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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 shall be bailable by sufficient sureties, unless for capital offenses when 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 actions 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. 8. Offenses heretofore required to be prosecuted by indictment shall be prosecuted by information, after examination and commitment by a Magistrate, or by indictment, with or without such examination and commitment, as may be prescribed by law. A grand jury shall be drawn and summoned at least once a year in each county.

 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 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 up 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 prosecutions, in any Court whatever, the party accused shall have the right to 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, revoked, 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 departments 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 M. 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 he 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 the 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 as may be, and 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, as 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 publish 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 funs ions 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 again pass 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 such 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 mariner 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 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 be 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 he 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, such county, city and county, city, or town, shall be entitled to receive the same pro rata 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 diem 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 the 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 impending 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 persons, 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—Exempting 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 counties, 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 a 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 a 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 for 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 number 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 adjoining 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 thing 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 corrupt 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 have 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, stat­ing the purposes for which he 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 he 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 die term for which they shall have been elected, which compensation is hereby fixed for the following officers for the two terms nest ensuing the adoption of this Constitution, as follows: Governor, six thousand dollars per annum; Lieutenant-Governor, the same per ^'diem as maybe 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 of^fice 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 to 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, any one 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 the 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 clays 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 be 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 Jud