Amendments, Election of 11-8-04:

1903 JR 1 (Article VIII, Section 6) {Defeated}

1903 JR 2 (Article XII, Section 8) {Adopted}

1903 SJR 3 (Article V, Section 18) {Defeated}

1903 JR 4 (Article IX, Section 10) {Defeated}

1903 JR 5 (Article XVI, Section 6) {Defeated}

1903 JR 6 (Article V, Sections 1, 5, 11, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32) {Defeated}

1903 JR 7 (Article III, Sections 20, 24; Article VIII, Section 8) {Defeated}

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A JOINT RESOLUTION Proposing an Amendment to Section 6 of Article VIII, of the Constitution of the State of Florida, Relating to County Officers.

Be it Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

That the following amendment to the Constitution of the State of Florida be, and the same is, hereby agreed to, and shall be submitted to the electors of the State at the general election in November, 1904, for ratification or rejection.

Section 6 of Article VIII, of the Constitution of the State of Florida, is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

Section 6. The Legislature shall provide for the election by the qualified electors of each county of the following county officers:

A clerk of the circuit court, a sheriff, constable, a county assessor of taxes, a county tax collector, a county treasurer, a superintendent of public instruction and a county surveyor.

The term of office of all county officers mentioned in this section shall be four years, except, that the term of office of the county assessor of taxes, county tax collector and county treasurer, shall be for two years, until the general election in November, 1906, at which election they also shall be elected for terms of four years each, and thenceforth all county officers named in this section shall be elected for terms of four years. Their powers, duties and compensation shall be prescribed by law.

Approved April 30, 1903.

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A JOINT RESOLUTION Proposing Amendment to Section 8 of Article XII of the Constitution of the State of Florida.

Be it Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

That the following amendment to the Constitution of the State of Florida be and the same is hereby agreed to, and shall be submitted to the electors of the State at the general election in 1904, for ratification or rejection.

Section 8 of Article XII of the Constitution is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

Section 8. Each county shall be required to assess and collect annually for the support of public free schools therein, a tax of not less than three (3) mills, nor more than seven (7) mills on the dollar, of all taxable property in the same.

Approved May 13, 1903.

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SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION Proposing an Amendment to Section 18 of Article V, of the Constitution of the State of Florida, Relating to County Courts.

Be it Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

That the following amendment to the Constitution of the State of Florida be and the same is hereby agreed to and shall be submitted to the electors of the State at the general election in November, A. D. 1904, for ratification or rejection.

Section 18 of Article V, of the Constitution shall be and is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

Section 18. The legislature may organize in such counties as it may think proper county courts which shall have jurisdiction of all cases at law in which the demand or value of the property involved shall not exceed five hundred dollars; of proceedings relating to the forcible entry or unlawful detention of lands and tenements, and of misdemeanors, and final appellate jurisdiction in civil cases arising in the courts of the justices of the peace.

The trial of such appeals may be de novo at the option of the appellant. The county judge shall be the judge of the county court, and shall be an attorney-at-law.

There shall be elected by the qualified electors of said county at the time when the said judge is elected a prosecuting attorney for said county, who shall hold office for four years. His duties and compensation shall be prescribed by law. Such courts may be abolished at the pleasure of the Legislature.

Provided that all county judges holding said office at the ratification of this amendment shall continue in the exercise of the duties thereof according to their respective commissions and until their successors are duly qualified, and provided further, that when any county court shall hereafter be established in any county in this State, the county judge of said county shall hold his office and perform the duties of judge of the county court until his term of office shall expire.

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JOINT RESOLUTION Proposing an Amendment of Section 10, of Article IX of the Constitution of the State of Florida.

Be it Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

That the following amendment to the Constitution of the State of Florida be, and the same is hereby agreed to and shall be submitted to the electors of the State at the general election in 1904 for ratification or rejection.

That Section 10 of Article IX of the Constitution of the State of Florida is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

Section 10. The credit of the State shall not be pledged or loaned to any individual company, corporation or association; nor shall the State become a joint owner or stockholder in any company, association or corporation. The Legislature shall not authorize any county, city, borough, township or incorporated district to become a stockholder in any company, association or corporation or to obtain or appropriate money for or to loan its credit to any corporation, association, institution or individual except that the Legislature may authorize municipal corporations to relieve from municipal taxation for such period of years as to the municipal authorities may seem proper any manufacturing enterprise that may locate within the said municipality, but no such exemption shall be for a longer period than fifteen years.

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JOINT RESOLUTION Proposing an Amendment to Section 6, of Article XVI, of the Constitution of the State of Florida, Relating to the Supreme Court, and the Publication of all Laws Enacted by the Legislature of Florida.

Be it Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

That the following amendment to the Constitution of the State of Florida be and is hereby agreed to, and shall be submitted to the electors of the State at the general election in November, 1904, for ratification or rejection.

Section 6 of Article XVI shall be amended so as to read as follows:

Section 6. The Legislature shall provide for the speedy publication and distribution of all laws it may enact. All decisions of the Supreme Court and all laws and judicial decisions shall be free for publication by any person. But no judgment of the Supreme Court shall take effect until the opinion of the court in such case shall be filed with the clerk of said court.

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A JOINT RESOLUTION Proposing Amendments to Sections 1, 5, 11, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, and 32, of Article V of the Constitution of the State of Florida.

Be it Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

Section 1, of Article V, of the Constitution of the State of Florida is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

Section 1. The Judicial power of the State shall be vested in a Supreme Court, Circuit Courts, Courts of Record, County Courts, County Judges and Justices of the Peace.

Section 5, of Article V, of the Constitution of the State of Florida is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

Section 5. The Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction in all cases at law and in equity originating in circuit courts, and of appeals from the circuit courts in cases arising before county judges, in matters pertaining to their probate jurisdiction, and in the management of the estates of infants, and in cases of conviction of felony in the courts of record, and in all criminal cases originating in the circuit courts. The court shall have the power to issue writs of mandamus, certiorari, prohibition, quo warranto, habeas corpus, and also all writs necessary or proper to the complete exercise of its jurisdiction. Each of the justices shall have power to issue writs of habeas corpus to any part of the State upon petition by, or on behalf of any person held in actual custody, and may make such writs returnable before himself or the Supreme Court, or any justice thereof, or before any circuit judge, and when not returned to the Supreme Court, an appeal to that court shall always lie.

Section 11, of Article V, of the Constitution of the State of Florida is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

Section 11. The Circuit Courts shall have exclusive original jurisdiction in all cases in equity. Also in all cases at law not cognizable by inferior courts, and in all cases involving the legality of any tax, assessment, or toll; of the action of ejectment, and of all actions involving the titles or boundaries of real estate, and of all criminal cases not cognizable by inferior courts; and original jurisdiction of action of forcible entry, and unlawful detainer, and of such other matters as the legislature may provide. They shall have final appellate jurisdiction in all civil and criminal cases arising in the county court, or before the county judge, and of all misdemeanors and civil cases tried in the courts of record, of judgments or sentences of any municipal court, and of all cases arising before justices of the peace in counties in which there is no county court, or court of record, and supervision and appellate jurisdiction of matters arising before county judges pertaining to their probate jurisdiction, or to the estates and interests of minors, and of such other matters as the Legislature may provide. The circuit courts and judges shall have power to issue writs of mandamus, injunction, quo warranto, certiorari, prohibition, habeas corpus and all writs, proper or necessary to the complete exercise of their jurisdiction.

Section 24, of Article V, of the Constitution of the State of Florida is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

Section 24. Upon the application of a majority of the registered voters of any county in this State, the Legislature shall establish in such county a court of record, and there shall be one judge for each of the said courts, who shall be a practicing attorney at law, and who shall be appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate, and who shall hold his office for four years. The annual salary of the judge of said courts shall be paid quarterly, by the county where such court is established, and shall be as follows: in counties of less than fifteen thousand population, one thousand dollars; in counties of from fifteen thousand to thirty thousand population, sixteen hundred dollars; in counties of from thirty thousand to forty-five thousand population, two thousand dollars; and in counties of more than forty-five thousand population, twenty-four hundred dollars; and all criminal courts of record now established in this State, shall, upon the adoption of this amendment, become and be courts of record as herein provided, and all officers of such criminal courts of record shall be officers of such courts, and discharge the duties and receive the emoluments of such until the expiration of their present term of office.

Section 25, of Article V, of the Constitution of the State of Florida is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

Section 25. The court of record shall have exclusive jurisdiction of all criminal cases, not capital, which shall arise in said county, and of all cases at law, in which the demand, or value of the property does not exceed one thousand dollars, and concurrent with the circuit court, shall have exclusive jurisdiction of proceedings relating to forcible entry and unlawful detainer of lands and tenements.

Section 26, of Article V, of the Constitution of the State of Florida is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

Section 26. There shall be six terms of the court of record in each year.

Section 27, of Article V, of the Constitution of the State of Florida is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

Section 27. There shall be for each court of record, a prosecuting attorney, to be named the county solicitor, who shall be appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate, and who shall hold office for four years. His compensation shall be fixed by law.

Section 28, of Article V, of the Constitution of the State of Florida is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

Section 28. All offenses triable in the courts of record shall be prosecuted upon information under oath, and may be filed at any time, whether the court is in session or not, by the county solicitor, but the grand jury of the circuit court for the county in which said court of record is held, may indict for offenses triable in the court of record. Upon the finding of such indictment, the circuit judge shall commit, or bail, the accused for trial, in the court of record, and the county solicitor of said court shall immediately file therein, and information based upon such indictment, upon which information the accused shall be tried.

Section 29, of Article V, of the Constitution of the State of Florida is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

Section 29. There shall be no county court in any county where a court of record is established.

Section 30, of Article V, of the Constitution of the State of Florida is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

Section 30. The clerk of the court of record shall be elected by the electors of the county in which the court is established, and shall hold office for four years, and his compensation shall be fixed by law. The sheriff of the county shall be the executive officer of said court; his duties and fees shall be fixed by law.

Section 31, of Article V, of the Constitution of the State of Florida is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

Section 31. All rules of practice governing the circuit court, shall be applicable to the courts of record, and all laws relative to criminal courts of record shall apply to courts of record. Changes of venue may be had from a court of record to another court of record, or to the circuit court of another county for the same causes, and under the laws providing for changing the venue from the circuit court of one county to the circuit court of another county. The Governor may, in his discretion, order the circuit judge having jurisdiction of the circuit court of any county, to hold a special term of a court of record of such county, for the purpose of trying cases in which the judge of the court of record shall be disqualified. Parties to any cause at law in a court of record, shall have the same right to trial by judges at litem, or by referees as may exist under this Constitution, or the laws in reference to cases in circuit courts, or may, if the judge of the court of record be disqualified, transfer the cause to the circuit court of the county in which such court of record may be.

Section 32, of Article V, of the Constitution of the State of Florida is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

Section 32. Courts of record shall be abolished by the Legislature, only upon a petition of a majority of the registered voters of the county, where such court is established.

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A JOINT RESOLUTION, Proposing Amendment of Sections 20 and 24 of Article III and the Repeal of Section 8, Article VIII, of the Constitution of the State of Florida.

Be it Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

That the following amendments to Section 20, Article III, and Section 24, Article III, and the repeal of Section 8, of Article VIII of the Constitution of the State of Florida, be, and are hereby agreed to, and shall be submitted to the electors of the State at the general election to be held in November A. D. 1904, to-wit:

Section 20, Article III, of the Constitution of the State of Florida, is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

Section 20. The Legislature shall not pass special or local laws in any of the following enumerated cases; that is to say, regulating the jurisdiction and duties of any class of officers, or for the punishment of crime or misdemeanor; except for the enforcement of special local laws regulating the practice of courts of justice; providing for changing venue of civil and criminal cases; granting divorces; changing the names of persons; vacating roads; summoning and empaneling grand and petit juries and providing for their compensation; for assessment and collection of taxes for State and county and municipal purposes; for opening and conducting elections for State and county and municipal officers, and for designating the places of voting; for the sale of real estate belonging to minors, estates of decedents, and of persons laboring under legal disabilities; regulating the fees of officers of the State or county or municipalities; giving effect to informal or invalid deeds or wills; legitimizing children; providing for the adoption of children; relieving minors from legal disabilities; and for the establishment of ferries.

Section 24, Article III, of the Constitution of the State of Florida is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

Section 24. The legislature shall establish a uniform system of county government. It shall divide municipalities into classes of not more than four, on the basis of population; it shall establish for each class a uniform system of government; it shall provide for the re-incorporation of each now existing municipality and for the incorporation of each hereafter to be incorporated municipality into one of such classes and no law relating to the creation, government or powers of any municipality or number of municipalities less than the whole of a class, shall be valid.

Section 8, Article VIII, of the Constitution of the State of Florida is hereby repealed.