GEOEGIA. 



307 



sioned notaries public, and such other courts 

 as may be established by law. The Supreme 

 Court consists of three judges, and has juris- 

 diction only for the trial and correction of 

 errors on appeal from lower courts. The 

 judges are to be appointed, those of the Su- 

 preme Court for twelve years and those of the 

 Superior Courts for eight years. 



The constitution requires the General As- 

 sembly at its first session to " provide a thor- 

 ough system of general education, to be for- 

 ever free to all children of the State, the 

 expense of which shall be provided for by 

 taxation or otherwise." The sources of reve- 

 nue to be exclusively devoted to the support 

 of common schools are, a poll-tax not to 

 exceed one dollar annually on each poll, any 

 educational fund belonging to the State, not 

 appropriated to the university, a special tax 

 on shows and exhibitions, and on the sale of 

 spirituous and malt liquors, and the proceeds of 

 commutation for militia service. All able- 

 bodied male persons between the ages of 18 

 and 45 are to be enrolled as militia, unless ex- 

 empt by law or conscientiously opposed to 

 bearing arms ; in the latter case they are re- 

 quired to pay an equivalent in money, to be 

 devoted to the school-fund. If these pro- 

 visions for the support of schools at any time 

 prove insufficient, the General Assembly has 

 power to levy a general tax on property to 

 make up the deficiency. 



The financial embarrassments which weigh- 

 ed upon the people, in consequence of the 

 great losses of property during the recent war, 

 claimed the attention of the convention, and 

 the whole matter was referred, after some 

 debate, to a special committee on the subject 

 of relief. The report of this committee, after 

 reciting the causes of the existing distress, viz., 

 the destruction of $400,000,000 of taxable prop- 

 erty, the loss of four years' labor, depreciation 

 in^the value of real estate, repudiation of the 

 indebtedness of the State to her citizens, the 

 low price of cotton, and the entire derange- 

 ment of labor, recommended measures of relief, 

 which, after debate and amendment, took the 

 following form : 



We, tTie People of G-eorgia in Convention assembled, 

 do solemnly ordain, That, from and after the passage 

 of this ordinance, no court in this State shall have 

 Jurisdiction to hear or determine any suit, or render 

 judgment in any case against any resident of this 

 State, upon any contract or agreement made or en- 

 tered into, or upon any contract or agreement made 

 in renewal of a debt existing prior to the first day of 

 June t 1865, nor shall any court or ministerial officer 

 of this State have jurisdiction or authority to enforce 

 any such judgment, execution, or decree, rendered or 

 issued upon any contract or agreement or renewal 

 thereof, as aforesaid. 



The substance of this ordinance was also 

 referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, 

 with instructions to embody it in that portion 

 of the constitution which was intrusted to 

 them. This .was accordingly done, and the 

 courts of the State deprived of power to 

 entertain suits against any resident of the 



State founded on contracts existing on the 15th 

 of June, 1865. Several exceptions are, how- 

 ever, made to the operation of this clause, and 

 the General Assembly is empowered in all 

 cases to give the courts jurisdiction : 



Provided, that no court or officers shall have, nor 

 shall the General Assembly give, jurisdiction or au- 

 thority to try, or give judgment on, or enforce, any 

 debt, the consideration of which was a slave or 

 slaves, or the hire thereof. 



The following also forms a part of the article 

 on the judiciary : 



All contracts made and not executed during the 

 late rebellion, with the intention and for the purpose 

 of aiding and encouraging said rebellion, or where it 

 was the purpose and intention of any one of the 

 parties to such contract to aid or encourage such 

 rebellion, and that fact was known to the other party, 

 whether said contract was made by any person or 

 corporation with the State or Confederate States, or 

 by a corporation with a natural person, or between 

 two or more natural persons, are hereby declared to 

 have been, and to be illegal ; and all bonds, deeds, 

 promissory notes, bills, or other evidences of debt, 

 made or executed by the parties to such contract, or 

 either of them, in connection with such illegal con- 

 tract, or as the consideration therefor, or in further- 

 ance thereof, are hereby declared null and void, and 

 shall be so held in all courts in this State when at- 

 tempts shall be made to enforce any such contract, 

 or give validity to any such obligation or evidence of 

 debt. And in all cases where the defendant, or any 

 one interested in the event of the suit, will make a 

 plea, supported by his or her affidavit, that he or she 

 has no reason to believe that the obligation or evi- 

 dence of indebtedness upon which the suit is predi- 

 cated, or some part thereof, has been given or used 

 for the illegal purpose aforesaid, the burden of proof 

 shall be upon the plaintiff to satisfy the court and 

 the jury that the bond, deed, note, bill, or other evi- 

 dence of indebtedness upon which said suit is 

 brought, is, or are not, nor is any part thereof, found- 

 ed upon, or in any way connected with, any such 

 illegal contract, and has not been used in aid of the 

 rebellion ; and the date of such bond, deed, note, bill, 

 or other evidence of indebtedness, shall not be evi- 

 dence that it has, or has not, since its date ? been 

 issued, transferred, or used in aid of the rebellion. 



It is furthermore provided in the constitu- 

 tion that every head of a family, or guardian 

 or trustee of a family of minor children, shall 

 be entitled to a homestead of the value of 

 $2,000, exempt from execution except for taxes, 

 money borrowed and expended in the improve- 

 ment of the homestead, or for the purchase 

 money of the same. All property of a wife, in 

 her possession at the time of her marriage or 

 afterward acquired by her, is to remain her 

 separate property, and not be liable for the 

 debts of her husband. 



On the last day of the session of the Consti- 

 tutional Convention, after the members had 

 ratified the instrument as a whole which had 

 been framed by their various committees and 

 already adopted in parts, a resolution was passed, 

 transmitting to General Meade the provisions 

 intended to afford relief to the people, and re- 

 questing him to require the courts to enforce 

 them " until the State is fully restored to its 

 regular relations to the United States, and the 

 State organization is in full operation." This 

 was accordingly done by a general order (No. 



