[Officers to Which the Foregoing Article Does Not Apply, etc.-Legislature May Create Boards Not Subject to Art. 319.]

Art. 320. This article shall not apply to the Board of Liquidation of the City Debt, nor shall it be construed as prohibiting the establishment of Boards or Commissions, the members of which are elected by the Council or appointed by the Mayor with the consent of the Council. As to all other existing Boards or Commissions affected by it, said article shall take effect from and after the first municipal election which shall be held in the City of New Orleans after the adoption of this Constitution; provided that nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to prevent the Legislature from creating Boards or Commissions, whose powers shall extend in and beyond the Parish of Orleans, or as affecting present Boards of that character, or the Board of Directors of the public schools; provided, that hereafter, in creating any Board with such powers, or in filling vacancies therein, at least two-thirds of the members thereof shall be from the City of New Orleans, and elected by the people or Council thereof, or appointed by the Mayor as hereinabove provided.

[City of New Orleans Public Improvement Amendment.]

Art. 1. "The special tax for public improvements, voted by the property taxpayers of the City of New Orleans on June 6, 1899, and levied by the City Council, by Ordinance No. 15,391, approved June 22, 1899, is hereby ratified, and its validity shall never be questioned. The special act adopted by the Legislature at the special session held on August 8, 1899, constituting the Sewerage and Water Board of the City of New Orleans, authorizing the City of New Orleans to issue bonds and providing the means to pay the principal and interest thereof, and for other purposes cognate to the purposes of the special tax aforesaid, is hereby ratified and approved, specially including the therein reserved legislative right to amend the same; and all provisions of the present Constitution in conflict with the provisions of said act and with this amendment are to that extent and for that purpose only repealed."

This amendment was proposed by Act 4, E. S., 1899, and adopted at the election held April 17, 1900.

See State ex rel. Saunders vs. Kohnke, 109 La. 838; Saunders vs. Board, 110 La; 34 S. R. 457.

AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION.

[Amendments to Constitution, How Proposed and Adopted.] Art. 321. Propositions for the amendment of this Constitution may be made by the General Assembly at any session thereof, and if two-thirds of all the members elected to each house shall concur therein, after such proposed amendments have been read in such respective houses on three separate days, such proposed amendment or amendments, together with the yeas and nays thereon, shall be entered on the Journal, and the Secretary of State shall cause the same to be published in two newspapers published in the parish of Orleans and in one paper in each other parish of the State in which a newspaper is published, for two months preceding an election for Representatives in the Legislature or in Congress, to be designated by the Legislature, at which time the said amendment or amendments shall be submitted to the electors for their approval or rejection; and if a majority voting on said amendment or amendments shall approve and ratify the same, then such amendment or amendments so approved and ratified shall become a part of the Constitution. When more than one amendment shall be submitted at the same time, they shall be so submitted as to enable the electors to vote on each amendment separately. The result of said election shall be made known by the proclamation of the Governor.

Const., 1812, Art. VII, Sec. 1; Const., 1845, Title VIII, Art. 140; Const., 1852, Title IV, Art. 141; Const., 1864, Title VII, Art. 147; Const., 1868, Title IV, Art. 147; Const., 1874, Art. 256.

An amendment to the Constitution of 1879, adopted by the Legislature by a proper majority is not legislation in the sense that it must be approved by the Governor. If submitted to him, his veto is without any effect whatever, and mandamus will lie to compel the Secretary of State to publish the proposed amend ment. State vs. Mason, 43 An. 590. (The discussion is very full, cites many authorities and considers many phases of the question.) An act of the Legislature proposing an amendment to the Constitution has no effect whatever until ratified by the voters of the State. State vs. City, 29 An. 863.

The General Assembly may propose an amendment to the Constitution withcut regard to any petition, and if the proposed amendment is adopted, it is in no manner affected by any petition which may previously have been presented to a municipal council or the General Assembly, although the amendment was to an article of the Constitution affecting only a particular locality. Brennan et als., Taxpayers, vs. Sewerage and Water Board, etc., et als., 108 La, 569.

An elaborate review of the steps required in the Legislature to pass a bill submitting an amendment to the people will be found in Saunders vs. Board, 110 La.; 34 S. R. 457.

CODE OF CRIMINAL LAW, PROCEDURE AND CORRECTION.

[Commission to Prepare Draft of Criminal Code, etc.-Adoption Thereof by Legislature.]

Art. 322. It shall be the duty of the Governor to appoint a Commission to prepare drafts of a Code of Criminal Law, of a Code of Criminal Procedure, and of a Code of Criminal Correction for this State. The drafts of such Codes, when prepared, shall be promptly printed, and copies thereof shall be sent to each judge of this State, and to such other persons in or out of this State as the Governor may think proper, with the request from him for suggestions and criticisms. The Governor shall submit to the General Assembly of this State, first convened, after the lapse of one year from the distribution of the printed copies of said drafts as above, the said drafts, together with the report of the Commission, and with a message from himself in which he shall embody and condense each suggestion he shall deem of use. And the General Assembly shall have power to adopt said Codes, with such amendments as they may deem advisable, by vote in each House, without complying with the formalities of readings and the other formalities required by the Constitution in the passage of statutes. No promulgation of said Code shall be required beyond its publication in book form after same shall have become a law.

[When Amendments to Code May Be Proposed in General Assembly-Reference to Committee of Which Attorney General is Ex Officio Chairman.]

Art. 323. All amendments proposed in the General Assembly shall be proposed within the first thirty days after its convening, and no amendment shall be proposed after the lapse of that time. All amendments shall be referred to a joint committee of both Houses, consisting of two members from each House, with the Attorney General as ex-officio chairman. Only such amendments shall be voted on as shall be favorably reported by this committee, and each amendment shall be voted on separately.

[Composition of Commission-Compensation and Expenses.] Art. 324. The Commission to prepare said drafts shall be composed of three lawyers of this State. The compensation of said Commissioners shall be fixed by the General Assembly. Said compensation to be payable only when the drafts have been prepared and submitted to the Governor; but the other expenses of the Commission shall be promptly paid as incurred, and the Governor is hereby warranted to draw on the General Fund for said compensation, and for all the expenses of printing the said drafts, and for the other expenses incurred under this act.

Whether a District Judge has vacated his judicial position by accepting the appointment as one of the commissioners, is an issue that will be decided only in an action to which the officer is a party; it will not be decided on a collateral attack made by one who was convicted in a trial before the officer sitting as judge. Until divested of his office as judge, in such a direct proceeding, he is an officer de facto, if not de jure, and as such, competent to hold court. State vs. Sadler et al., 51 An. 1397 (many authorities on the specific points decided are cited and quoted in the opinion.)

Act 201, 1898, p. 481, provided for the appointment of the commission, etc. The commissioners were duly appointed and submitted a draft of a criminal code to the General Assembly at the session of 1900. At that session Act 13, p. 19, was enacted, and a committee appointed to consider the project, etc., but nothing more was done in the matter either at the session of 1900, or 1902.

SCHEDULE.

Art. 325. That no inconvenience may arise from the adoption of this Constitution, and in order to carry this Constitution into complete operation, it is hereby declared:

[Laws Which Remain in Force.]

First-That all laws in force in this State, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, not inconsistent therewith, and constitutional when enacted, shall remain in full force and effect until altered or repealed by the General Assembly, or until they expire by their own limitation. All ordinances passed and ratified by this Convention and appended to the official original draft of the Constitution delivered to the Secretary of State, shall have the same force and effect as if included in, and constituting a part of, this Constitution.

[Writs, Actions, etc., Continue as Valid.]

Second-All writs, actions, causes of action, proceedings, prosecutions and rights of individuals, or bodies corporate, and of the State, when not inconsistent with this Constitution, shall continue as valid and in full force and effect.

[Inconsistent Laws Are Abrogated-Exception.]

Third-The provisions of all laws, which are inconsistent with this Constitution, shall cease upon its adoption, except that all laws which are inconsistent with such provisions of this Constitution as require legislation to enforce them, shall remain in full force until such legislation is had.

[Obligations to State, etc., Judgments, etc., Remain in Force.] Fourth-All recognizances, obligations and all other instruments entered into or executed before the adoption of this Constitution, to the State, or to any parish, city, municipality, board, or other public corporation therein, and all fines, taxes, penalties, forfeitures and rights, due, owing or accruing to the State of Louisiana, or to any parish, city, municipality, board, or other public corporation therein, under the Constitution and laws heretofore in force, and all writs, prosecutions, actions and proceedings, except as herein otherwise provided, shall, continue and remain unaffected by the adoption of this Constitution. All indictments and informations which shall have been found or filed, or may hereafter be found or filed for any crime or offense committed before the adoption of this Constitution, may be prosecuted as if no change had been made, except as herein otherwise provided.

[Officers Retain Positions Until Successors Are Qualified.]

Fifth-All officers, executive, legislative and judicial, State, parish or municipal, who may be in office at the adoption of this Constitution, or who may be elected or appointed before the election or appointment of their successors, as herein provided, shall hold their respective offices until their terms shall have expired, and until their successors are duly qualified, as provided in this Constitution, unless sooner removed, as may be provided by law; and shall receive the compensation now fixed by the Constitution and laws in force at the adoption of this Constitution, except as herein otherwise provided.

Art. 144, Const., 1852. Sigur vs. Crenshaw, 8 An. 401.

[Constitution of 1879 Superseded.]

Sixth-The Constitution of this State, adopted in 1879, and all amendments thereto, are declared to be superseded by this Constitution; provided, however, that no failure on the part of this Convention to re-enact and re-ordain any article or