West virginia constitution

Article I: relations to the u.S. Government

Section 1 - The state of West Virginia is, and shall remain, one...

Section 2 - The government of the United States is a government of...

Section 3 - The provisions of the constitution of the United States, and...

Section 4 - For the election of representatives to Congress, the state shall...

Article II: the state

Section 1 - The counties of Barbour, Berkeley, Boone, Braxton, Brooke, Cabell, Calhoun,...

Section 2 - The powers of government reside in all the citizens of...

Section 3 - All persons residing in this state, born, or naturalized in...

Section 4 - Every citizen shall be entitled to equal representation in the...

Section 5 - No distinction shall be made between resident aliens and citizens,...

Section 6 - Treason against the state shall consist only in levying war...

Section 7 - The present seal of the state, with its motto, "Montani...

Section 8 - Writs, grants and commissions, issued under the authority of this...

Article III: bill of rights

Section 1 - All men are, by nature, equally free and independent, and...

Section 2 - All power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the...

Section 3 - Government is instituted for the common benefit, protection and security...

Section 4 - The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not...

Section 5 - Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed,...

Section 6 - The rights of the citizens to be secure in their...

Section 7 - No law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the...

Section 8 - In prosecutions and civil suits for libel, the truth may...

Section 9 - Private property shall not be taken or damaged for public...

Section 10 - No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property,...

Section 11 - Political tests, requiring persons, as a prerequisite to the enjoyment...

Section 12 - Standing armies, in time of peace, should be avoided as...

Section 13 - In suits at common law, where the value in controversy...

Section 14 - Trials of crimes, and of misdemeanors, unless herein otherwise provided,...

Section 15 - No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any...

Section 15a - Public schools shall provide a designated brief time at the...

Section 16 - The right of the people to assemble in a peaceable...

Section 17 - The courts of this state shall be open, and every...

Section 18 - No conviction shall work corruption of blood or forfeiture of...

Section 19 - No hereditary emoluments, honors or privileges shall ever be granted...

Section 20 - Free government and the blessings of liberty can be preserved...

Section 21 - Regardless of sex all persons, who are otherwise qualified, shall...

Section 22 - A person has the right to keep and bear arms...

Article IV: election & officers

Section 1 - The citizens of the state shall be entitled to vote...

Section 2 - In all elections by the people, the mode of voting...

Section 3 - No voter, during the continuance of an election at which...

Section 4 - No person, except citizens entitled to vote, shall be elected...

Section 5 - Every person elected or appointed to any office, before proceeding...

Section 6 - All officers elected or appointed under this constitution, may, unless...

Section 7 - The general elections of state and county officers, and of...

Section 8 - The Legislature, in cases not provided for in this constitution,...

Section 9 - Any officer of the state may be impeached for maladministration,...

Section 10 - Any citizen of this state, who shall, after the adoption...

Section 11 - The Legislature shall prescribe the manner of conducting and making...

Section 12 - The Legislature shall enact proper laws for the registration of...

Article V: division of powers

Section 1 - The legislative, executive and judicial departments shall be separate and...

Article VI: the legislature

Section 1 - The legislative power shall be vested in a Senate and...

Section 2 - The Senate shall be composed of twenty-four, and the House...

Section 3 - Senators shall be elected for the term of four years,...

Section 4 - For the election of senators, the state shall be divided...

Section 5 - Until the senatorial districts shall be altered by the Legislature...

Section 6 - For the election of delegates, every county containing a population...

Section 7 - After every census the delegates shall be apportioned as follows:...

Section 8 - Until a new apportionment shall be declared, the counties of...

Section 9 - To Ohio county, four delegates.

Section 10 - The arrangement of the senatorial and delegate districts, and apportionment...

Section 11 - Additional territory may be admitted into, and become part of...

Section 12 - No person shall be a senator or delegate who has...

Section 13 - No person holding any other lucrative office or employment under...

Section 14 - No person who has been, or hereafter shall be convicted...

Section 15 - No senator or delegate, during the term for which he...

Section 16 - Members of the Legislature, before they enter upon their duties,...

Section 17 - Members of the Legislature shall, in all cases except treason,...

Section 18 - The Legislature shall assemble annually at the seat of government,...

Section 19 - The governor may convene the Legislature by proclamation whenever, in...

Section 20 - The seat of government shall be at Charleston, until otherwise...

Section 21 - The governor may convene the Legislature at another place, when,...

Section 22 - The regular session of the Legislature held in the year...

Section 23 - Neither house shall, during the session, adjourn for more than...

Section 24 - A majority of the members elected to each house of...

Section 25 - Each house may punish its own members for disorderly behavior,...

Section 26 - Each house shall have power to provide for its own...

Section 27 - Laws shall be enacted and enforced, by suitable provisions and...

Section 28 - Bills and resolutions may originate in either house, but may...

Section 29 - No bill shall become a law until it has been...

Section 30 - No act hereafter passed shall embrace more than one object,...

Section 31 - When a bill or joint resolution, passed by one house,...

Section 32 - Whenever the words, "a majority of the members elected to...

Section 33 - Notwithstanding any other provision of this constitution, such compensation and...

Section 34 - The Legislature shall provide by law that the fuel, stationery...

Section 35 - The state of West Virginia shall never be made defendant...

Section 36 - The Legislature shall have no power to authorize lotteries or...

Section 37 - No law shall be passed after the election of any...

Section 38 - No extra compensation shall be granted or allowed to any...

Section 39 - The Legislature shall provide, by general laws, for the foregoing...

Section 39a - No local or special law shall hereafter be passed incorporating...

Section 40 - The Legislature shall not confer upon any court, or judge,...

Section 41 - Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and...

Section 42 - Bills making appropriations for the pay of members and officers...

Section 43 - The Legislature shall never authorize or establish any board or...

Section 44 - In all elections to office which may hereafter take place...

Section 45 - It shall be the duty of the Legislature, at its...

Section 46 - The Legislature shall by appropriate legislation regulate the manufacture and...

Section 47 - No charter of incorporation shall be granted to any church...

Section 48 - Any husband or parent, residing in this state, or the...

Section 49 - The Legislature shall pass such laws as may be necessary...

Section 50 - The Legislature may provide for submitting to a vote of...

Section 51 - The Legislature shall not appropriate any money out of the...

Subsection a - (1) Every appropriation bill shall be either a budget bill,...

Subsection b - (6) The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Appeals,...

Subsection C - (7) Neither house shall consider other appropriations until the budget...

Subsection D - (14) If any item of any appropriation bill passed under...

Section 52 - Revenue from gasoline and other motor fuel excise and license...

Section 53 - The Legislature may by general law define and classify forest...

Section 54 - The Legislature of West Virginia, in order to insure continuity...

Section 55 - Fees, moneys, interest or funds arising from the sales of...

Section 56 - Notwithstanding any provision of section fifty-two of article six of...

Section 57 - Nothing in this Constitution secures or protects a right to...

Article VII: executive department

Section 1 - The executive department shall consist of a governor, secretary of...

Section 2 - An election for governor, secretary of state, auditor, treasurer, commissioner...

Section 3 - The returns of every election for the above named officers...

Section 4 - None of the executive officers mentioned in this article shall...

Section 5 - The chief executive power shall be vested in the governor,...

Section 6 - The governor shall at the commencement of each session, give...

Section 7 - The governor may, on extraordinary occasions convene, at his own...

Section 8 - The governor shall nominate, and by and with the advice...

Section 9 - In case of a vacancy, during the recess of the...

Section 10 - The governor shall have power to remove any officer whom...

Section 11 - The governor shall have power to remit fines and penalties...

Section 12 - The governor shall be commander-in-chief of the military forces of...

Section 13 - When any state officer has executed his official bond, the...

Section 14 - Subject to the provisions of section fifteen of this article,...

Section 15 - A bill passed by the Legislature making appropriations of money...

Section 16 - In case of the death, conviction or impeachment, failure to...

Section 17 - If the office of secretary of state, auditor, treasurer, commissioner...

Section 18 - The subordinate officers of the executive department and the officers...

Section 19 - The officers named in this article shall receive for their...

Article VIII: judicial power

Section 1 - The judicial power of the state shall be vested solely...

Section 2 - When any justice is temporarily disqualified or unable to serve,...

Section 3 - The number, times and places of the terms of the...

Section 4 - When a judgment or order of another court is reversed,...

Section 5 - In every county in the state the circuit court for...

Section 6 - Subject to the supervisory control of the supreme court of...

Section 7 - If from any cause a vacancy shall occur in the...

Section 8 - A justice or judge may be removed only by impeachment...

Section 9 - The voters of each county shall elect a clerk of...

Section 10 - No magistrate or any officer of a magistrate court shall...

Section 11 - The Legislature may provide for the establishment in incorporated cities,...

Section 12 - The Legislature may designate the courts and officers or deputies...

Section 13 - Except as otherwise provided in this article, such parts of...

Section 14 - All records and papers pertaining to matters already disposed of...

Section 15 - The provisions of this article shall supersede and prevail over...

Section 16 - The supreme court of appeals shall have general supervisory control...

Article IX: county organization

Section 1 - The voters of each county shall elect a surveyor of...

Section 2 - There shall also be elected in each district of the...

Section 3 - A person who has been elected or who has served...

Section 4 - The presidents of the county courts, the justices of the...

Section 5 - The Legislature shall provide for commissioning such of the officers...

Section 6 - It shall further provide for the compensation, the duties and...

Section 7 - The president of the county court and every justice and...

Section 8 - No new county shall hereafter be formed in this state...

Section 9 - Except as otherwise provided in section eleven or thirteen of...

Section 10 - The commissioners shall be elected by the voters of the...

Section 11 - The county commissions, through their clerks, shall have the custody...

Section 12 - The voters of each county shall elect a clerk of...

Section 13 - The Legislature shall, upon the application of any county, reform,...

Article X: taxation & finance

Section 1 - Subject to the exceptions in this section contained, taxation shall...

Section 1a - Any intangible personal property which would be subject to ad...

Section 1b - Ad valorem property taxation shall be in accordance with this...

Subsection a - Notwithstanding the foregoing, for the first day of July, one...

Subsection b - The Legislature shall further prescribe by general law the manner...

Subsection C - The Legislature shall have the authority to provide by general...

Subsection D - The Legislature may by general law also provide for the...

Subsection e - The defeat of any such proposed statewide excess levy for...

Subsection f - In the event of any inconsistency between any of the...

Section 1c - The exemption allowed by the preceding paragraph shall be phased...

Section 3 - No money shall be drawn from the treasury but in...

Section 4 - No debt shall be contracted by this state, except to...

Section 5 - The power of taxation of the Legislature shall extend to...

Section 6 - The credit of the state shall not be granted to,...

Section 6a - Notwithstanding the provisions of section six of this article, (1)...

Section 7 - County authorities shall never assess taxes, in any one year,...

Section 8 - No county, city, school district, or municipal corporation, except in...

Section 9 - The Legislature may, by law, authorize the corporate authorities of...

Section 10 - Notwithstanding the provisions of section eight of this article relating...

Section 11 - Resolved further, That in accordance with the provisions of article...

Section 12 - Notwithstanding any provision of this Constitution to the contrary, real...

Article XI: corporations

Section 1 - The Legislature shall provide for the organization of all corporations...

Section 2 - The stockholders of all corporations and joint-stock companies, except banks...

Section 3 - All existing charters or grants of special or exclusive privileges...

Section 4 - The Legislature shall provide by law that every corporation, other...

Section 5 - No law shall be passed by the Legislature, granting the...

Section 6 - The Legislature may provide by general law for the creation,...

Section 7 - Every railroad corporation organized or doing business in this state...

Section 8 - The rolling stock and all other movable property belonging to...

Section 9 - Railroads heretofore constructed, or that may hereafter be constructed in...

Section 10 - The Legislature shall, in the law regulating railway companies, require...

Section 11 - No railroad corporation shall consolidate its stock, property or franchise...

Section 12 - The exercise of the power and the right of eminent...

Article XII: education

Section 1 - The Legislature shall provide, by general law, for a thorough...

Section 2 - The state superintendent of free schools shall be a member...

Section 3 - The Legislature may provide for county superintendents and such other...

Section 4 - The existing permanent and invested school fund, and all money...

Section 5 - The Legislature shall provide for the support of free schools...

Section 6 - The school districts into which the state is divided shall...

Section 7 - All levies that may be laid by any county or...

Section 9 - No person connected with the free school system of the...

Section 10 - No independent free school district, or organization shall hereafter be...

Section 11 - No appropriation shall hereafter be made to any state normal...

Section 12 - The Legislature shall foster and encourage, moral, intellectual, scientific and...

Article XIII: land titles

Section 1 - All private rights and interests in lands in this state...

Section 2 - No entry by warrant on land in this state shall...

Article XIV: amendments

Section 1 - No convention shall be called, having the authority to alter...

Section 2 - Any amendment to the constitution of the state may be...