Page:TN-Constitution2014.pdf/25

 Section 15. No person shall in time of peace be required to perform any service to the public on any day set apart by his religion as a day of rest.

Section 16. The declaration of rights hereto prefixed is declared to be a part of the Constitution of the state, and shall never be violated on any pretense whatever. And to guard against transgression of the high powers we have delegated, we declare that everything in the bill of rights contained, is excepted out of the general powers of the government, and shall forever remain inviolate.

Section 17. No county office created by the Legislature shall be filled otherwise than by the people or the County Court.

Section 18. The historical institution and legal contract solemnizing the relationship of one man and one woman shall be the only legally recognized marital contract in this state. Any policy or law or judicial interpretation, purporting to define marriage as anything other than the historical institution and legal contract between one man and one woman, is contrary to the public policy of this state and shall be void and unenforceable in Tennessee. If another state or foreign jurisdiction issues a license for persons to marry and if such marriage is prohibited in this state by the provisions of this section, then the marriage shall be void and unenforceable in this state.

Section 1. That no inconvenience may arise from a change of the Constitution, it is declared that the governor of the state, the members of the General Assembly and all officers elected at or after the general election of March one thousand eight hundred and seventy, shall hold their offices for the terms prescribed in this Constitution.

Officers appointed by the courts shall be filled by appointment, to be made and to take effect during the first term of the court held by judges elected under this Constitution.

All other officers shall vacate their places thirty days after the day fixed for the election of their successors under this Constitution.

The secretary of state, comptroller and treasurer shall hold their offices until the first session of the present General Assembly occurring after the ratification of this Constitution and until their successors are elected and qualified.

The officers then elected shall hold their offices until the fifteenth day of January one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.

Section 2. At the first election of judges under this Constitution there shall be elected six judges of the Supreme Court, two from each grand division of the state, who shall hold their offices for the term herein prescribed.

In the event any vacancy shall occur in the office of either of said judges at any time after the first day of January one thousand eight hundred seventy-three; it shall remain unfilled and the court shall from that time be constituted of five judges. While the court shall consist of six judges they may sit in two sections, and may hear and determine causes in each at the same time, but not in different grand divisions at the same time.

When so sitting the concurrence of two judges shall be necessary to a decision.

The attorney general and reporter for the state shall be appointed after the election and qualification of the judges of the Supreme Court herein provided for.

Section 3. Every judge and every officer of the executive department of this state, and every sheriff holding over under this Constitution, shall, within twenty days after the Rh