties, and the judges shall appoint three election clerks for their respective precincts, all of whom shall be good, competent men, and take an oath as prescribed above. Should the judges of any election precinct fail to attend at the time and place provided by law, or decline to act, the assembled electors shall choose competent persons in the manner provided by law to act in their place, who shall be sworn as above. ”

“ The homestead of any resident of this State who is married or the head of a family shall not be subject to the lien of any judgment, or decree of any court, or to sale under execution or other process thereon, except such as may be rendered for the purchase money or for specific liens, laborers' or mechanics' liens for improving the same, or for taxes, or against executors, administrators, guardians, receivers, attorneys for moneys collected by them and other trustees of an express trust for moneys due from them in their fiduciary capacity. ”

“ If, during the vacancy of the office of Governor, the President of the Senate shall be impeached, removed from office, refuse to qualify, resign, die or be absent from the State, the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall, in like manner, administer the government. ”

“ No human authority can, in any case or manner whatsoever, control or interfere with the right of conscience; and no preference shall ever be given, by law, to any religious establishment, denomination or mode of worship above any other. ”

“ The citizens of this State shall have the right to keep and bear arms for their common defense.
Sec. 6. The liberty of the press shall forever remain inviolate. The free communication of thoughts and opinions is one of the invaluable rights of man; and all persons may freely write and publish their sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of such rights. In all criminal prosecutions for libel the truth may be given in evidence to the jury ”

“ No person shall be elected to or appointed to fill a vacancy in any office who does not possess the qualifications of an elector, Sec. 4. All civil officers for the State at large shall reside within the State, and all district, county and township officers within their respective districts, counties and townships, and shall keep their offices at such places therein as are now or may hereafter be required by law. ”

“ No person shall be held to answer a criminal charge unless on the presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in eases of impeachment or eases such as the General Assembly shall make cognizable by justices of the peace, and courts of similar jurisdiction ”

“ The State's ancient right of eminent domain and of taxation is herein fully and expressly conceded; and the General Assembly may delegate the taxing power, with the necessary restriction, to the State's subordinate political and municipal corporations to the extent of providing for their existence, maintenance and well being, but no further.
Sec. 24. All men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences; no man can, of right, be compelled to attend, erect or support any place of worship ”

“ No discrimination in charges or facilities for transportation shall be made between transportation companies and individuals or in favor of either by abatement, drawback or otherwise, and no railroad or canal company or any lessee, manager or employe thereof shall make any preference in furnishing cars or motive power.
Sec. 7. The General Assembly shall prevent by law the granting of free passes by any railroad or transportation company to any officer of this State, legislative, executive or judicial. ”

“ The homestead in any city, town or village, owned and occupied as a residence, shall consist of not exceeding one acre of land with the improvements thereon, to be selected by the owner, provided the same shall not exceed in value the sum of two thousand five hundred dollars, and in no event shall such homestead be reduced to less than one-quarter of an acre of land, without regard to value. ”

“ No county, city, town or other municipal corporation shall become a stockholder in any company, association or corporation, or obtain or appropriate money for, or loan its credit to, any corporation, association, institution or individual. ”

“ No money or property belonging to the public school fund, or to this State for the benefit of schools or universities, shall ever be used for any other than for the respective purposes to which it belongs. ”

“ The General Assembly shall pass no special act conferring corporate powers, except for charitable, educational, penal or reformatory purposes, where the corporations created are to be and remain under the patronage and control of the State. ”

“ The House of Representatives shall have the sole power of impeachment. All impeachments shall be tried by the Senate. When sitting for that purpose the senators shall be upon oath or affirmation; no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the members thereof. ”