Both senators and representatives are elected for a term of two years by counties or by districts having approximately the same population. The number of representatives is limited by the Constitution to 99, and the number of senators to one-third the number of representatives. The legislature meets biennially, in odd-numbered years, on the first Monday in January, and the length of the session is limited by a provision that the members shall be paid four dollars a day, besides an allowance for travelling expenses, for a period not exceeding 75 days; when the governor calls an extra session, they are paid for not more than 20 days. Bills of whatever character may originate in either house, but no bill can become a law until it has passed both houses by a majority of all the members to which the house is entitled under the con stitution, and if the governor vetoes a bill it cannot become a law until it has again passed both houses by such a majority. The Constitution provides that no minister or priest is eligible to a seat in either house of the legislature.
The administration of justice is vested in a supreme court, a court of civil appeals, chancery courts, circuit courts, criminal courts, county courts, justice of the peace courts, and, in certain cities and towns, a recorder's court. The supreme court consists of five judges elected by the State at large for a term of eight years, one for each of the three grand divisions (Eastern, Middle and Western) and two for the State at large. The judges designate one of their number to preside as chief justice. The court has appellate jurisdiction only. The court of civil appeals, which in 1907 was substituted for the court of chancery appeals, is com posed of nine judges elected for a term of eight years. This court has jurisdiction of appeals from equity courts in which the amount in controversy does not exceed $1,000, except in cases involving the constitutionality of a Tennessee statute, a contested election, State revenue or an ejectment suit ; it has jurisdiction also of civil cases tried in the circuit and common law courts in which writs of error or appeals in the nature of writs of error are applied for. It may transfer any case to the supreme court. The state is di vided into 13 chancery districts, in each of which a chancellor is elected for a term of eight years, and at every county seat in each district a court of chancery is held; exceptions are the loth district, which has three chancellors, and the 15th, which has four. There are also ten criminal judges, principally in the larger cities, and there is one probate judge in the city of Memphis. The State is also divided into 19 circuits, in each of which a circuit judge is elected for a term of eight years, and at every county seat in each circuit a circuit court is held. In several of the counties the county
court is composed of a county judge, elected for a term of eight years, together with the justices of the peace in the county, and in the other counties it consists of the justices of the peace alone, who elect a chairman. Each county is divided into civil districts, varying in number according to population or other factors, and each district elects at least two justices of the peace for a term of six years; each county town or incorporated town also elects one justice of the peace. A recorder has concurrent jurisdiction with a justice of the peace.
The government of each county is vested principally in the county court. This body represents and acts for the county as a corporation; has charge of the erection and repair of county build ings; levies the county taxes; divides the county into highway dis tricts, and chooses a highway commissioner for each district for a term of two years; and chooses a superintendent of schools (except where this is done by popular ballot), a surveyor, a public admin istrator and public guardian, a board for the equalization of taxes, a coroner, and a county physician or health officer, each for a term of two years, three commissioners of the poor for terms of three years (one chosen each year), and a keeper and sealer of weights and measures to serve during the pleasure of the court. A county trustee, whose duty it is to collect State and county taxes, and a sheriff are elected by the people of the county for a term of two years; a clerk of the county court and a registrar are also elected by the voters of the county for a term of four years. The capital city of Tennessee is Nashville.