CONSTITUTION
OF THE
STATE OF CALIFORNIA.
ADOPTED IN CONVENTION, AT SACRAMENTO, MARCH THIRD, EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-NINE; RATIFIED BY A VOTE OF THE PEOPLE ON WEDNESDAY, MAY SEVENTH, EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-NINE.
PREAMBLE AND DECLARATION OF RIGHTS.
PREAMBLE
We, the People of the State of California, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, in order to secure and perpetuate its blessings, do establish this Constitution.
ARTICLE I.
DECLARATION OF RIGHTS.
Section 1. All men are by nature free and independent, and have certain inalienable rights, among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty; acquiring, possessing, and protecting property; and pursuing and obtaining safety and happiness.
Sec. 2. All political power is inherent in the people. Government is instituted for the protection, security, and benefit of the people, and they have the right to alter or reform the same, whenever the public good may require it.
Sec. 3. The State of California is an inseparable part of the American Union, and the Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the land.
Sec. 4. The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall forever be guaranteed in this State; and no person shall be rendered incompetent to be a witness or juror on account of his opinions on matters of religious belief; but the liberty of conscience hereby secured shall not be so construed as to excuse acts of licentiousness, or justify practices inconsistent with the peace or safety of this State.
Sec. 5. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended unless when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require its suspension.
Sec. 6. All persons shalt be bailable by sufficient sureties, unless for capital offenses where the proof is evident or the presumption great. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed; nor shall cruel or unusual punishments be inflicted. Witnesses shall not be unreasonably detained, nor confined in any room where criminals are actually imprisoned.
Sec. 7. The right of trial by jury shall be secured to all, and remain inviolate; but in civil serious three fourths of the jury may render a verdict. A trial by jury may be waived in all criminal cases, not amounting to felony, by the consent of both parties, expressed in open Court, and in civil actions by the consent of the parties, signified in such manner as may be prescribed by law. In civil actions, and cases of misdemeanor, the jury may consist of twelve, or of any number less than twelve upon which the parties may agree in open Court.
Sec. 9. Every citizen may freely speak, write, and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right; and no law shall be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech or of the press. In all criminal prosecutions on indictments for libels, the truth may be given in evidence to the jury; and if it shall appear to the jury that the matter charged as libelous is true, and was published with good motives and for justifiable ends, the party shall be acquitted; and the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the fact. Indictments found, or information laid, for publications in newspapers shall be tried in the county where such newspapers have their publication office, or in the county where the party alleged to be libeled resided at the time of the alleged publication, unless the place of trial shall be changed for good cause.
Sec. 10. The people shall have the right to freely assemble together to consult for the common good, to instruct their Representatives, and to petition the Legislature for redress of grievances.
Sec. 11. All laws of a general nature shall have a uniform operation.
Sec. 12. The military shall be subordinate to the civil power. No standing army shall be kept tip by this State in time of peace, and no soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner; nor in time of war, except in the manner prescribed by law.
Sec. 13. In criminal actions, in any Court whatever, the party accused shall have the right to a a speedy and public trial; to have the process of the Court to compel the attendance of witnesses in his behalf, and to appear and defend, in person and with counsel. No person shall be twice put in jeopardy for the same offense; nor be compelled, in any criminal case, to be a witness against himself; nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. The Legislature shall have power to provide for the taking, in the presence of the party accused and his counsel, of depositions of witnesses in criminal cases other than cases of homicide, when there is reason to believe that the witness, from inability or other cause, will not attend at the trial.
Sec. 14. Private property shall not be taken or damaged for public use without just compensation having been first made to, or paid into Court for, the owner, and no right of way shall be appropriated to the use of any corporation other than municipal until full compensation therefor be first made in money or ascertained and paid into Court for the owner, irrespective of any benefit from any improvement proposed by such corporation, which compensation shall be ascertained by a jury, unless a jury be waived, as in other civil cases in a Court of record, as shall be prescribed by law.
Sec. 15. No person shall be imprisoned for debt in any civil action on mesne or final process, unless in cases of fraud, nor in civil actions for torts, except in cases of willful injury to person or property; and no person shall be imprisoned for a militia fine in time of peace.
Sec. 16. No bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts, shall ever be passed.
Sec. 17. Foreigners of the white race or of African descent, eligible to become citizens of the United States under the naturalization laws thereof, while bona fide residents of this State, shall have the same rights in respect to the acquisition, possession, enjoyment, transmission, and inheritance of property as native-born citizens.
Sec. 18. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, unless for the punishment of crime, shall ever be tolerated in this State.
Sec. 19. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable seizures and searches, shall not be violated; and no warrant shall issue, but on probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons and things to be seized.
Sec. 20. Treason against the State shall consist only in levying war against it, adhering to its enemies, or giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the evidence of two witnesses to the same overt act, or confession in open Court.
Sec. 21. No special privileges or immunities shall ever be granted which may not be altered, revolted, or repealed by the Legislature; nor shall any citizen, or class of citizens, be granted privileges or immunities which, upon the same terms, shall not be granted to all citizens.
Sec. 22. The provisions of this Constitution are mandatory and prohibitory, unless by express words they are declared to be otherwise.
Sec. 23. This enumeration of rights shall not be construed to impair or deny others retained by the people.
Sec. 24. No property qualification shall ever be required for any person to vote or hold office.
ARTICLE II.
RIGHT OF SUFFRAGE.
Section 1. Every native male citizen of the United States, every male person who shall have acquired the rights of citizenship under or by virtue of the treaty of Queretaro, and every male naturalized citizen thereof, who shall have become such ninety days prior to any election, of the age of twenty-one years, who shall have been a resident of the State one year next preceding the election, and of the county in which he claims his vote ninety days, and in the election precinct.thirty days, shall be entitled to vote at all elections which are now or may hereafter be authorized by law; provided, no native of China, no idiot, insane person, or person convicted of any infamous crime, and no person hereafter convicted of the embezzlement or misappropriation of public money, shall ever exercise the privileges of an elector in this State.
Sec. 2. Electors shall in all cases, except treason, felony, or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest on the days of election, during their attendance at such election, going to and returning therefrom.
Sec. 3. No elector shall be obliged to perform militia duty on the day of election, except in time of war or public danger.
Sec. 4. For the purpose of voting, no person shall be deemed to have gained or lost a residence by reason of his presence or absence while employed in the service of the United States, nor while engaged in the navigation of the waters of this State, or of the United States, or of the high seas; nor while a student at any seminary of learning; nor while kept at any alms-house or other asylum, at public expense; nor while confined in any public prison.
Sec. 5. All elections by the people shall be by ballot.
ARTICLE III
DISTRIBUTION OF POWERS.
Section 1. The powers of the Government of the State of California shall be divided into three separate departments – the legislative, executive, and judicial; and no person charged with the exercise of powers properly belonging to one of these department shall exercise any functions appertaining to either of the others, except as in this Constitution expressly directed or permitted.
ARTICLE IV
LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT.
Section 1. The legislative power of this State shall be vested in a Senate and Assembly, which shall be designated The Legislature of the State of California, and the enacting clause of every law shall be as follows: "The People of the State of California, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows."
Sec. 2. The sessions of the Legislature shall commence at twelve o'clock it. on the first Monday after the first day of January next succeeding the election of its members, and after the election held in the year eighteen hundred and eighty, shall be biennial, unless the Governor shall, in the interim, convene the Legislature by proclamation. No pay shall be allowed to members for a longer time than sixty days, except for the first session after the adoption of this Constitution, for which they may be allowed pay for one hundred days. And no bill shall be introduced in either House after the expiration of ninety days from the commencement of the first session, nor after fifty days after a commencement of each succeeding session, without the consent of two-thirds of the members thereof.
Sec. 3. Members of the Assembly shall be elected in the year eighteen hundred and seventy-nine, at the time and in the manner now provided by law. The second election of members of the Assembly, after the adoption of this Constitution, shall be on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, eighteen hundred and eighty. Thereafter, members of the Assembly shall be chosen biennially, and their term of office shall be two years; and each election shall be on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, unless otherwise ordered by the Legislature.
Sec. 4. Senators shall be chosen for the term of four years, at the Same time and places as members of the Assembly, and no person shall be a member of the Senate or Assembly who has not been a citizen and inhabitant of the State three years, and of the district for which he shall be chosen one year, next before his election.
Sec. 5. The Senate shall consist of forty members, and the Assembly of eighty members, to be elected by districts, numbered as hereinafter provided. The seats of the twenty Senators elected in the year eighteen hundred and eighty-two from the odd numbered districts shall be vacated at the expiration of the second year, so that one half of the Senators shall be elected every two years, provided, that all the Senators elected at the first election under this Constitution shall hold office for the term of three years.
Sec. 6 For the purpose of choosing members of the Legislature, the State shall be divided into forty senatorial and eighty assembly districts, as nearly equal in population composed of contiguous territory, to be called senatorial and assembly districts. Each senatorial district shall choose one Senator, and each assembly district shall choose one member of Assembly. The senatorial districts shall be numbered from one to forty, inclusive, in numerical order, and in the assembly districts shall be numbered from one to eighty, in the same order, commencing at the northern boundary of the State, and ending at the southern boundary thereof. In the formation of such districts, no county, or city and county, shall be divided, unless it contain a sufficient population within itself to form two or more districts; nor shall a part of any county, or of any city and county, be united with any other county, or city and county, in forming any district. The census taken under the direction of the Congress of the United States in the year one thousand eight hundred and eighty, and every ten years thereafter, shall be the basis of fixing and adjusting the legislative districts, and the Legislature shall, at its first session after each census, adjust such districts and re-apportion the representation so as to preserve them as near equal in population as may be. But in making such adjustment no persons who are not eligible to become citizens of the United States, under the naturalization laws, shall be counted as forming a part of the population of any district. Until such districting as herein provided for shall be made, Senators and Assemblymen shall be elected by the districts according to the apportionment now provided for by law.
Sec. 7. Each House shall choose its officers, and judge of the qualifications, elections, and returns of its members.
Sec. 8. A majority of each House shall constitute a quorum to do business, but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may compel the attendance of absent members in such manner, and under such penalties, is each House may provide.
Sec. 9. Each house shall determine the rule of its proceeding, and may, with the concurrence of two thirds of all the members elected, expel a member.
Sec. 10. Each House shall keep a Journal of its proceedings, and establish the same, and the yeas and nays of the members of either House, on any question, shall, at the desire of any three members present, be entered on the Journal.
Sec. 11. Members of the Legislature shall, in all cases, except treason, felony, and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest, and shall not be subject to any civil process during the session of the Legislature, nor for fifteen days next before the commencement and after the termination of each session.
Sec. 12. When vacancies occur in either House, the Governor, or the person exercising the functions of the Governor, shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies.
Sec. 13. The doors of each House shall be open, except on such occasions as, in the opinion of the House, may require secrecy.
Sec. 14. Neither House shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any place other than that in which they may be sitting. Nor shall the members of either House draw pay for any recess or adjournment for a longer time than three days.
Sec. 15. No law shall be passed except by bill. Nor shall any bill be put upon its final passage until the same, with the amendments thereto, shall have been printed for the use of the members; nor shall any bill become a law unless the same be read on three several days in each House, unless, in case of urgency, two thirds of the House where such bill may be pending shall, by a vote of yeas and nays, dispense with this provision. Any bill may originate in either House, but may be amended or rejected by the other; and on the final passage of all bills, they shall be read at length, and the vote shall be by yeas and nays upon each bill separately, and shall be entered on the Journal; and no bill shall become a law without the concurrence of a majority of the members elected to each House.
Sec. 16. Every bill which may have passed the Legislature shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the Governor. If he approve it, he shall sign it; but if not, he shall return it, with his objections, to the House in which it originated, which shall enter such objections upon the Journal and proceed to reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration, it is again passed by both Houses, by yeas and nays, two thirds of the members elected to each House voting therefor, it shall become a law, notwithstanding the Governor's objections. If any bill shall not be returned within ten days after it shall have been presented to him (Sundays excepted), the same shall become a law in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Legislature, by adjournment, prevents such return, in which case it shall not become a law, unless the Governor, within ten days after adjournment (Sundays excepted), shall sign and deposit the same in the office of the Secretary of State, in which case it shall become a law in like manner as if it had been signed by him before adjournment. If any bill presented to the Governor contains several items of appropriation of money he may object to one or more items, while approving other portions of the bill. In such case he shall append to the bill, at the time of signing it, a statement of the items to which he objects, and the reasons therefor, and the appropriation so objected to shall not take effect unless passed over the Governor's veto, as hereinbefore provided. If the Legislature be in session, the Governor shall transmit to the House in which the bill originated a copy of such statement, and the items so objected to shall be separately reconsidered in the same manner as bills which have been disapproved by the Governor.
Sec. 17. The Assembly shall have the sole power of impeachment, and all impeachments shall be tried by the Senate. When sitting for that purpose, the Senators shall be upon oath or affirmation, and no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two thirds of the members elected.
Sec. 18. The Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, Secretary of State, Controller, Treasurer, Attorney-General, Surveyor-General, Chief Justice and Associate Justices of the Supreme Court, and Judges of the Superior Courts, shall be liable to impeachment for any misdemeanor in office; but judgment in such cases shall extend only to removal from office, and disqualification to hold any office of honor, trust or profit under the State; but the party convicted or acquitted shall nevertheless be liable to indictment, trial, and punishment according to law. All other civil officers shall be tried for misdemeanor in office in such manner as the Legislature in may provide.
Sec. 19. No Senator or member of Assembly shall, during the term for which he shall have been elected, be appointed to any civil office of profit under this State which shall have been created, or the emoluments of which have been increased, during such term, except such offices as may be filled by election by the people.
Sec. 20. No person holding any lucrative office under the United States, or any other power, shall be eligible to any civil office of profit under this State; provided, that officers in the militia, who receive no annual salary, local officers, or Postmasters whose compensation does not exceed five hundred dollars per annum, shall not be deemed to hold lucrative offices.
Sec. 21. No person convicted of the embezzlement or defalcation of the public funds of the United States, or of any State, or of any county or municipality therein, shall ever be eligible to any office of honor, trust, or profit under this State, and the Legislature shall provide, by law, for the punishment of embezzlement or defalcation as a felony.
Sec. 22. No money shall be drawn from the treasury but in consequence of appropriations made by law, and upon warrants duly drawn thereon by the Controller; and no money shall ever be appropriated or drawn from the State treasury for the use or benefit of any corporation, association, asylum, hospital, or any other institution not under the exclusive management and control of the State as a State institution, nor shall any grant or donation of property ever he made thereto by the State; provided, that notwithstanding anything contained in this or any other Section of this Constitution, the Legislature shall have the power to grant aid to institutions conducted for the support and maintenance of minor orphans, or half orphans, or abandoned children, or aged persons in indigent circumstances —such aid to be granted by a uniform rule, and proportioned to the number of inmates of such respective institutions; provided further, that the State shall have, at any time, the right to inquire into the management, of such institutions; provided further, that whenever any county, or city and county, or city, or town, shall provide for the support of minor orphans, or half orphans, or abandoned children or aged persons in indigent circumstances, each county, city and county, city, or town, shall be entitled to receive the same pro rate. appropriations as may be granted to such institutions under church or other control. An accurate statement of the receipts and expenditures of public moneys shall be attached to and published with the laws at every regular session of the Legislature.
Sec. 23. The members of the Legislature shall receive for their services a per diem and mileage, to be fixed by law, and paid out of the public treasury; such per them shall not exceed eight dollars, and such mileage shall not exceed ten cents per mile, and for contingent expenses not exceeding twenty-five dollars for each session. No increase in compensation or mileage shall take effect during the term for which the members of either House shall have been elected, and the pay of no attache shall be increased after he is elected or appointed.
Sec. 24. Every Act shall embrace but one subject, which subject shall be expressed in its title. But if any subject shall be embraced in an Act which shall not be expressed in its title, such Act, shall be void only as to so much thereof as shall not be expressed in its title. No law shall be revised or amended by reference to its title; but in such case the Act revised or Section amended shall be reenacted, and published at length as revised or amended; and all laws of the State of California, and all official writings, and the executive, legislative, and judicial proceedings shall be conducted, preserved, and published in no other than the English language.
Sec. 25. The Legislature shall not pass local or special laws in any of the following enumerated cases, that is to say:
First—Regulating the jurisdiction and duties of Justices of the Peace, Police Judges, and of Constables.
Second—For the punishment of crimes and misdemeanors.
Third—Regulating the practice of Courts of justice.
Fourth—Providing for changing a venue in civil or criminal actions.
Fifth—Granting divorces.
Sixth—Changing the names of persons or places.
Seventh—Authorizing the laying out, opening, altering, maintaining, or vacating roads, highways, streets, alleys, town plats, parks, cemeteries, graveyards, or public grounds not owned by the State.
Eighth—Summoning and impaneling grand and petit juries, and providing for their compensation.
Ninth—Regulating county and township business, or the election of county and township officers.
Tenth—For the assessment or collection of taxes.
Eleventh—Providing for conducting elections, or designating the places of voting, except on the organization of new counties.
Twelfth—Affecting estates of deceased peirsons, minors, or other persons under legal disabilities.
Thirteenth—Extending the time for the collection of taxes.
Fourteenth—Giving effect to invalid deeds, wills, or other instruments.
Fifteenth—Refunding money paid into the State treasury.
Sixteenth—Releasing or extinguishing, in whole or in part, the indebtedness, liability, or obligation of any corporation or person to this State, or to any municipal corporation therein.
Seventeenth—Declaring any person of age, or authorizing any minor to sell, lease, or incumber his or her property.
Eighteenth—Legalizing, except as against the State, the unauthorized or invalid act of any officer.
Nineteenth—Granting to any corporation, association, or individual any special or exclusive right, privilege, or immunity.
Twentieth—Exemptinig property from taxation.
Twenty-first—Changing county seats.
Twenty-second—Restoring to citizenship persons convicted of infamous crimes.
Twenty-third—Regulating the rate of interest on money.
Twenty-fourth—Authorizing the creation, extension, or impairing of liens.
Twenty-fifth—Chartering or licensing ferries, bridges, or roads.
Twenty-sixth—Remitting fines, penalties, or forfeitures.
Twenty-seventh—Providing for the management of common schools.
Twenty-eighth—Creating offices, or prescribing the powers and duties of officers in counties, cities, cities and ounties, townships, election or school districts.
Twenty-ninth—Affecting the fees or salary of any officer.
Thirtieth—Changing the law of descent or succession.
Thirty-first—Authorizing the adoption or legitimation of children.
Thirty-second—For limitation of civil or criminal actions.
Thirty-third—In all other cases where it general law can be made applicable.
Sec. 26. The Legislature shall have no power to authorize lotteries or gift enterprises for any purpose, and shall pass laws to prohibit the sale in this State of lottery or gift enterprise tickets, or tickets in any scheme in the nature of a lottery. The Legislature shall pass laws to regulate or prohibit the buying and selling of the shares of the capital stock of corporations in any stock board, stock exchange, or stock market under the control of any association. All contracts for the sale of shares of the capital stock of any corporation or association, on margin or to be delivered at a future day, shall be void, and any money paid on such contracts may be recovered by the party paying it by suit in any Court of competent jurisdiction.
Sec. 27. When a congressional district shall be composed of two or more counties, it shall not be separated by any county belonging to another district. No county, or city and county, shall be divided in forming it congressional district so as to attach one portion of a county, or city and county, to another county, or city and county, except in cases where one county, or city and county, has more population than the ratio required or one or more Congressmen; but the Legislature may divide any county, or city and county, into as many congressional districts as it may be entitled to by law. Any county, or city and county, containing a population greater than the miniber required for one congressional district, shall be formed into one or more congressional districts, according to the population thereof, and any residue, after forming such district or districts, shall be attached by compact adpining assembly districts, to a contiguous county or counties, and form a congressional district. In dividing a county, or city and county, into congressional districts, no assembly district shall be divided so as to form a part of more than one congressional district, and every such congressional district shall be composed of compact contiguous assembly districts.
Sec. 28. In all elections by the Legislature the members thereof shall vote viva voce, and the votes shall be entered on the Journal.
Sec. 29. The general appropriation bill shall contain no item or items of appropriation other than such as are required to pay the salaries of the State officers, the expenses of the government, and of the institutions under the exclusive control and management of the State.
Sec. 30. Neither the Legislature, nor any county, city and county, township, school district, or other municipal corporation, shall ever make an appropriation, or pay from any public fund whatever, or grant anything to or in aid of any religious sect, church, creed, or sectarian purpose, or help to support or sustain any school, college, university, hospital, or other institution controlled by any religious creed, church, or sectarian denomination whatever; nor shall any grant or donation of personal property or real estate ever be made by the State, or any city, city and county, town, or other municipal corporation for any religious creed, church, or sectarian purpose whatever; provided, that nothing in this Section shall prevent the Legislature granting aid pursuant to Section twenty-two of this article.
Sec. 31. The Legislature shall have no power to give or to lend, or to authorize the giving or lending, of the credit of the State, or of any county, city and county, city, township, or other political corporation or subdivision of the State now existing, or that may be hereafter established, in aid of or to any person, association, or corporation, whether municipal or otherwise, or to pledge the credit thereof, in any manner whatever, for the payment of the liabilities of any individual, association, municipal or other corporation whatever; nor shall it have power to make any gift, or authorize the making of any gift, of any public money or anything of value to any individual, municipal or other corporation whatever; provided, that nothing in this Section shall prevent the Legislature granting aid pursuant to Section twenty-two of this article; and it shall not have power to authorize the State, or any political subdivision thereof, to subscribe for stock, or to become a stockholder in any corporation whatever.
Sec. 32. The Legislature shall have no power to grant, or authorize any county or municipal authority to grant, any extra compensation or allowance to any public officer, agent, servant, or contractor, after service has been rendered, or a contract has been entered into and performed, in whole or in part, nor to pay, or to authorize the payment of, any claim hereafter created against the State, or any county or municipality of the State, under any agreement or contract made without express authority of law; and all such unauthorized agreements or contracts shall be null and void.
Sec. 33. The Legislature shall pass laws for the regulation and limitation of the charges for services performed and commodities furnished by telegraph and gas corporations, and the charges by corporations or individuals for storage and wharfage, in which there is a public use; and where laws shall provide for the selection of any person or officer to regulate and limit such rates, no such person or officer shall be selected by any corporation or individual interested in the business to be regulated, and no person shall be selected who is an officer or stockholder in any such corporation.
Sec. 34. No bill making an appropriation of money, except the general appropriation bill, shall contain more than one item of appropriation, and that for one single and certain purpose to be therein expressed.
Sec. 35. Any person who seeks to influence the vote of a member of the Legislature by bribery, promise of reward, intimidation, or any other dishonest means, shall be guilty of lobbying, which is hereby declared a felony; and it shall be the duty of the Legislature to provide, by law, for the punishment of this crime. Any member of the Legislature who shall be influenced in his vote or action upon any matter pending before the Legislature by any reward, or promise of future reward, shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and, upon conviction thereof, in addition to such punishment as may be provided by law, shall be disfranchised and forever disqualified from holding any office or public trust. Any person may be compelled to testify in any lawful investigation or judicial proceeding against any person who may be charged with having committed the offense of bribery or solicitation, or with having been influenced in his vote or action, as a member of the Legislature, by reward, or promise of future reward, and shall not be permitted to withhold his testimony upon the ground that it may criminate himself or subject him to public infamy; but such testimony shall not afterwards be used against him in any judicial proceeding, except for perjury in giving such testimony.
ARTICLE V:
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT.
Section 1. The supreme executive power of this State shall be vested in a Chief Magistrate, who shall be styled the Governor of the State of California.
Sec. 2. The Governor shall be elected by the qualified electors at the time and places of voting for members of the Assembly, and shall hold his office four years from And after the first Monday after the first day of January subsequent to his election, and until his successor is elected and qualified.
Sec. 3. No person shall be eligible to the office of Governor who has not been a citizen of the United States and a resident of this State five years next preceding his election, and attained the age of twenty-five years at the time of such election.
Sec. 4. The returns of every election for Governor shall be sealed up and transmitted to the seat of government, directed to the Speaker of the Assembly, who shall, during the first week of the session, open and publish them in the presence of both Houses of the Legislature. The person having the highest number of votes shall be Governor; but, in case any two or more an equal and the highest number of votes, the Legislature shall, by joint vote of both Houses, choose one of such persons so having an equal and the highest number of votes for Governor.
Sec. 5. The Governor shall be Commander-in-Chief of the militia, the army and navy of this State.
Sec. 6. He shall transact all executive business with the officers of government, civil and military, and may require information, in writing; from the officers of the executive department, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices.
Sec. 7. He shall see that the laws are faithfully executed.
Sec. 8. When any office shall, from any cause, become vacant, and no mode is provided by the Constitution and law for filling such vacancy, the Governor shall have power to fill such vacancy by granting a commission, which shall expire at the end of the next session of the Legislature, or at the next election by the people.
Sec. 9. He may, on extraordinary occasions, convene the Legislature by proclamation, stat.ing the purposes for which be has convened it, and when so convened it shall have no power to legislate on any subjects other than those specified in the proclamation, but may provide for the expenses of the session and other matters incidental thereto.
Sec. 10. He shall communicate by message to the Legislature, at every session, the condition of the State, and recommend such matters as he shall deem expedient.
Sec. 11. In case of a disagreement between the two Houses with respect to the time of adjournment, the Governor shall have power to adjourn the Legislature to such time as he may think proper; provided, it be not beyond the time fixed for the meeting of the next Legislature.
Sec. 12. No person shall, while holding any office under the United States or this State, exercise the office of Governor except as hereinafter expressly provided.
Sec. 13. There shall be a seal of this State, which shall be kept by the Governor, and used by him officially, and shall be called "The Great Seal of the State of California."
Sec. 14. All grants and commissions shall be in the name and by the authority of the People of the State of California, sealed with the great seal of the State, signed by the Governor, and countersigned by the Secretary of State.
Sec. 15. A Lieutenant-Governor shall be elected at the same time and places, and in the same manner as the Governor; and his term of office and his qualifications of eligibility shall also be the same. He shall be President of the Senate, but shall have only a casting vote therein. If, during a vacancy of the office of Governor, the Lieutenant-Governor shall be impeached, displaced, resign, die, or become incapable of performing the duties of his office, or be absent from the State, the President pro tempore of the Senate shall act as Governor until the vacancy be filled or the disability shall cease. The Lieutenant-Governor shall be disqualified from holding any other office, except as specially provided in this Constitution, during the term for which be shall have been elected.
Sec. 16. In case of the impeachment of the Governor, or his removal from office, death, inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, resignation, or absence from the State, the powers and duties of the office shall devolve upon the Lieutenant-Governor for the residue of the term, or until the disability shall cease. But when the Governor shall, with the consent of the Legislature, be out of the State in time of war, at the head of any military force thereof, he shall continue Commander-in-Chief of all the military force of the State.
Sec. 17. A Secretary of State; a Controller, a Treasurer, an Attorney-General, and a Surveyor-General shall be elected at the same time and places, and in the same manner as the Governor and Lieutenant-Governor, and their terms of office shall be the same as that of the Governor.
Sec. 18. The Secretary of State shall keep a correct record of the official acts of the legislative and executive departments of the government, and shall, when required, lay the same, and all matters relative thereto, before either branch of the Legislature, and shall perform such other duties as may be assigned him by law.
Sec. 19. The Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, Secretary of State, Controller, Treasurer, Attorney-General, and Surveyor-General shall, at stated times during their continuance in office, receive for their services a compensation which shall not be increased or diminished during the term for which they shall have been elected, which compensation is hereby fixed for the following officers for the two terms next ensuing the adoption of this Constitution, as follows: Governor, six thousand dollars per annum; Lieutenant-Governor, the same per them as may be provided by law for the Speaker of the Assembly, to be allowed only during the session of the Legislature; the Secretary of State, Controller, Treasurer, Attorney-General, and Surveyor-General, three thousand dollars each per annum, such compensation to be in full for all services by them respectively rendered in any official capacity or employment whatsoever during their respective terms of office; provided, however, that the Legislature, after the expiration of the terms hereinbefore mentioned, may, by law, diminish the compensation of any or all of such officers, but in no case shall have the power to increase the same above the sums hereby fixed by this Constitution. No salary shall be authorized by law for clerical service, in any office provided for in this article, exceeding sixteen hundred dollars per annum for each clerk employed. The Legislature may, in its discretion, abolish the office of Surveyor-General; and none of the officers hereinbefore named shall receive for their own use any fees or perquisites for the performance of any official duty.
Sec. 20. The Governor shall not, during his term of office, be elected a Senator to the Senate of the United States.
ARTICLE VI.
JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT.
Section 1. The Judicial power of the State shall be vested in the Senate sitting as a Court of Impeachment, in a Supreme Court, Superior Courts, Justices of the Peace, and such inferior Courts as the Legislature may establish in any incorporated city or town, or city and county.
Sec. 2. The Supreme Court shall consist of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices. The Court may sit in departments and in bank, and shall always be open for the transaction of business. There shall be two departments, denominated, respectively, Department One and Department Two. The Chief Justice shall assign three of the Associate Justices to each department, and such assignment may be changed by him from time to time. The Associate Justices shall be competent to sit in either department, and may interchange with each other by agreement among themselves or as ordered by the Chief Justice. Each of the departments shall have the power to hear and determine causes and all questions arising therein, subject to the provisions hereinafter contained in relation to the Court in bank. The presence of three Justices shall be necessary to transact any business in either of the departments, except such as may be done at Chambers, and the concurrence of three Justices shall be necessary to pronounce a judgment. The Chief Justice shall apportion the business to the departments, and may, in his discretion, order any cause pending before the Court to be heard and decided by the Court in bank. The order may be made before or after judgment pronounced by a department; but where a cause has been allotted to one of the departments, and a judgment pronounced thereon, the order must be made within thirty days after such judgment, and concurred in by two Associate Justices, and if so made it shall have the effect to vacate and set aside the judgment. Any four Justices may, either before or after judgment by a department, order a case to be heard in bank. If the order be not made within the time above limited the judgment shall be final. No judgment by a department shall become final until the expiration of the period of thirty days aforesaid, unless approved by the Chief Justice, in writing, with the concurrence of two Associate Justices. The Chief Justice may convene the Court in bank at any time, and shall be the presiding Justice of the Court when so convened. The concurrence of four Justices present at the argument shall be necessary to pronounce a judgment in bank; but if four Justices, so present, do not concur in a judgment, then all the Justices qualified to sit in the cause shall hear the argument, but to render a judgment a concurrence of four Judges shall be necessary. In the determination of causes, all decisions of the Court in bank or in departments shall be given in writing, and the grounds of the decision shall be stated. The Chief Justice may sit in either department, and shall preside when so sitting, but the Justices assigned to each department shall select one of their number as presiding Justice. In case of the absence of the Chief Justice from the place at which the Court is held, or his inability to act, the Associate Justices shall select one of their own number to perform the duties and exercise the powers of the Chief Justice during such absence or inability to act.
Sec. 3. The Chief Justice and the Associate Justices shall be elected by the qualified electors of the State at large at the general State elections, at the times and places at which State officers are elected; and the term of office shall be twelve years, from and after the first Monday after the first day of January next succeeding their election, provided, that the six Associate Justices elected at the first election shall, at their first meeting, so classify themselves, by lot, that two of them shall go out of office at the end of four years, two of them at the end of eight years, and two of them at the end of twelve years, and an entry of such classification shall be made in the minutes of the Court in bank, signed by them, and a duplicate thereof shall be filed in the office of the Secretary of State. If a vacancy occur in the office of a Justice, the Governor shall appoint a person to hold the office until the election and qualification of a Justice to fill the vacancy, which election shall take place at the next succeeding general election, and the Justice so elected shall hold the office for the remainder of the unexpired term. The first election of the Justices shall be at the first general election after the adoption and ratification of this Constitution.
Sec. 4. The Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction in all cases in equity, except such as arise in Justices' Courts; also, in all cases at law which involve the title or possession of real estate, or the legality of any tax, impost, assessment, toll, or municipal fine, or in which the demand, exclusive of interest, or the value of the property in controversy, amounts to three hundred dollars; also, in cases of forcible entry and detainer, and in proceedings in insolvency, and in actions to prevent or abate a nuisance, and in all such probate matters as may be provided by law; also, in all criminal cases prosecuted by indictment, or information in a Court of record on questions of law alone. The Court shall also have power to issue writs of mandamus, certiorari, prohibition, and habeas corpus, and all other writs necessary or proper to the complete exercise of its appellate 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 before any Superior Court in the State, or before any Judge thereof.
Sec. 5. The Superior Court shall have original jurisdiction in all cases in equity, and in all cases at law which involve the title or possession of real property, or the legality of any tax, impost, assessment, toll, or municipal fine, and in all other cases in which the demand, exclusive of interest, or the value of the property in controversy, amounts to three hundred dollars, and in all criminal cases amounting to felony, and cases of misdemeanor not otherwise provided for; of actions of forcible entry and detainer; of proceedings in insolvency; of actions to prevent or abate a nuisance; of all matters of probate; of divorce and for annulment of marriage, and of all such special cases and proceedings as are not otherwise provided for. And said Court shall have the power of naturalization, and issue papers therefor. They shall have appellate jurisdiction in such cases arising in Justices' and other inferior Courts in their respective counties as may be prescribed by law. They shall be always open (legal holidays and non-judicial days excepted), and their process shall extend to all parts of the State; provided, that all actions for the recovery of the possession of, quieting the title to, or for the enforcement of liens upon real estate, shall be commenced in the county in which the real estate, or any part thereof affected by such action or actions, is situated. Said Courts, and their Judges, shall have power to issue writs of mandamus, certiorari, prohibition, quo warranto, and habeas corpus, on petition by or on behalf of any person in actual custody in their respective counties. Injunctions and writs of prohibition may be issued and served on legal holidays and non-judicial days.
Sec. 6. There shall be in each of the organized counties, or cities and counties of the State, a Superior Court, for each of which at least one Judge shall be elected by the qualified electors of the county, or city and county, at the general State election; provided, that until otherwise ordered by the Legislature, only one Judge shall be elected for the Counties of Yuba and Sutter, and that in the City and County of San Francisco there shall be elected twelve Judges of the Superior Court, anyone or more of whom may hold Court. There may be as many sessions of said Court at the same time, as there are Judges thereof. The said Judges shall choose from their own number a presiding Judge, who may be removed at their pleasure. He shall distribute the business of the Court among the Judges thereof, and prescribe the order of business. The judgments, orders, and proceedings of any session of the Superior Court, held by any one or more of the Judges of said Courts, respectively, shall be equally effectual as if all the Judges of said respective Courts presided at such session. In each of the Counties of Sacramento, San Joaquin, Los Angeles, Sonoma, Santa Clara, and Alameda, there shall be elected two such Judges. The term of office of Judges of the Superior Courts shall be six years from and after the first Monday of January next succeeding their election; provided, that the twelve Judges of the Superior Court, elected in the City and County of San Francisco at the first election held under this Constitution, shall at their first meeting, so classify themselves, by lot, that four of them shall go out of office at the end of two years, and four of them shall go out of office at the end of four years, and four of them shall go out of office at tile end of six years, and an entry of such classification shall be made in the minutes of the Court, signed by them, and a duplicate thereof filed in the office of the Secretary of State. The first election of Judges of the Superior Courts shall take place at the first general election held after the adoption and ratification of this Constitution. If a vacancy occur in the office of Judge of a Superior Court, the Governor shall appoint a person to hold the office until the election and qualification of a Judge to fill the vacancy, which election shall take place at the next succeeding general election, and the Judge so elected shall hold office for the remainder of the unexpired term.
Sec. 7. In any county, or city and county, other than the City and County of San Francisco, in which there shall be more than one Judge of the Superior Court, the Judges of such Court may hold as many sessions of said Court at the same time as there are Judges thereof, and shall apportion the business among themselves as equally as may be.
Sec. 8. A Judge of any Superior Court may hold a Superior Court in any county, at the request of a Judge of the Superior Court thereof, and upon the request of the Governor it shall be his duty so to do. But a cause in a Superior Court may be tried by a Judge pro tempore, who must be a member of the bar, agreed upon in writing by the parties litigant or their attorneys of record, approved by the Court, and sworn to try the cause.
Sec. 9. The Legislature shall have no power to grant leave of absence to any judicial officer; and any such officer who shall absent himself from the State for more than sixty consecutive days shall be deemed to have forfeited his office. The Legislature of the State may at any time, two thirds of the members of the Senate and two thirds of the members of the Assembly voting therefor, increase or diminish the number of Judges of the Superior Court in any county, or city and county in the State; provided, that no such reduction shall affect any Judge who has been elected.
Sec. 10. Justices of the Supreme Court, and Judges of the Superior Courts, may be removed by concurrent resolution of both Houses of the Legislature, adopted by a two thirds vote of each House. All other judicial officers, except Justices of the Peace, may be removed by the Senate on the recommendation of the Governor, but no removal shall be made by virtue of this Section, unless the cause thereof be entered on the Journal, nor unless the party complained of has been served with a copy of the complaint against him, and shall have had an opportunity of being heard in his defense. On the question of removal, the ayes and noes shall a entered on the Journal.
Sec. 11. The Legislature shall determine the number of Justices of the Peace to be elected in townships, incorporated. cities and towns, or cities and counties, and shall fix by law the powers, duties, and responsibilities of Justices of the Peace; provided, such powers shall not in any case trench upon the jurisdiction of the several Courts of record, except that said Justices shall have concurrent jurisdiction with the Superior Courts in cases of forcible entry and detainer, where the rental value does not exceed twenty-five dollars per month, and where the whole amount of damages claimed does not exceed two hundred dollars, and in cases to enforce and foreclose liens on personal property when neither the amount of the liens nor the value of the property amounts to three hundred dollars.
Sec. 12. The Supreme Court, the Superior Courts, and such other Courts as the Legislature shall prescribe, shall be Courts of record.
Sec. 13. The Legislature shall fix by law the jurisdiction of any inferior Courts which may be established in pursuance of Section one of this article, and shall fix by law the powers, duties, and responsibilities of the Judges thereof.
Sec. 14. The Legislature shall provide for the election of a Clerk of the Supreme Court, and shall fix by law his duties and compensation, which compensation shall not be increased or diminished during the term for which he shall have been elected, The County Clerks shall be ex officio Clerks of the Courts of record in and for their respective counties, or cities and counties. The Legislature may also provide for the appointment, by the several Superior Courts, of one or more Commissioners in their respective counties, or cities and counties, with authority to perform Chamber business of the Judges of the Superior Courts, to take depositions, and perform such other business connected with the administration of justice as may be prescribed by law.
Sec. 15. No judicial officer, except Justices of the Peace and Court Commissioners, shall receive to his own use any fees or perquisites of office.
Sec. 16. The Legislature shall provide for the speedy publication of such opinions of the Supreme Court as it may deem expedient, and all opinions shall be free for publication by any person.
Sec. 17. The Justices of the Supreme Court and Judges of the Superior Court shall severally, at stated times during their continuance in office, receive for their services a compensation which shall not be increased or diminished after their election, nor during the term for which they shall have been elected. The salaries of the Justices of the Supreme Court shall be paid by the State. One half of the salary of each Superior Court Judge shall be paid by the State; the other half thereof shall be paid by the county for which he is elected. During the term of the first Judges elected under this Constitution, the annual salaries of the Justices of the Supreme Court shall be six thousand dollars each. Until otherwise changed by the Legislature, the Superior Court Judges shall receive an annual salary of three thousand dollars each, payable monthly, except the Judges of the City and County of San Francisco, and the Counties of Alameda, San Joaquin, Los Angeles, Santa Clara, Yuba and Sutter combined, Sacramento, Butte, Nevada, and Sonoma, which shall receive four thousand dollars each.
Sec. 18. The Justices of the Supreme Court and Judges of the Superior Courts shall be ineligible to any other office or public employment than a judicial office or employment during the term for which they shall have been elected.
Sec. 19. Judges shall not charge juries with respect to matters of fact, but may state the testimony and declare the law.
Sec. 20. The style of all process shall be, "The People of the State of California," and all prosecutions shall be conducted in their name and by their authority.
Sec. 21. The Justices shall appoint a Reporter of the decisions of the Supreme Court, who shall hold his office and be removable at their pleasure. He shall receive an annual salary not to exceed twenty-five hundred dollars, payable monthly.
Sec. 22. No Judge of a Court of record shall practice law in any Court of this State during his continuance in office.
Sec. 23. No one shall be eligible to the office of Justice of the Supreme Court, or to the office of Judge of a Superior Court, unless he shall have been admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the State.
Sec. 24. No Judge of a Superior Court nor of the Supreme Court shall, after the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and eighty, be allowed to draw or receive any monthly salary unless he shall take and subscribe an affidavit before an officer entitled to administer oaths, that no cause in his Court remains undecided that has been submitted for decision for the period of ninety days.
ARTICLE VII.
PARDONING POWER.
Section 1. The Governor shall have the power to grant reprieves, pardons, and commutations of sentence, after conviction, for all offenses except treason and cases of impeachment, upon such conditions, and with such restrictions and limitations, as he may think proper, subject to such regulations as may be provided by law relative to the manner of applying for pardons. Upon conviction for treason, the Governor shall have power to suspend the execution of the sentence until the case shall be reported to the Legislature at its next meeting, when the Legislature shall either pardon, direct the execution of the sentence, or grant a further reprieve. The Governor shall communicate to the Legislature, at the beginning of every session, every case of reprieve or pardon granted, stating the name of the convict, the crime of which he was convicted, the sentence, its date, the date of the pardon or reprieve, and the reasons for granting the same. Neither the Governor nor the Legislature shall have power to grant pardons, or commutations of sentence, in any case where the convict has been twice convicted of felony, unless upon the written recommendation of a majority of the Judges of the Supreme Court.
ARTICLE VIII.
MILITIA.
Section 1. The Legislature shall provide, by law, for organizing and disciplining the militia in such manner as it may deem expedient, not incompatible with the United States. Officers of the militia shall be elected or appointed in such manner as the Legislature shall from time to time direct, and shall be commissioned by the Governor. The Governor shall have power to call forth the militia to execute the laws of the State, to suppress insurrections, and repel invasions.
Sec. 2. All military organizations provided for by this Constitution, or any law of this State, and receiving State support, shall, while under arms either for ceremony or duty, carry no device, banner, or flag of any State or nation, except that of the United States or the State of California.
ARTICLE IX.
EDUCATION.
Section 1. A general diffusion of knowledge and intelligence being essential to the preservation of the rights and liberties of the people, the Legislature shall encourage by all suitable means the promotion of intellectual, scientific, moral, and agricultural improvement.
Sec. 2. A Superintendent of Public Instruction shall, at each gubernatorial election after the adoption of this Constitution, be elected by the qualified electors of the State. He shall receive a salary equal to that of the Secretary of State, and Shall enter upon the duties of his office on the first Monday after the first day of January next succeeding his election.
Sec. 3. A Superintendent of Schools for each county shall be elected by the qualified electors thereof at each gubernatorial election; provided, that the Legislature may authorize two or more counties to unite and elect one Superintendent for the counties so uniting.
Sec. 4. The proceeds of all lands that have been or may be granted by the United States to this State for the support of common schools which may be, or may have been, sold or disposed of, and the five hundred thousand acres of land granted to the new States under an Act of Congress distributing the proceeds of the public lands among the several States of the Union, approved A. D. one thousand eight hundred and forty-one, and all estates of deceased persons who my have died without leaving a will or heir, and also such per cent. as may be granted, or may have been granted, by Congress on the sale of lands in this State, shall be and remain a perpetual fund, the interest of which, together with all the rents of the unsold lands, and such other means as the Legislature may provide, shall be inviolably appropriated to the support of common schools throughout the State.
Sec. 5. The Legislature shall provide for a system of common schools by which a free school shall be kept up and supported in each district at least six months in every year, after the first year in which a school has been established.
Sec. 6. The public school system shall include primary and grammar schools, and such high schools, evening schools, normal schools, and technical schools as may be established by the Legislature, or by municipal or district authority; but the entire revenue, derived from the State School Fund, and the State school tax, shall be applied exclusively to the support of primary and grammar schools.
Sec. 7. The local Boards of Education, and the Boards of Supervisors, and County Superintendents of the several counties which may not have County Boards of Education, shall adopt a series of text-books for the use of the common schools within their respective jurisdictions; the text-books so adopted shall continue in use for not less than four years; they shall also have control of the examination of teachers and the granting of teachers' certificates within their several jurisdictions.
Sec. 8. No public money shall ever be appropriated for the support of any sectarian or denominational school, or any school not under the exclusive control of the officers of the public schools, nor shall any sectarian or denominational doctrine be taught, or instruction thereon be permitted directly or indirectly, in any of the common schools of this State.
Sec. 9. The University of California shall constitute a public trust, and its organization and government shall be perpetually continued in the form and character prescribed by the organic Act creating the same, passed March twenty-third, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight (and the several Acts amendatory thereof), subject only to such legislative control as may be necessary to insure compliance with the terms of its endowments, and the proper investment and security of its funds. It shall be entirely independent of all political or sectarian influence, and kept free therefrom in the appointment of its Regents, and in the administration of its affairs; provided, that all the moneys derived from the sale of the public lands donated to this State by Act of Congress, approved July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two (and the several Acts amendatory thereof), shall be invested as provided by said Acts of Congress, and the interest of said moneys shall be inviolably appropriated to the endowment, support, and maintenance of at least one College of Agriculture, where the leading objects shall be (without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics) to teach such branches of learning as are related to scientific and practical agriculture and the mechanic arts, in accordance with the requirements and conditions of said Acts of Congress; and the Legislature shall provide that if, through neglect, misappropriation, or any other contingency, any portion of the funds so set apart shall be diminished or lost, the State shall replace such portion so lost or misappropriated, so that the principal thereof shall remain forever undiminished. No person shall be debarred admission to any of the collegiate departments of the University on account of sex.
ARTICLE X.
STATE INSTITUTIONS AND PUBLIC BUILDINGS.
Section 1. There shall be a State Board of Prison Directors, to consist of five persons, to be appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, who shall hold office for ten years, except that the first appointed shall, in such manner as the Legislature may direct, be so classified that the term of one person so appointed shall expire at the end of each two years during the first ten years, and vacancies occurring shall be filled in like manner. The appointee to a vacancy, occurring before the expiration of a term, shall hold office only for the unexpired term of his predecessor. The Governor shall have the power to remove either of the Directors for misconduct, incompetency, or neglect of duty, after in opportunity to be heard upon written charges.
Sec. 2. The Board of Directors shall have the charge and superintendance of the State Prisons, and shall possess such powers, and perform such duties, in respect to other penal and reformatory institutions of the State, as the Legislature may prescribe.
Sec. 3. The Board shall appoint the Warden and Clerk, and determine the other necessary officers of the Prisons. The Board shall have power to remove the Wardens and Clerks for misconduct, incompetency, or neglect of duty. All other officers and employes of the Prisons shall be appointed by the Warden thereof, and be removed at his pleasure.
Sec. 4. The members of the Board shall receive no compensation other than reasonable traveling and other expenses incurred while engaged in the performance of official duties, to be audited as the Legislature may direct.
Sec. 5. The Legislature shall pass such laws as may be necessary to further define and regulate the powers and duties of the Board, Wardens, and Clerks, and to carry into effect the provisions of this article.
Sec. 6. After the first day of January, eighteen hundred and eighty-two, the labor of convicts shall not be let out by contract to any person, copartnership, company, or corporation, and the Legislature shall, by law, provide for the working of convicts for the benefit of the State.
ARTICLE XI.
CITIES, COUNTIES, AND TOWNS.
Section 1. The several counties, as they now exist, are hereby recognized as legal subdivisions of this State.
Sec. 2. No county seat shall be removed unless two thirds of the qualified electors of the county, voting on the proposition at a general election, shall vote in favor of such removal. A proposition of removal shall not be submitted in the same county more than once in four years.
Sec. 3. No new county shall be established which shall reduce any county to a population of less than eight thousand; nor shall a new county be formed containing a less population than five thousand; nor shall any line thereof pass within five miles of the county seat of any county proposed to be divided. Every county which shall be enlarged or created from territory taken from any other county or counties, shall be liable for a just proportion of the existing debts and liabilities of the county or counties from which such territory shall be taken.
Sec. 4. The Legislature shall establish a system of county governments which shall be uniform throughout the State; and by general laws shall provide for township organization, under which any county may organize whenever a majority of the qualified electors of such county, voting at it general election, shall so determine; and, whenever a county shall adopt township organization, the assessment and collection of the revenue shall be made, and the business of such county and the local affairs of the several townships therein shall be managed and transacted in the manner prescribed by such general laws.
Sec. 5. The Legislature, by general and uniform laws, shall provide for the election or appointment, in the several counties, of Boards of Supervisors, Sheriffs, County Clerks, District Attorneys, and such other county, township, and municipal officers as public convenience may require, and shall prescribe their duties, and fix their terms of office. It shall regulate the compensation of all such officers, in proportion to duties, and for this purpose may classify the counties by population; and it shall provide for the strict accountability of county and township officers for all fees which may be collected by them, and for all public and municipal moneys which may be paid to them, or officially come into their possession.
Sec. 6. Corporations for municipal purposes shall not be created by special laws; but the Legislature, by general laws, shall provide for the incorporation, organization, and Classification, in proportion to population, of cities and towns, which laws may be altered, amended, or repealed. Cities and towns heretofore organized or incorporated may become organized under such general laws whenever a majority of the electors voting at a general election shall so determine, and shall organize in conformity therewith; and cities or towns heretofore or hereafter organized, and all charters thereof framed or adopted by authority of this Constitution, shall be subject to and controlled by general laws.
Sec. 7. City and county governments may be merged and consolidated into one municipal government, with one set of officers and may be incorporated under general laws providing for the incorporation and organization of corporations for municipal purposes. The provisions of this Constitution applicable to cities, and also those applicable to counties, so far as not inconsistent or not prohibited to cities, shall be applicable to such consolidated government. Inconsolidated city and county governments, of more than one hundred thousand population, there shall be two Boards of Supervisors or houses of legislation—one of which, to consist of twelve persons, shall be elected by general ticket front the city and county at large, and shall hold office for the term of four years, but shall be so classified that after the first election only six shall be elected every two years; the other, to consist of twelve persons, shall be elected every two years, and shall hold office for the term of two years. Any vacancy occurring in the office of Supervisor, in either Board, shall be filled by the Mayor or other chief executive officer.
Sec. 8. Any city containing a population of more than one hundred thousand inhabitants may frame a charter for its own government, consistent with and subject to the Constitution and laws of this State, by causing a Board of fifteen freeholders, who shall have been for at least five years qualified electors thereof, to be elected by the qualified voters of such city, at any general or special election, whose duty it shall be, within ninety days after such election, to prepare and propose a charter for such city, which shall be signed in duplicate by the members of such Board, or a majority of them, and returned, one copy thereof to the Mayor, or other chief executive officer of such city, and the other to the Recorder of deeds of the county. Such proposed charter shall then be published in two daily papers of general circulation in such city for at least twenty days, and within not less than thirty days after such publication it shall be submitted to the qualified electors of such city at a general or special election, and if a majority of such qualified electors voting thereat shall ratify the same, it shall thereafter be submitted to the Legislature for its approval or rejection as a whole, without power of alteration or amendment, and if approved by a majority vote of the members elected to each House, it shall become the charter of such city, or if such city be consolidated with a county, then of such city and county, and shall become the organic law thereof, and supersede any existing charter and all amendments thereof, and all special laws inconsistent with such charter. A copy or such charter, certified by be Mayor, or chief executive officer, and authenticated by the seal of such city, setting forth the submission of such charter to the electors and its ratification by them, shall be made in duplicate and deposited, one in the office of the Secretary of State, the other after being recorded in the office of the Recorder of deeds of the county, among the archives of the city; all Courts shall take judicial notice thereof. The charter so ratified may be amended at intervals of not less than two years, by proposals therefor, submitted by legislative authority of the city to the qualified voters thereof, at a general or special election held at least sixty day's after the publication of such proposals, and ratified by at least three fifths of the qualified electors voting thereat, and approved by the Legislature as herein provided for the approval of the charter. In submitting any such charter, or amendment thereto, any alternative article or proposition may be presented for the choice of the voters, and may be voted on separately without prejudice to others.
Sec. 9. The compensation of any county, city, town, or municipal officer, shall not be increased after his election or during his term of office; nor shall the term of any such officer be extended beyond the period for which he is elected or appointed.
Sec. 10. No county, city, town, or other public or municipal corporation, nor the inhabitants thereof, nor the property. therein, shall be released or discharged from its or their proportionate share of taxes to be levied for State purposes, nor shall commutation for such taxes be authorized in any form whatsoever.
Sec. 11. Any county, city, town, or township, may make and enforce within its limits all such local, police, sanitary, and other regulations as are not in conflict with general laws.
Sec. 12. The Legislature shall have no power to impose taxes upon counties, cities, towns, or other public or municipal corporations, or upon the inhabitants or property thereof, for county, city, town, or other municipal purposes, but may, by general laws, vest in the corporate authorities thereof the power to assess and collect taxes for such purposes.
Sec. 13. The Legislature shall not delegate to any special commission, private corporation, company, association, or individual, any power to make, control, appropriate, supervise, or in any way interfere with, any county, city, town, or municipal improvement, money, property, or effects, whether hold in trust or otherwise, or to levy taxes or assessments, or perform any municipal functions whatever.
Sec. 14. No State office shall be continued or created in any county, city, town, or other municipality, for the inspection, measurement, or graduation of any merchandise, manufacture, or commodity; but such county, city, town, or municipality may, when authorized by general law, appoint such officers.
Sec. 15. Private property shall not be taken or sold for the payment of the corporate debt of any political or municipal corporation.
Sec. 16. All moneys, assessments, and taxes belonging to or collected for the use of any county, city, town, or public or municipal corporation, coming into the hands of any officer thereof, shall immediately be deposited with the Treasurer, or other legal depositary, to the credit of such city, town, or other corporation respectively, for the benefit of the funds to which they respectively belong.
Sec. 17. The making of profit out of county, city, town, or other public money, or using the same for any purpose not authorized by law, by any officer having the possession or control thereof, shall be a felony, and shall be prosecuted and punished as prescribed by law.
Sec. 18. No county, city, town, township, Board of Education, or school district, shall incur any indebtedness or liability in any manner, or for any purpose, exceeding in any year the income and revenue provided for it for such year, without the assent of two thirds of the qualified electors thereof voting at an election to be held for that purpose, nor unless, before or at the time of incurring such indebtedness, provision shall be made for the collection of an annual tax sufficient to pay the interest oil such indebtedness as it falls due, and also to constitute a sinking fund for the payment of the principal thereof within twenty years from the time of contracting the same. Any indebtedness or liability incurred contrary to this provision shall be void.
Sec. 19. No public work or improvement of any description whatsoever shall be done or made, in any city, in, upon, on, or about the streets thereof, or otherwise, the cost and expense of which is made chargeable or may be assessed upon private property by special assessment, unless an estimate of such cost and expense shall be made, and an assessment, in proportion to the benefits, on the, property to be affected or benefited, shall be levied, collected, and paid into the city treasury before such work or improvement shall be commenced, or any contract for letting or doing the same authorized or performed. In any city where there are no public works owned and controlled by the municipality, for the supplying the same with water or artificial light, any individual, or any company duly incorporated for such purpose under and by authority of the laws of this State, shall, under the direction of the Superintendent of Streets, or other officer in control thereof, and under such general regulations as the municipality may prescribe for damages and indemnity for damages, have the privilege of using the public streets and thoroughfares thereof, and of laying down pipes and conduits therein, and connections therewith, so far as may be necessary for introducing into and supplying such city and its inhabitants either with gaslight or other illuminating light, or with fresh water for domestic and all other purposes, upon the condition that the municipal government shall have the right to regulate the charges thereof.
ARTICLE XII
CORPORATIONS.
Section 1. Corporations may be formed under general laws, but shall not be created by special Act. All laws now in force in this State concerning corporations, and all laws that may be hereafter passed pursuant to this Section, may be altered from time to time or repealed.
Sec. 2. Dues from corporations shall be secured by such individual liability of the corporators and other means as may be prescribed by law.
Sec. 3. Each stockholder of a corporation, or joint stock association, shall be individually and personally liable for such proportion of all its debts and liabilities contracted or incurred during the time he was a stockholder, as the amount of stock or shares owned by him bears to the whole of the subscribed capital stock, or shares of the corporation or association. The directors or trustees of corporations and joint-stock associations shall be jointly and severally liable to the creditors and stockholders for all moneys embezzled or misappropriated by the officers of such corporation or joint stock association during the term of office of such director or trustee.
Sec. 4. The term corporations, as used in this article, shall be construed to include all associations and joint stock companies having any of the powers or privileges of corporations not possessed by individuals or partnerships; and all corporations shall have the right to sue and shall be subject to be sued, in all Courts, in like cases as natural persons.
Sec. 5. The Legislature shall have no power to pass any Act granting any charter for banking purposes, but corporations or associations may be formed for such purposes under general laws. No corporation, association, or individual shall issue or put in circulation, as money, anything but the lawful money of the United States.
Sec. 6. All existing charters, grants, franchises, special or exclusive privileges under which an actual and bona fide organization shall not have taken place, and business commenced in good faith, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall thereafter have no validity.
Sec. 7. The Legislature shall not extend any franchise or charter, nor remit the forfeiture of any franchise or charter of any corporation now existing, or which shall hereafter exist under the laws of this State.
Sec. 8. The exercise of the right of eminent domain shall never be so abridged or construed as to prevent the Legislature from taking the property and franchises of incorporated companies and subjecting them to public use the same as the property of individuals, and the exercise of the police power of the State shall never be so abridged or construed as to permit corporations to conduct their business in such manner as to infringe the rights of individuals or the general well-being of the State.
Sec. 9. No corporation shall engage in any business other than that expressly authorized in its charter, or the law under which it may have been or may hereafter be organized; nor shall it hold for a longer period than five years any real estate except such as may be necessary for carrying on its business.
Sec. 10. The Legislature shall not pass any laws permitting the leasing or alienation of any franchise, so as to relieve the franchise or property held thereunder from the liabilities of the lessor or grantor, lessee or grantee, contracted or incurred in the operation, use, or enjoyment of such franchise, or any of its privileges.
Sec. 11. No corporation shall issue stock or bonds, except for money paid, labor done, or property actually received, and all fictitious increase of stock or indebtedness shall be void. The stock and bonded indebtedness of corporations shall not be increased except in pursuance of general law, nor without the consent of the persons holding the larger amount in value of the stock, at a meeting called for that purpose, giving sixty days' public notice, as may be provided by law.
Sec. 12. In all elections for directors or managers of corporations, every stockholder shall have the right to vote, in person or by proxy, the number of shares of stock owned by him, for as many persons as there are directors or managers to be elected, or to cumulate said shares and give one candidate as many votes as the number of directors multiplied by the number of his shares of stock shall equal, or to distribute them, on the same principle, among as many candidates as he shall think fit; and such directors or managers shall not be elected in any other manner, except that members of cooperative societies formed for agricultural, mercantile, and manufacturing purposes, may vote on all questions affecting such societies in manner prescribed by law.
Sec. 13. The State shall not in any manner loan its credit, nor shall it subscribe to, or be interested in the stock of any company, association, or corporation.
Sec. 14. Every corporation other than religious, educational, or benevolent, organized or doing business in this State, shall have and maintain an office or place in this State for the transaction of its business, where transfers of stock shall be made, and in which shall be kept, for inspection by every person having an interest therein, and legislative committees, books in which shall be recorded the amount of capital stock subscribed, and by whom; the names of the owners of its stock, and the amounts owned by them respectively; the amount of stock paid in, and by whom; the transfers of stock; the amount of its assets and liabilities, and the names and places of residence of its officers.
Sec. 15. No corporation organized outside the limits of this State shall be allowed to transact business within this State on more favorable conditions than are prescribed by law to similar corporations organized under the laws of this State.
Sec. 16. A corporation or association may be sued in the county where the contract is made or is to be performed, or where the obligation or liability arises, or the breach occurs; or in the county where the principal place of business of such corporation is situated, subject to the power of the Court to change the place of trial as in other cases.
Sec. 17. All railroad, canal, and other transportation companies are declared to be common carriers, and subject to legislative control. Any association or corporation, organized for the purpose, under the laws of this State, shall have the right to connect at the State line with railroads of other States. Every railroad company shall have the right with its road to intersect, connect with or cross any other railroad, and shall receive and transport each the other's passengers, tonnage, and cars, without delay or discrimination.
Sec. 18. No president, director, officer, agent, or employe of any railroad or canal company shall be interested, directly or indirectly, in the furnishing of material or supplies to such company, nor in the business of transportation as a common carrier of freight or passengers over the works owned, leased, controlled, or worked by such company, except such interest in the business of transportation as lawfully flows from the ownership of stock therein.
Sec. 19. No railroad or other transportation company shall grant free passes, or passes or tickets at a discount, to any person holding any office of honor, trust, or profit in this State; and the acceptance of any such pass or ticket, by a member of the Legislature or any public officer, other than Railroad Commissioner, shall work a forfeiture of his office.
Sec. 20. No railroad company or other common carrier shall combine or make any contract with the owners of any vessel that leaves port or makes port in this State, or with any common carrier, by which combination or contract the earnings of one doing the carrying are to be shared by the other not doing the carrying. And whenever a railroad corporation shall, for the purpose of competing with any other common carrier, lower its rates for transportation of passengers or freight from one point to another, such reduced rates shall not be again raised or increased from such a standard without the consent of the governmental authority in which shall be vested the power to regulate fares and freights.
Sec. 21. No discrimination in charges or facilities for transportation shall be made by any railroad or other transportation company between places or persons, or in the facilities for the transportation of the same classes of freight or passengers within this State, or coming from or going to any other State. Persons and property transported over any railroad, or by any other transportation company or individual, shall be delivered at any Station, landing, or port, at charges not exceeding the charges for the transportation of persons and property of the same class, in the same direction, to any more distant station, port, or landing. Excursion and commutation tickets may be issued at special rates.
Sec. 22. The State shall be divided into three districts as nearly equal in population as practicable, in each of which one Railroad Commissioner shall be elected by the qualified electors thereof at the regular gubernatorial elections, whose salary shall be fixed by law, and whose term of office shall be four years, commencing on the first Monday after the first day of January next succeeding their election. Said Commissioners shall be qualified electors of this State and of the district from which they are elected, and shall not be interested in any railroad corporation, or other transportation company, as stockholder, creditor, agent, attorney, or employe; and the act of a majority of said Commissioners shall be deemed the act of said Commission. Said Commissioners shall have the power, and it shall be their duty, to establish rates of charges for the transportation of passengers and freight by railroad or other transportation companies, and publish the same from time to time, with such changes as they may make; to examine the books, records, and papers of all railroad and other transportation companies, and for this purpose they shall have power to issue subpoenas and all other necessary process; to hear and determine complaints against railroad and other transportation companies, to send for persons and papers, to administer oaths, take testimony, and punish for contempt of their orders and processes, in the same manner and to the same extent as Courts of record, and enforce their decisions and correct abuses through the medium of the Courts. Said Commissioners shall prescribe a uniform system of amounts to be kept by all such corporations and companies. Any railroad corporation or transportation company which shall fail or refuse to conform to such rates as shall be established by such Commissioners, or shall charge rates in excess thereof, or Shall fail to keep their accounts in accordance with the system prescribed by the Commission, shall be fined not exceeding twenty thousand dollars for each offense, and every officer, agent, or employe of any such corporation or company, who shall demand or receive rates in excess thereof, or who shall in any manner violate the provisions of this Section, shall be fined not exceeding five thousand dollars, or be imprisoned in the county jail not exceeding one year. In all controversies, civil or criminal, the rates of fares and freights established by said Commission shall be deemed conclusively just and reasonable, and in any action against such corporation or company for damages sustained by charging excessive rate, the plaintiff, in addition to the actual damage, may in the discretion of the Judge or jury, recover exemplary damages. Said Commission shall report to the Governor, annually, their proceedings, and such other facts as may be deemed important. Nothing in this Section shall prevent individuals from maintaining actions against any of such companies. The Legislature may, in addition to any penalties herein prescribed, enforce this article by forfeiture of charter or otherwise, and may confer such further powers on the Commissioners as shall be necessary to enable them to perform the duties enjoined on them in this and the foregoing Section. The Legistature shall have power, by a two thirds vote of all the members elected to each House, to remove any one or more of said Commissioners from office, for dereliction of duty, or corruption, or incompetency; and whenever, from any cause, a vacancy in office shall occur in said Commission, the Governor shall fill the same by the appointment of a qualified person thereto, who Shall hold office for the residue of the unexpired term, and until his successor shall have been elected and qualified.
Sec. 23. Until the Legislature shall district the State, the following shall be the railroad districts: The First District shall be composed of the Counties of Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, Del Norte, El Dorado, Humboldt, Lake, Lassen, Mendocino, Modoc, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity, Yolo, and Yuba, from which one Railroad Commissioner shall be elected. The Second District shall be composed of the Counties of Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo, from which one Railroad Commissioner shall be elected. The Third District shall be composed of the Counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Fresno, Inyo, Kern, Los Angeles, Mariposa, Merced, Mono, Monterey, San Benito, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Stanislaus, Tulare, Tuolumne, and Ventura, from which one Railroad Commissioner shall be elected.
Sec. 24. The Legislature shall pass all laws necessary for the enforcement of the provisions of this article.
ARTICLE XIII.
REVENUE AND TAXATION.
Section 1. All property in the State, not exempt under the laws of the United States, shall be taxed in proportion to its value, to be ascertained as provided by law. The word " property," as used in this article and Section, is hereby declared to include moneys, credits, stocks, dues, franchises, and all other matters and things, real, personal, and mixed, capable of private ownership; provided, that growing crops, property used exclusively for public schools and such as may belong to the United States, this State, or to any county or municipal corporation within this State, shall be exempt from taxation. The Legislature may provide, except in case of credits secured by mortgage or trust deed, for a deduction from credits of debts bona fide residents of this State.
Sec. 2. Land, and the improvements thereon, shall be separately assessed. Cultivated and uncultivated land, of the same quality, and similarly situated, shall be assessed at the same value.
Sec. 3. Every, tract of land containing more than six hundred and forty acres, and which has been Sectionized by the United States Government, shall be assessed, for the purposes of taxation, by Sections or fractions of Sections. The Legislature shalt provide by law for the assessment, in small tracts, of all lands not Sectionized by the United States Government.
Sec. 4. A mortgage, deed of trust, contract, or other obligation by which a debt is secured shall, for the purposes of assessment and taxation, be deemed and treated as an interest in the property affected thereby. Except as to railroad and other quasi public corporations, in case of debts so secured, the value of property affected by such mortgage, deed of trust, contract, or obligation, less the value of such security, shall be assessed and taxed to the owner of the property, and the value of such security shall be assessed and taxed to the owner thereof. in the county, city, or district in which the property affected thereby is situated. The taxes so levied shall be a lien upon the property and security, and may be paid by either party to such security; if paid by the owner of the security, the tax so levied upon the property affected thereby become a part of the debt so secured; if the owner of the property shall pay the tax so levied on such security, it shall constitute a payment thereon, and to the extent of such pay full discharge thereof; provided, that if any such security or indebtedness shall be paid such debtor or debtors, after assessment and before the tax levy, the amount of such levy may likewise be retained by such debtor or debtors, and shall be computed according to the tax levy for the preceding year.
Sec. 5. Every contract hereafter made, by which a debtor is obligated to pay any assessment on money loaned, or on any mortgage, deed of trust, or other lien, shall, as interest specified therein, and as to such tax or assessment, be null and void.
Sec. 6. The power of taxation shall never be surrendered or suspended by any grant or contract to which the State shall be a party.
Sec. 7. The Legislature shall have the power to provide by law for the payment of all taxes on real property by installments.
Sec. 8. The Legislature shall by law require each taxpayer in this State to make and deliver to the County Assessor, annually, a statement, under oath, setting forth specifically all the real and personal property owned by such taxpayer, or in his possession, or under his control, at twelve o'clock meridian, on the first Monday of March.
Sec. 9. A State Board of Equalization, consisting of one member from each congressional district in this State, shall be elected by the qualified electors of their respective districts, at the general election to be held in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine, whose term of office after those first elected shall be four years, whose duty it shall be to equalize the valuation of the taxable property of the several counties in the State for the purposes of taxation. The Controller of State shall be ex officio a member of the Board. The Boards of Supervisors of the several counties of the State shall constitute Boards of Equalization for their respective counties, whose duty it shall be to equalize the valuation of the taxable property in the county for the purpose of taxation; provided, such State and County Boards of Equalization are hereby authorized and empowered, under such rules of notice as the County Boards may prescribe, as to the county assessments, and under such rules of notice as the State Board may prescribe, as to the action of the State Board, to increase or lower the entire assessment roll, or any assessment contained therein, so as to equalize the assessment of the property contained in said assessment roll, and make the assessment conform to the true value in money of the property contained in said roll.
Sec. 10. All property, except as hereinafter in this Section provided, shall be assessed in the county, city, city and county, town, township, or district in which it is situated, in the manner prescribed by law. The franchise, roadway, road-bed, rails, and rolling stock of all railroads operated in more than one county in this State shall be assessed by the State Board of Equalization, at their actual value, and the same shall be apportioned to the counties, cities and counties, cities, towns, townships, and districts in which such railroads are located, in proportion to the number of miles of railway laid in such counties, cities and counties, cities, towns, townships, and districts.
Sec. 11. Income taxes may be assessed to and collected from persons, corporations, joint-stock associations, or companies resident or doing business in this State, or any one or more of them, in such cases and amounts, and in such manner, as shall be prescribed by law.
Sec. 12. The Legislature shall provide for the levy and collection of an annual poll tax of not less than two dollars on every male inhabitant of this State, over twenty-one and under sixty years of age, except paupers, idiots, insane persons, and Indians not taxed. Said tax shall be paid into the State School Fund.
Sec. 13. The Legislature shall pass all laws necessary to carry out the provisions of this article.
ARTICLE XIV.
WATER AND WATER RIGHTS.
Section 1. The use of any water now appropriated, or that may hereafter be appropriated, for sale, rental, or distribution, is hereby declared to be a public use, and subject to the regulation and control of the State, in the manner to be prescribed by law; provided, that the rates or compensation to be collected by any person, company, or corporation in this State for the use of water supplied to any city and county, or city or town, or the inhabitants thereof, shall be fixed, annually, by the Board of Supervisors, or city and county, or City or Town Council, or other governing body of such city and county, or city or town, by ordinance or otherwise, in the manner that other ordinances or legislative acts or resolutions are passed by such body, and shall continue in force for one year and no longer. Such ordinances or resolutions shall be passed in the month of February of each year, and take effect on the first day of July thereafter. Any Board or body failing to pass the necessary ordinances or resolutions fixing water rates, where necessary, within such time, shall be subject to peremptory process to compel action at the suit of any party interested, and shall be liable to such further processes and penalties as the Legislature may prescribe. Any person, company, or corporation collecting water-rates in any city and county, or city or town in this State, otherwise than as so established, shall forfeit the franchises and water-works of such person, company, or corporation to the city and county, or city or town, where the same are collected, for the public use.
Sec. 2. The right to collect rates or compensation for the use of water supplied to any county, city and county, or town, or the inhabitants thereof, is a franchise, and cannot be exercised except by authority of and in the manner prescribed by law.
ARTICLE XV.
HARBOR FRONTAGES, ETC.
Section 1. The right, of eminent domain is hereby declared to exist in the State to all frontages on the navigable waters of this State.
Sec. 2. No individual, partnership, or corporation, claiming or possessing the frontage or tidal lands of a harbor, bay, inlet, estuary, or other navigable water in this State, shall be permitted to exclude the right of way to such water whenever it is required for any public purpose, nor to destroy or obstruct the free navigation of such water; and the Legislature shall enact such laws as will give the most liberal construction to this provision, so that access to the navigable waters of this State shall be always attainable for the people thereof.
Sec. 3. All tide lands within two miles of any incorporated city or town in this State, and fronting on the waters of any harbor, estuary, bay, or inlet used for the purpose of navigation, shall be withheld from grant or sale to private persons, partnerships, or corporations.
ARTICLE XVI.
STATE INDEBTEDNESS.
Section 1. The Legislature shall not, in any manner, create any debt or debts, liability or liabilities, which shall, singly or in the aggregate with any previous debts or liabilities, exceed the sum of three hundred thousand dollars, except in case of war to repel an invasion or suppress insurrection, unless the same shall be authorized by law for some single object or work to be distinctly specified therein, which law shall provide ways and means, exclusive of loans, for the payment of the interest of such debt or liability as it falls due, and also to pay and discharge the principal of such debt or liability within twenty years of the time of the contracting thereof, and shall be irrepearable until the principal and interest thereon shall be paid and discharged; but no such law shall take effect until, at a general election, it shall have been submitted to the people and shall have received a majority of all the votes cast for and against it at such election; and all moneys raised by authority of such law shall be applied only to the specific object therein stated, or to the payment of the debt thereby created, and such law shall be published in at least one newspaper in each county, or city and county, if one be published therein, throughout the State, for three months next preceding the election at which it is submitted to the people. The Legislature may at any time after the approval of such law by the people, if no debt shall have been contracted in pursuance thereof, repeal the same.
ARTICLE XVII.
LAND, AND HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION.
Section 1. The Legislature shall protect, by law, from forced sale, a certain portion of the homestead and other property of all heads of families.
Sec. 2. The holding of large tracts of land, uncultivated and unimproved, by individuals or corporations, is against the public interest, and should be discouraged by all means not inconsistent with the rights of private property.
Sec. 3. Lands belonging to this State, which are suitable for cultivation, shall be granted only to actual settlers, and in quantities not exceeding three hundred and twenty acres to each settler, under such conditions as shall be prescribed by law.
ARTICLE XVIII.
AMENDING AND REVISING THE CONSTITUTION.
Section 1. Any amendment or amendments to this Constitution may be proposed in the Senate or Assembly, and if two thirds of all the members elected to each of the two Houses shall vote in favor thereof, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be entered in their Journals, with the yeas and nays taken thereon; and it shall be the duty of the Legislature to submit such proposed amendment or amendments to the people in such manner, and at such time, and after such publication as may be deemed expedient. Should more amendments than one be submitted at the same election they shall be so prepared and distinguished, by numbers or otherwise, that each can be voted on separately. If the people shall approve and ratify such amendment or amendments, or any of them, by a majority of the qualified electors voting thereon, such amendment or amendments shall become a part of this Constitution.
Sec. 2. Whenever two thirds of the members elected to each branch of the Legislature shall deem it necessary to revise this Constitution, they shall recommend to the electors to vote at the next general election for or against a Convention for that purpose, and if a majority of the electors voting at such election on the proposition for a Convention shall vote in favor thereof, the Legislature shall, at its next session, provide by law for calling the same. The Convention shall consist of a number of delegates, not to exceed that of both branches of the Legislature, who shall be chosen in the same manner, and have the same qualifications, as members of the Legislature. The delegates so elected shall meet within three months after their election at such place as the Legislature may direct. At a special election to be provided for by law, the Constitution that may be agreed upon by such Convention shall be submitted to the people for their ratification or rejection, in such manner as the Convention may determine. The returns of such election shall, in such manner as the Convention shall direct, be certified to the Executive of the State, who shall call to his assistance the Controller, Treasurer, and Secretary of State, and compare the returns so certified to him; and it shall be the duty of the Executive to declare, by his proclamation, such Constitution, as may have been ratified by a majority of all the votes cast at such special election, to be the Constitution of the State of California.
ARTICLE XIX.
CHINESE.
Section 1. The Legislature shall prescribe all necessary regulations for the protection of the State, and the counties, cities, and towns thereof, from the burdens and evils arising from the presence of aliens who are or may become vagrants, paupers, mendicants, criminals, or invalids afflicted with contagious or infectious diseases, and from aliens otherwise dangerous or detrimental to the well-being or peace of the State, and to impose conditions upon which persons may reside in the State, and to provide the means and mode of their removal from the State, upon failure or refusal to comply with such conditions; provided, that nothing contained in this Section shall be construed to impair or limit the power of the Legislature to pass such police laws or other regulations as it may deem necessary.
Sec. 2. No corporation now existing or hereafter formed under the laws of this State, shall, after the adoption of this Constitution, employ directly or indirectly, in any capacity, any Chinese or Mongolian. The Legislature shall pass such laws as may be necessary to enforce this provision.
Sec. 3. No Chinese shall be employed on any State, county, municipal, or other public work, except in punishment for crime.
Sec. 4. The presence of foreigners ineligible to become citizens of the United States is declared to be dangerous to the well-being of the State, and the Legislature shall discourage their immigration by all the means within its power. Asiatic coolieism is a form of human slavery, and is forever prohibited in this State, and all contracts for coolie labor shall be void. All companies or corporations, whether formed in this country or any foreign country, for the importation of such labor, shall be subject to such penalties as the Legislature may prescribe. The Legislature shall delegate all necessary power to the incorporated cities and towns of this State for the removal of Chinese without the limits of such cities and towns, or for their location within prescribed portions of those limits, and it shall also provide the necessary legislation to prohibit the introduction into this State of Chinese after the adoption of this Constitution. This Section shall be enforced by appropriate legislation.
ARTICLE XX.
MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS.
Section 1. The City of Sacramento is hereby declared to be the seat of government of this State, and shall so remain until changed by law; but no law changing the seat of government shall be valid or binding unless the same he approved and ratified by a majority of the qualified electors of the State voting therefor at a general State election, under such regulations and provisions as the Legislature, by a two thirds vote of each House, may provide, submitting the question of change to the people.
Sec. 2. Any citizen of this State who shall, after the adoption of this Constitution, fight a duel with deadly weapons, or send or accept a challenge to fight a duel with deadly weapons, either within this State or out of it, or who shall act as second, or knowingly aid or assist in any manner those thus offending, shall not be allowed to hold any office of profit, or to enjoy the right of suffrage under this Constitution.
Sec. 3. Members of the Legislature, and all officers, executive and judicial, except such inferior officers as may be by law exempted, shall, before they enter upon the duties of their respective offices, take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation:
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm, as the case may be,) that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of, according to the best of my ability."
And no other oath, declaration, or test shall be required as a qualification for any office or public trust.
Sec. 4. All officers or Commissioners whose election or appointment is not provided for by this Constitution, and all officers or Commissioners whose offices or duties may hereafter be created by law, shall be elected by the people, or appointed, as the Legislature may direct.
Sec. 5. The fiscal year shall commence on the first day of July.
Sec. 6. Suits may be brought against the State in such manner and in such Courts as shall be directed by law.
Sec. 7. No contract of marriage, if otherwise duly made, shall be invalidated for want of conformity to the requirements of any religious sect.
Sec. 8. All property, real and personal, owned by either husband or wife before marriage, and that acquired by either of them afterwards by gift, devise, or descent, shall be their separate property.
Sec. 9. No perpetuities shall be allowed except for eleemosynary purposes.
Sec. 10. Every person shall be disqualified from holding any office of profit in this State who shall have been convicted of having given or offered a bribe to procure his election or appointment.
Sec. 11. Laws shall be made to exclude from office, serving on juries, and from the right of suffrage, persons convicted of bribery, perjury, forgery, malfeasance in office, or other high crimes. The privilege of free suffrage shall be supported by laws regulating elections and prohibiting, under adequate penalties, all undue influence thereon from power, bribery, tumult, or other improper practice.
Sec. 12. Absence from this State, on business of the State or of the United States, shall not affect the question of residence of any person.
Sec. 13. A plurality of the votes given at any election shall constitute a choice, where not otherwise directed in this Constitution.
Sec. 14. The Legislature shall provide, by law, for the maintenance and efficiency of a State Board of Health.
Sec. 15. Mechanics, material men, artisans, and laborers of every class, shall have a lien upon the property upon which they have bestowed labor or furnished material for the value of such labor done and material furnished; and the Legislature shall provide, by law, for the speedy and efficient enforcement of such liens.
Sec. 16. When the term of any officer or Commissioner is not provided for in this Constitution, the term of such officer or Commissioner may be declared by law; and, if not so declared, such officer or Commissioner shall hold his position as such officer or Commissioner during the pleasure of the authority making the appointment; but in no case shall such term exceed four years.
Sec. 17. Eight hours shall constitute a legal day's work on all public work.
Sec. 18. No person shall, on account of sex, be disqualified from entering upon or pursuing any lawful business, vocation, or profession.
Sec. 19. Nothing in this Constitution shall prevent the Legislature from providing, by law, for the payment of the expenses of the Convention framing this Constitution, including the per diem of the Delegates for the full term thereof.
Sec. 20. Elections of the officers provided for by this Constitution, except at the election in the year eighteen hundred and seventy-nine, shall be held on the even numbered years next before the expiration of their respective terms. The terms of such officers shall commence on the first Monday after the first day of January next following their election.
ARTICLE XXI.
BOUNDARY.
Section 1. The boundary of the State of California shall be as follows: Commencing at the point of intersection of the forty-second degree of north latitude with the one hundred and twentieth degree of longitude west from Greenwich, and running south on the line of said one hundred and twentieth degree of west longitude until it intersects the thirty-ninth degree of north latitude; thence running in a straight line, in a southeasterly direction, to the River Colorado, at a point where it intersects the thirty-fifth degree of north latitude; thence down the middle of the channel of said river to the boundary line between the United States and Mexico, as established by the treaty of May thirtieth, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight; thence running west and along said boundary line to the Pacific Ocean, and extending therein three English miles; thence running in a northwesterly direction and following the direction of the Pacific Coast to the forty-second degree of north latitude; thence on the line of said forty-second degree of north latitude to the place of beginning. Also, including all the islands, harbors, and bays along and adjacent to the coast.
ARTICLE XXII.
SCHEDULE.
That no inconvenience may arise from the alterations and amendments in the Constitution of this State, and to carry the same into complete effect, it is hereby ordained and declared:
Section 1. That all laws in force at the adoption of this Constitution, not inconsistent therewith, shall remain in full force and effect until altered or repealed by the Legislature; and all rights, actions, prosecutions, claims, and contracts of the State, counties, individuals, or bodies corporate, not inconsistent therewith, shall continue to be as valid as if this Constitution had not been adopted. The provisions of all laws which are inconsistent with this Constitution shall cease upon the adoption thereof, except that all laws which are inconsistent with such provisions of this Constitution as require legislation to enforce them shall remain in full force until the first day of July, eighteen hundred and eighty, unless sooner altered or repealed by the Legislature.
Sec. 2. That all recognizances, obligations, and all other instruments entered into or executed before the adoption of this Constitution, to this State, or to any subdivision thereof, or any municipality therein, and all fines, taxes, penalties, and forfeitures due or owing to this State, or any subdivision or municipality thereof, and all writs, prosecutions, actions, and causes of action, except as herein otherwise provided, shall continue and remain unaffected by the adoption of this Constitution. All indictments or informations which shall have been found, or may hereafter be found, for any crime or offense committed before this Constitution takes effect, may be proceeded upon as if no change had taken place, except as otherwise provided in this Constitution.
Sec. 3. All Courts now existing, save Justices' and Police Courts, are hereby abolished; and all records, books, papers, and proceedings from such Courts, as are abolished by this Constitution, shall be transferred on the first day of January, eighteen hundred and eighty, to the Courts provided for in this Constitution; and the Courts to which the same are thus transferred shall have the same power and jurisdiction over them as if they had been in the first instance commenced, filed, or lodged therein.
Sec. 4. The Superintendent of Printing of the State of California shall, at least thirty days before the first Wednesday in May, A. D. eighteen hundred and seventy-nine, cause to be printed at the State Printing Office, in pamphlet form, simply stitched, as many copies of this Constitution as there are registered voters in this State, and mail one copy thereof to the post-office address of each registered voter; provided, any copies not called for ten days after reaching their delivery office, shall be subject to general distribution by the several Postmasters of the State. The Governor shall issue his proclamation, giving notice of the election for the adoption or rejection of this Constitution, at least thirty days before the said first Wednesday of May, eighteen hundred and seventy-nine, and the Boards of Supervisors of the several counties shall cause said proclamation to be made public in their respective counties, and general notice of said election to be given at least fifteen days next before said election.
Sec. 5. The Superintendent of Printing of the State of California shall, at least twenty days before said election, cause to be printed and delivered to the Clerk of each county in this State five times the number of properly prepared ballots for said election that there are voters in said respective counties, with the words printed thereon: "For the new Constitution." He shall likewise cause to be so printed and delivered to said Clerks five times the number of properly prepared ballots for said election that there are voters in said respective counties, with the words printed thereon: "Against the new Constitution." The Secretary of State is hereby authorized and required to furnish the Superintendent of State Printing a sufficient quantity of legal ballot paper, now on hand, to carry out the provisions of this Section.
Sec. 6. The Clerks of the several counties in the State shall, at least five days before said election, cause to be delivered to the Inspectors of Elections, at each election precinct or polling place in their respective counties, suitable registers, poll-books, forms of return, and an equal number of the aforesaid ballots, which number, in the aggregate, must be ten times greater than the number of voters in the said election precincts or polling places. The returns of the number of votes cast in the Presidential election in the year eighteen hundred and seventy-six shall serve as a basis of calculation for this and the preceding Section; provided, that the duties in this and the preceding Section imposed upon the Clerk of the respective counties shall, in the City and County of San Francisco, be performed by the Registrar of Voters for said city and county.
Sec. 7. Every citizen of the United States, entitled by law to vote for members of the Assembly in this State, shall be entitled to vote for the adoption or rejection of this Constitution.
Sec. 8. The officers of the several counties of this State, whose duty it is, under the law, to receive and canvass the returns from the several precincts of their respective counties, as well as of the City and County of San Francisco, shall meet at the usual places of meeting for such purposes on the first Monday after said election. If, at the time of meeting, the returns from each precinct in the county in which the polls were opened have been received, the Board must then and there proceed to canvass the returns; but if all the returns have not been received, the canvass must be postponed from time to time until all the returns are received, or until the second Monday after said election, when they shall proceed to make out returns of the votes cast for and against the new Constitution; and the proceedings of said Boards shall be the same as those prescribed for like Boards in the case of an election for Governor. Upon the completion of said canvass and returns, the said Board shall immediately certify the same, in the usual form, to the Governor of the State of California.
Sec. 9. The Governor of the State of California shall, as soon as the returns of said election shall be received by him, or within thirty days after said election, in the presence and with the assistance of the Controller, Treasurer, and Secretary of State, open and compute all the returns received of votes cast for and against the new Constitution. If, by such examination and computatation, it is ascertained that a majority of the whole number of votes cast at such election is in favor of such new Constitution, the Executive of this State shall, by his proclamation, declare such new Constitution to be the Constitution of the State of California, and, that it shall take effect and be in force on the days hereinafter specified.
Sec. 10. In order that future elections in this State shall conform to the requirements of this Constitution, the terms of all officers elected at the first election under the same shall be, respectively, one year shorter than the terms as fixed by law or by this Constitution; and the successors of all such officers shall be elected at the last election before the expiration of the terms as in this Section provided. The first officers chosen, after the adoption of this Constitution, shall be elected at the time and in the manner now provided by law. Judicial officers and the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall be elected at the time and in the manner that State officers are elected.
Sec. 11. All laws relative to the present judicial system of the State shall be applicable to the judicial system created by this Constitution until changed by legislation.
Sec. 12. This Constitution shall take effect and be in force on and after the fourth day of July, eighteen hundred and seventy-nine, at twelve o'clock meridian, so far as the same relates to the election of all officers, the commencement of their terms of office, and the meeting of the Legislature. In all other respects, and for all other purposes, this Constitution shall take effect on the first day of January, eighteen hundred and eighty, at twelve o'clock meridian.
Attest: Edwin F. Smith, Secretary.
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A. R. ANDREWS, |
DAVID LEWIS, |
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JOSEPH C. GORMAN, |
BENJ. SHURTLEFF, |