second Tuesday after the meeting of the Legislature, proceeds to vote for a Senator in Congress. The vote must be open and viva voce, and the result in each House is entered on the journal. On the following day, at twelve o'clock, meridian, the House convenes in Joint Assembly. The Senate in a body, preceded by the Sergeant-at-Arms, the President, and the Clerk, repairs to the hall of the House of Delegates. The Sergeant-at-Arms of the House annouces the presence of the Senate. The President then addresses the Speaker, stating that the Senate has assembled in the hall of the House of Delegates for the purpose of carrying into effect the Act of Congress for the election of a United States Senator. The Speaker invites the President to take the Chair as presiding officer of the Joint Assembly. The roll of each House is called by its own Clerk to ascertain if a majority of each House is present. The journals of the preceding day are read, and the voting on the preceding day is announced. If the same person is found to have received a majority of all the votes in each House, he is declared elected without a vote in the Joint Assembly; but if not, the Joint Assembly then proceeds to choose a Senator by a viva voce vote of each member present, and the person who receives a majority of all the votes of the Joint Assembly (a majority of all the members elected to each House being present and voting), is declared elected. If no person receives such majority on the first day, the Joint Assembly is required to meet at twelve o'clock, meridian, on each succeeding day during the session, and take at least one vote until a Senator is chosen or the Legislature adjourns without day. The Joint Assemby may take as many votes on any day as it chooses, but it must take at least one vote on each day. If a vacancy occurs during the recess of the Legislature, the Governor may make a temporary appointment until the next meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill the vacancy. It has heretofore been held that if the vacancy occurs during the session, or if the Legislature meets and adjourns without filling the

vacancy already existing, the place must remain vacant until the next session, because the Legislature has refused to provide for filling it. In other words the Governor is not authorized to do what the Legislature is charged with doing and has failed to do.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

THE STATE: THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT.

I. Real Character of the Executive. The executive of West Virginia consists of six pieces, namely, the Governor, Secretary of State, State Superintendent of Free Schools, Auditor, Treasurer, and Attorney General. The executive of the United States is in one piece. The President appoints the heads of the executive departments and can remove them at pleasure. He is the responsible head, and the members of his cabinet are merely his advisers and executive agents for administration, whose advice when given he may take or disregard. Not so with the Governor of the State. The heads of the departments composing the executive are elected by the people, and are almost entirely independent of each other. In brief the state executive is composed of a commission of which the Governor is chief.

2. Eligibility of Executive Officers.-The Governor must have been a citizen of the State for five years next preceeding his election, and must have attained the age of thirty years at the beginning of his term of service. The Attorney General must likewise have been a citizen for five years and must have attained the age of twenty-five years at the beginning of his term. All the other executive officers must be citizens of the State, twenty-one years of age and entitled to vote No person, except a citizen entitled to vote, may be lawfully elected or appointed to any office in the State, or in any county or municipality.

3. Public Officers: General Provisions.—It is doubtful whether the Governor and the other executive officers of the

State taken together can be properly described as "the entire executive:" because the execution of the laws of the State does not lie wholly within their powers, but is shared by the local officers chosen by the counties, districts, and towns. Each officers, state and local, has a share in the execution of the law that is incumbent upon him by the force and operation of the Constitution and statutes of the State. No officer is, in any real sense, under the administrative control of any other officer, but on the contrary is subject to the control of the law alone.

(1) Election of Officers.-The general elections of state and county officers are held on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November in each year ending in an even number.

(2) Terms of Officers.—The term of every state executive officer is four years, commencing on the fourth day of March next after his election. The terms of other officers are fixed by law and are not uniform.

(3) Oath of Office.-Every person elected or appointed to an office in this State, before proceeding to exercise the authority or discharge the duties thereof, must make oath or affirmation, that he will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of West Virginia, and that he will faithfully discharge the duties of his office to the best of his skill and judgment. No other oath, declaration, or test, not contained in the Constitution, can be required of him.

(4) Residence. All the officers of the Executive Department, except the Attorney General, are required to reside at Charleston, the seat of government, and to keep there the public records, books, and papers pertaining to their offices. An Executive Mansion, furnished by the State, is provided for the Governor.

(5) Salaries.-The Governor receives a salary of $2,700.00 a year. Any person who may act as Governor is entitled to

receive the emoluments of the office. The Secretary of State receives an annual salary of $1,000.00 and fees estimated to amount to $15,000.00 a year and upwards; the State Superintendent of Free Schools, $1, 500.00; the treasurer. $1,400.00; the Auditor, $2,000.00, and fees amounting to probably $20,000.00 a year; the Attorney General, $1,300.00, and the fees of his office. No additional emolument or allowance can be lawfully made or paid out of the treasury of the State to any one of the executive officers on any account.

(6) Disqualification. Any officer of the state may be impeached for maladministration, corruption, incompetency, gross immorality, neglect of duty, or any high crime or misdemeanor. No person, who may have collected or been entrusted with public money, whether of the State or any county, district, or municipal organization, shall be eligible to any office in the State, until such money shall have been duly accounted for and paid over according to law. No citizen, who shall fight a duel in or out of the State, send or accept a challenge to do so, act as a second, or knowingly aid or assist in such duel, shall hold any office in the State. No state executive officer can hold any other office during his term, and the Governor is ineligible to succeed himself for four years after the end of his term.

(7) Reports of Subordinate Officers. Each surbordinate officer of the Executive Departments of the State, as well as each officer in charge of each of the public institutions in the State, is required to report to the Governor at least ten days preceding each regular session of the Legislature, the condition, management, and expenses of his department; and the Governor may further require such information under oath at any time.

(8) Bonds Approved by the Governor.--The Secretary of State, Auditor, Treasurer, State Superintendent of Free Schools, and State Librarian are required to give bonds in penalties fixed by law and approved by the Governor, The bond of the Sec