PROCEEDINGS of CONVENTION.
1776.
37. That no senator, delegate
of the assembly, or member of the council, if he shall qualify as such,
shall hold or execute any office of profit, or receive the profits of any
office exercised by any other person
during the time for which he shall be elected; nor shall any governor be
capable of holding any other
office of profit in this state while he acts as such; and no person holding
a place of profit, or receiving
any part of the profits thereof, or receiving the profits, or any part
of the profits, arising on any agency
for the supply of cloathing or provisions for the army or navy, or holding
any officer under the United
States, or any of them, or a minister or preacher of the gospel, of any
denomination, or any person
employed in the regular land service, or marine, of this or the United
States, shall have a seat in the general
assembly or the council of this state.
38. That every governor, senator, delegate to
congress or assembly, and member of the council, before
he acts as such, shall take an oath, that he will not receive, directly
or indirectly, at any time, any
part of the profits of any office held by any other person, during his
acting in his office of governor, senator,
delegate to congress or assembly, or member of the council, or the profits,
or any part of the
profits, arising on any agency, for the supply of cloathing or provisions
for the army or navy.
39. That if any senator, delegate to congress
or assembly, or member of the council, shall hold or execute
any office of profit, or receive, directly or indirectly, at any time,
the profits, or any part of the profits,
of any office exercised by any other person, during his acting as senator,
delegate to congress or assembly,
or member of the council, his seat, on conviction in a court of law, by
the oath of two credible witnesses,
shall be void, and he shall suffer the punishment for wilful and corrupt
perjury, or be banished this state
for ever, or disqualified for ever from holding any office or place of
trust or profit, as the court may adjudge.
40. That the chancellor, all judges, the attorney-general,
clerks of the general court, the clerks of
the county courts, the registers of the land-office, and the registers
of wills, shall hold their commissions
during good behaviour, removeable only for misbehaviour, on conviction
in a court of law.
41. that there be a register of wills appointed
for each county, who shall be commissioned by the governor,
on the joint recommendation of the senate and house of delegates, and that
upon the death, resignation,
disqualification, or removal out of the county, by any register of wills
in the recess of the general
assembly, the governor, with the advice of the council, may appoint and
commission a fit and proper
person to such vacant office, to hold the same until the meeting of the
general assembly.
42. That sheriffs shall be elected in each county
by ballot, every third year, that is to say, two persons
for the office of sheriff for each county, the one of whom having the majority
of votes, or if both have an
equal number, either of them, at the discretion of the governor, to be
commissioned by the governor for
the said office; and having served for three years, such person shall be
ineligible for the four years next
succeeding; bond with security to be taken every year as usual, and no
sheriff shall be qualified to act
before the same is given. In case of death, refusal, resignation,
disqualification, or removal out of the
county, before the expiration of the three years, the other person chosen
as aforesaid, shall be commissioned
by the governor to execute the said office for the residue of the said
three years, the said person
giving bond with security as aforesaid, and in case of his death, refusal,
resignation, disqualification, or
removal out of the county, before the expiration of the said three years,
the governor, with the advice of
the council, may nominate and commission a fit and proper person to execute
the said office for the residue
of the said three years, the said person giving bond and security as aforesaid;
the election shall be held at
the same time and place appointed for the election of delegates, and the
justices there summoned to attend
for the preservation of the peace shall be judges thereof, and of the qualification
of candidates, who shall
appoint a clerk to take the ballots. All freemen above the age of
twenty-one years, having a freehold of
fifty acres of land in the county in which they offer to ballot, and residing
therein, and all freemen above
the age of twenty-one years, and having property in the state above the
value of thirty pounds current
money, and having resided in the county in which they offer to ballot one
whole year next preceding the
election, shall have a right of suffrage; no person to be eligible to the
office of sheriff for a county but
an inhabitant of the said county, above the age of twenty-one years, and
having real and personal property
in the state above the value of one thousand pounds current money; the
justices aforesaid shall
examine the ballots, and the two candidates properly qualified, having
in each county the majority of
legal ballots, shall be declared duly elected for the office of sheriff
for such county, and returned to the
governor and council, with a certificate of the number of ballots for each
of them.
43. That every person who shall offer to vote
for delegates or for the electors of the senate, or for the
sheriff, shall (if required by any three persons qualified to vote) before
he be admitted to poll, take such
oath or affirmation of support and fidelity to this state as this convention
or the legislature shall direct.
44. That a justice of the peace may be eligible
as a senator, delegate, or member of the council, and
may continue to act as a justice of the peace.
45. That no field officer of the militia shall
be eligible as a senator, delegate, or member of the council.
46. That all civil officers hereafter to be appointed
for the several counties of this state shall have been
residents of the county respectively for which they shall be appointed,
six months next before their appointment,
and shall continue residents of their county respectively during their
continuance in office.
47. That the judges of the general court and justices
of the county courts may appoint the clerks of
their respective courts, and in case of refusal, death, resignation, disqualification,
or removal out of the
state, or from their respective shores, of the clerks of the general court,
or either of them, in the vacation
of the said court; and in case of the refusal, death, resignation, disqualification,
or removal out of the
county, of any of the said county clerks, in the vacation of the county
court of which he is clerk, the governor,
with the advice of the council, may appoint and commission a fit and proper
person to such vacant
office respectively, to hold the same until the meeting of the next general
court or county court, as
the case may be.
48. That the governor for the time being, with
the advice and consent of the council, may appoint
the chancellor, and all judges and justices, the attorney-general, naval
officers, officers in the regular land
and sea service, officers of the militia, registers of the land-office,
surveyors, and all other civil officers of
government (assessors, constables, and overseers of the roads only excepted)
and may also suspend
or remove any civil officer who has not a commission during good behaviour,
and may suspend any
militia officer for one month, and may also suspend or remove any regular
officer in the land or sea service;
and the governor may remove or suspend any militia officer in pursuance
of the judgment of a court
martial.
49. That all civil officers, of the appointment
of the governor and council, who do not hold commissions
during good behaviour, shall be appointed annually in the third week in
November, but if any of
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