Page:EB1911 - Volume 28.djvu/373

Rh in January. Any bill or any item or items of any bill which has passed both houses may be vetoed by the governor, and to override a veto a two-thirds vote of the members present in each house is required. No law other than appropriation bills can go into effect until ninety days after the adjournment of the legislature, except in case of an emergency, by a vote in each house of two-thirds of all its members. The members of the legislature are paid $5 for each day's attendance during the session, besides an allowance for travelling expenses.

Justice is administered principally by a supreme court, superior courts and justices of the peace. The supreme court consists of nine judges elected for a term of six years, one of those whose term next expires being chosen chief justice, and is divided into two departments. The presence of at least three judges in each department is required, and the concurrence of at least three judges is necessary to a decision. In case of a disagreement the case may be heard again in the same department, transferred to the other department, or to the court en banc. The chief justice or any four of his associates may at any time convene the court en banc, and if so convened at least five of the judges must be present, and the concurrence of at least five is necessary to a decision. The supreme court has original jurisdiction in habeas corpus, quo warranto and mandamus proceedings against all state officers; and it has appellate jurisdiction except in civil actions for the recovery of money or personal property, in which the original amount in controversy does not exceed $200, and which at the same time do not involve the legality of a tax, impost, assessment, toll or municipal fine, or the validity of a statute. Judges of the superior courts (one or more for each county, or one for two or more counties jointly) are elected for a term of four years. They have original jurisdiction in all cases in equity, in all cases at law which involve the title or possession of real property, or the legality of a tax, impost, assessment, toll or municipal fine, and in all other cases at law in which the amount in controversy is $100 or more, in nearly all criminal cases, in matters of probate, in proceedings for divorce, and in various other cases; and they have appellate jurisdiction of cases originally tried before a justice of the peace or other inferior courts where the amount in controversy is more than $20. Justices of the peace, one or more in each election precinct, are elected for a term of two years. They have jurisdiction of various civil actions in which the amount in controversy is less than $100, and concurrent jurisdiction with the superior courts in all cases of misdemeanours, but punishment by a justice of the peace is limited in cities of the first class to a fine of $500, or imprisonment for six months, and elsewhere to a fine of $100 or imprisonment for thirty days.

Local Government.—The government of each county is vested principally in a board of three commissioners elected by a county at large, some for two and some for four years. The other county officers are a clerk, a treasurer, an auditor, an assessor, an attorney, an engineer, a sheriff, a coroner and a superintendent of public schools, each elected for a term of two years. Township organization is in force only when adopted by a particular county at a county election; in 1910 only one county (Spokane) had the township organization. Each township is governed by the electors assembled annually (the first Tuesday in March) in town meeting and by three supervisors, a clerk, a treasurer, an assessor, a justice of the peace and a constable, and an overseer of highways for each road district, all elected at the town meeting, justice of the peace and a constable for a term of two years, the other officers for a term of one year; each overseer of highways is chosen by the electors of his district. Municipalities are incorporated under general, laws, and cities are divided into three classes, the first class including those having a population of 20,000 or more, the second class those having a population between 10,000 and 20,000, the third class those having a population between 1500 and 10,000. When a community has a population between 300 and 1500 within an area of 1 sq. m., it may be incorporated as a town. A city of the first class is permitted to frame its own charter, but its general powers are prescribed by statute. A city of the second class must elect a mayor and twelve councilmen, and its mayor must appoint a police judge, an attorney, a street commissioner and a chief of police. A city of the third class must elect a mayor, seven councilmen, a treasurer, a health officer, a clerk and an attorney, and its mayor must apoint a marshal, a police justice and as many policemen as the council provides for. An incorporated town must elect a mayor, five councilmen and a treasurer, and its mayor must appoint a marshal and a clerk.

Miscellaneous Laws.—Either husband or wife may hold, manage and dispose of his or her separate property independent of the other, but property which they hold in common is under the management and control of the husband except that he cannot devise by will more than one-half of the community real or personal property, or convey, mortgage or encumber any of the community real estate unless his wife joins him. When either husband or wife dies intestate one-third of the separate real estate of the deceased goes to the survivor if there are two or more children, one-half of it if there is only one child, the whole of it if there are no children, no issue of children, and no father, mother, brother or sister. One-half of the community property goes to the survivor in any case, and the whole of it if there is no will and neither children nor the issue of children. Where there

is no will one-half of the residue of the separate personal estate goes to the survivor if there are issue, and the whole of it if there are no issue. A law enacted in 1909 forbids a marriage in which either of the parties is a common drunkard, habitual criminal, epileptic, imbecile, feeble-minded person, idiot or insane person, a person who has been afflicted with hereditary insanity, a person who is afflicted with pulmonary tuberculosis in its advanced stages, or a person who is afflicted with any contagious venereal disease, unless the woman is at least forty-five years of age. A plaintiff must reside in the state one year before filing an application for a divorce. Neither party is permitted to marry a third party until six months after the divorce has been obtained. Washington has a state board consisting of three members appointed by the governor to confer with commissioners from other states upon such matters as marriage and divorce, insolvency, descent and distribution of property, the execution and probate of wills, for the purpose of promoting uniformity of legislation respecting them. A homestead to the value of $1000 which is owned and occupied by the head of a family is exempt from attachment or forced sale except for debts secured by mechanics', labourers', material men's or vendors' liens upon the premises. If the owner is a married man the homestead may be selected from the community property but not the wife's separate property without her consent, and when it has been selected, even if from the husband's separate property, it cannot be encumbered or conveyed without the wife's consent. Personal property is exempt from execution or attachment as follows: all wearing apparel of every person and family; private libraries to the value of S500; all family pictures; household goods to the value of $500; certain domestic animals or $250 worth of other property chosen instead; firearms kept for the use of a person or family; certain articles (within specified values) necessary to the occupations of farmers, physicians, and other professional men, teamsters, lighter men, &c., and the proceeds of all life and accident Insurance. By a law enacted in 1909 the licensing of the sale of intoxicating liquors, other than for medical purposes by druggists and pharmacists, is left to the option of counties and cities.

Charities, &c.—The state charitable and penal institutions consist of the Western Washington Hospital for the Insane at Fort Steilacoom, the Eastern Washington Hospital for the Insane at Medical Lake, the State School for the Deaf and the State School for the Blind at Vancouver, the State Institution for Feeble-minded near Medical Lake, the Washington Soldiers' Home and Soldiers' Colony at Orting, the Veterans' Home at Port Orchard, the State Penitentiary at Walla Walla, the State Reformatory at Monroe and the State Training School at Chehalis. All of these institutions are' under the management of a bi-partisan State Board of Control which consists of three members appointed by the governor for a term of six years, one every two years, and also removable by the governor in his discretion. Each member receives a salary of S3000 a year. The same board together with the superintendent of the penitentiary constitute a prison board. The State Training School is for the reformatory training of children between eight and eighteen years of age who have been found guilty of any crime other than murder, manslaughter or highway robbery, or who for some other cause have been committed to it by a court of competent jurisdiction.

Education.—The public school system is administered by a state superintendent of public instruction, a state board of education, regents or trustees of higher institutions of learning, a superintendent of the common schools and a board of education in each county, and a board of directors in each school district. The state superintendent is elected for a term of four years. The state board of education consists of the state superintendent, the president of the University of Washington, the president of the State College of Washington, the principal of one of the state normal schools chosen biennially by the principals of the state normal schools, and three other members appointed biennially by the governor, one of whom must be a superintendent of a district of the first class, one a county superintendent and one a principal of a high school. This body very largely determines the course of study in the elementary schools, high schools, normal school and the normal departments of the University and the State College, approves the requirements for entrance to the University and the State College, and prepares the questions for the examination of teachers. Each county superintendent is elected for a term of two years. The county board of education consists of the county superintendent and four other members appointed by him for a term of two years; one of its principal duties is to adopt the text-books for schools in districts in which there is no four-year accredited high school. In a school district which maintains a four-year accredited high school there is a text-book commission consisting of the city superintendent or the principal of the high school, two members of the board of directors designated by the board, and two teachers appointed by the board. All children between eight and fifteen years of age, and all between fifteen and sixteen years of age who are not regularly employed in some useful or remunerative occupation, must attend the public school all the time it is in session or a private school for the same time unless excused by the city or the county superintendent because of mental or physical disability or because of proficiency in the branches taught in the first eight