cers, not to exceed two in any county, to discharge the duties of County Judge and of Surrogate, in cases of their inability, or of a vacancy, and to exercise such other powers in special cases as may be provided by law.

SEC. 17. The Legislature shall provide for submitting to the electors of the State, at the general election in the year eighteen hundred and seventy-three, two questions, to be voted upon on separate ballots, as follows: First, Shall the offices of Chief Judge and Associate Judge of the Court of Appeals, and of Justice of the Supreme Court, be hereafter filled by appointment?"* If a majority of the votes upon the question shall be in the affirmative, the said officers shall not thereafter be elective, but, as vacancies occur, they shall be filled by appointment by the Governor by and with the advice and consent of the Senate; or if the Senate be not in session, by the Governor; but in such case, he shall nominate to the Senate when next convened, and such appointment by the Governor alone shall expire at the end of that session. Second, "Shall the offices of the Judges mentioned in sections twelve and fifteen of article six of the Constitution, be hereafter filled by appoint. ment?"* If a majority of the votes upon the question shall be in the affirmative, the said officers shall not thereafter be elective, but, as vacancies occur, they shall be filled in the manner in this section above provided.

SEC. 18. The electors of the several towns shall, at their annual town meeting, and in such manner as the Legislature may direct, elect Justices of the Peace, whose term of office shall be four years. In case of an election to fill a vacancy occurring before the expiration of a full term, they shall hold for the residue of the unexpired term. Their number and classification may be regulated by law. Jus

*Submitted to vote of the people, November 4, 1873 - pursuant to chapter 314, Laws of 1873,- and determined in the negative.

tices of the Peace, and Judges or Justices of inferior courts not of record and their clerks, may be removed, after due notice and an opportunity of being heard by such courts as may be prescribed by law, for causes to be assigned in the order of removal. Justices of the Peace and District Court Justices shall be elected in the different cities of this State, in such manner, and with such powers, and for such terms, respectively, as shall be prescribed by law; all other judicial officers in cities, whose election or appointment is not otherwise provided for in this article, shall be chosen by the electors of cities, or appointed by some local authorities thereof.

SEC. 19. Inferior local courts of civil and criminal jurisdiction may be established by the Legislature; and except as herein otherwise provided, all judicial officers shall be elected or appointed at such times, and in such manner, as the Legislature may direct.

SEC. 20. Clerks of the several counties shall be Clerks of the Supreme Court, with such powers and duties as shall be prescribed by law. The Clerk of the Court of Appeals shall keep his office at the seat of government. His compensation shall be fixed by law and paid out of the public treasury.

SEC. 21. No judicial officer, except Justices of the Peace, shall receive to his own use any fees or perquisites of office; nor shall any Judge of the Court of Appeals, Justice of the Supreme Court, or Judge of a court of record in the cities of New York, Brooklyn or Buffalo, practice as an attorney or counselor in any court of record in this State, or act as referee.

SEC. 22. The Legislature may authorize the judgments, decrees and decisions of any court of record of original civil jurisdiction, established in a city, to be removed for review, directly into the Court of Appeals.

SEC. 23. The Legislature shall provide for the speedy publication of all Statutes, and also for the appointment by the Justices of the Supreme Court designated to hold General Terms, of a reporter of the decisions of that court. All laws and judicial decisions shall be free for publication by any person.

SEC. 24. The first election of Judges of the Court of Appeals, and of the three additional Judges of the Court of Common Pleas for the city and county of New York shall take place on such day, between the first Tuesday of April and the second Tuesday in June next after the adoption of this article, as may be provided by law. The Court of Appeals,

the additional Judges

the Commissioners of Appeals, and of the said Court of Common Pleas, shall respectively enter upon their duties on the first Monday of July thereafter.

SEC. 25. Surrogates, Justices of the Peace and local judicial officers provided for in section sixteen, in office when this article shall take effect, shall hold their respective offices until the expiration of their terms.

SEC. 26. Courts of Special Sessions shall have such jurisdiction of offenses of the grade of misdemeanors as may be prescribed by law.

SEC. 27. For the relief of Surrogates' Courts, the Legislature may confer upon courts of record, in any county having a population exceeding four hundred thousand, the powers and jurisdiction of Surrogates, with authority to try issues of fact by jury in probate causes.

*SEC. 28. The Court of Appeals may order any of the causes, not exceeding five hundred in number, pending in that court at the time of the adoption of this provision, to be heard and determined by the Commissioners of Ap

*Section 28 added by vote of the people, November 5, 1872.

peals, and the Legislature may extend the term of service of the Commissioners of Appeals, not exceeding two years.*

SEC. 28. The Legislature, at the first session thereof after the adoption of this amendment, shall provide for organizing in the Supreme Court not more than five General Terms thereof; and for the election at the general elec tion next after the adoption of this amendment, by the electors of the judicial districts mentioned in this section, respectively, of not more than two Justices of the Supreme Court in addition to the Justices of that court now in office in the first, fifth seventh and eighth, and not more than one Justice of that court in the second, third, fourth and sixth judicial districts. The Justices so elected shall be invested with their offices on the first Monday of June next after their election.

ARTICLE VII.

SECTION 1. After paying the expenses of collection, superintendence and ordinary repairs, there shall be appropriated and set apart in each fiscal year out of the revenues of the State canals, in each year, commencing on the first day of June, one thousand eight hundred and forty-six, the sum of one million and three hundred thousand dollars until the first day of June, one thousand eight hundred and fiftyfive, and from that time the sum of one million and seven hundred thousand dollars in each fiscal year, as a sinking fund to pay the interest and redeem the principal of that part of the State debt called the canal debt, as it existed at the time first aforesaid, and including three hundred thousand dollars then to be borrowed, until the same shall

Term of service of Commissioners of Appeals extended to July 1, 1875, by chapter 3, Laws of 1873.

So in the original. As amended by vote of the people, November 7, 1882. See chapter 329, Laws of 1883.

be wholly paid; and the principal and income of the said sinking fund shall be sacredly applied to that purpose.

SEC. 2. After complying with the provisions of the first section of this article, there shall be appropriated and set apart cut of the surplus revenues of the State canals, in each fiscal year, commencing on the first day of June, one thousand eight hundred and forty-six, the sum of three hundred and fifty thousand dollars, until the time when a sufficient sum shall have been appropriated and set apart under the said first section, to pay the interest and extinguish the entire principal of the canal debt; and after that period then the sum of one million and five hundred thousand dollars in each fiscal year, as a sinking fund, to pay the interest and redeem the principal of that part of the State debt called the general fund debt, including the debt for loans of the State credit to railroad companies which have failed to pay the interest thereon, and also the contingent debt on State stocks loaned to incorporated companies which have hitherto paid the interest thereon, whenever and as far as any part thereof may become a charge on the Treasury or general fund, until the same shall be wholly paid; and the principal and income of the said last-mentioned sinking fund shall be sacredly applied to the purpose aforesaid, and if the payment of any part of the moneys to the said sinking fund shall at any time be deferred, by reason of the priority recognized in the first section of this article, the sum so deferred with quarterly interest thereon at the then current rate shall be paid to the last-mentioned sinking fund, as soon as it can be done consistently with the just rights of the creditors holding said canal debt.

SEC. 3. The first and second sections of this article having been fully complied with, no tolls shall hereafter be imposed on persons or property transported on the canals, but all boats navigating the canals, and the owners and * Section 3, as amended by vote of the people, November 7, 1882.