Gambar halaman
PDF
ePub

thereon, under such regulations as may be prescribed by law. And the general assembly shall, from time to time, pass laws establishing reasonable maximum rates of charges for the transportation of passengers and freight on the different railroads in this State.

13. No railroad corporation shall issue any stock or bonds, except for money, labor or property actually received, and applied to the purposes for which such corporation was created; and all stock dividends, and other fictitious increase of the capital stock or indebtedness of any such corporation, shall be void. The capital stock of no railroad corporation shall be increased for any purpose, except upon giving sixty days' public notice, in such manner as may be provided by law.

14. The exercise of the power, and the right of eminent domain, shall never be so construed or abridged as to prevent the taking, by the general assembly, of the property and franchises of incorporated companies already organized, and subjecting them to the public necessity the same as of individuals. The right of trial by jury shall be held inviolate in all trials of claims for compensation, when, in the exercise of the said right of eminent domain, any incorporated company shall be interested either for or against the exercise of said right.

15. The general assembly shall pass laws to correct abuses and prevent unjust discrimination and extortion in the rates of freight and passenger tariffs on the different railroads in this State, and enforce such laws by adequate penalties, to the extent, if necessary for that purpose, of forfeiture of their property and franchises.

[blocks in formation]

Militia. SEC. I. The militia of the State of Illinois shall consist of all able-bodied male persons, resident in the State, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, except such persons as now are, or hereafter may be, exempted by the laws of the United States, or of this State.

2. The general assembly, in providing for the organization, equipment and discipline of the militia, shall conform as nearly as practicable to the regulations for the government of the armies of the United States. 3. All militia officers shall be commissioned by the governor, and may hold their commissions for such time as the general assembly may provide.

4. The militia shall in all cases, except treason, felony, or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at musters and elections, and in going to and returning from the same.

5. The military records, banners and relics of the State, shall be preserved as an enduring memorial of the patriotism and valor of Illinois, and it shall be the duty of the general assembly to provide, by law, for the safe-keeping of the same.

§ 6. No person having conscientious scruples against bearing arms shall be compelled to do militia duty in time of peace: Provided, such Derson shall pay an equivalent for such exemption.

ARTICLE XIII.

Warehouses. SEC. 1. All elevators or storehouses where grain or other property is stored for a compensation, whether the property stored be kept separate or not, are declared to be public warehouses.

§2. The owner, lessee or manager of each and every public warehouse situated in any town or city of not less than 100,000 inhabitants, shall make weekly statements under oath, before some officer to be designated by law, and keep the same posted in some conspicuous place in the office of such warehouse, and shall also file a copy for public examination in such place as shall be designated by law, which statement shall correctly set forth the amount and grade of each and every kind of grain in such warehouse, together with such other property as may be stored therein, and what warehouse receipts have been issued, and are, at the time of making such statement, outstanding therefor; and shall, on the copy posted in the warehouse, note daily such changes as may be made in the quantity and grade of grain in such warehouse; and the different grades of grain shipped in separate lots shall not be mixed with inferior or superior grades without the consent of the owner or consignee thereof.

3. The owners of property stored in any warehouse, or holder of a receipt for the same, shall always be at liberty to examine such property stored, and all the books and records of the warehouse in regard to such property.

[C. B. & Q. R. R. Co. v. Hoyt, 1 Brad. 385.

$4. All railroad companies and other common carriers on railroads shall weigh or measure grain at points where it is shipped, and receipt for the full amount, and shall be responsible for the delivery of such amount to the owner or consignee thereof, at the place of destination.

$5. All railroad companies receiving and transporting grain in bulk or otherwise shall deliver the same to any consignee thereof, or any elevator or public warehouse to which it may be consigned, provided such consignee or the elevator or public warehouse can be reached by any track owned, leased or used, or which can be used, by such railroad companies; and all railroad companies shall permit connections to be made with their track, so that any such consignee, and any public warehouse, coal bank or coal yard, may be reached by the cars on said railroad. 6. It shall be the duty of the general assembly to pass all [*81] necessary laws to prevent the issue of false and fraudulent warehouse receipts, and to give full effect to this article of the constitution, which shall be liberally construed so as to protect producers and shippers. And the enumeration of the remedies herein named shall not be construed to deny to the general assembly the power to prescribe by law such other and further remedies as may be found expedient, or to deprive any person of existing common law remedies.

7. The general assembly shall pass laws for the inspection of grain, for the protection of producers, shippers and receivers of grain and produce.

ARTICLE XIV.

Amendments to the constitution. SEC. 1. Whenever twothirds of the members of each house of the general assembly shall, by a vote entered upon the journals thereof, concur that a convention is necessary to revise, alter or amend the constitution, the question shall be submitted to the electors at the next general election. If a majority voting at the election vote for a convention, the general assembly shall, at the next session, provide for a convention, to consist of double the number of members of the senate, to be elected in the same manner, at the same places, and in the same districts. The general assembly shall, in the act calling the convention, designate the day, hour and place of its meeting, fix the pay of its members and officers, and provide for the payment of the same, together with expenses necessarily incurred by the convention in the performance of its duties. Before proceeding the members shall take an oath to support the constitution of the United States, and of the State of Illinois, and to faithfully discharge their duties as members of the convention. The qualification of members shall be the same as that of members of the senate, and vacancies occurring shall be filled in the manner provided for filling vacancies in the general assembly. Said convention shall meet within three months after such election, and prepare such revision, alteration or amendments of the constitution as shall be deemed necessary, which shall be submitted to the electors for their ratification or rejection, at an election appointed by the convention for that purpose, not less than two nor more than six months after the adjournment thereof; and unless so submitted and approved by a majority of the electors voting at the election, no such revision, alterations or amendments shall take effect.

§ 2. Amendments to this constitution may be proposed in either house of the general assembly, and if the same shall be voted for by two-thirds of all the members elected to each of the two houses, such proposed amendments, together with the yeas and nays of each house thereon, shall be entered in full on their respective journals; and said amendments shall be submitted to the clectors of this State for adoption or rejection, at the next election of members of the general assembly, in such manner as may be prescribed by law. The proposed amendments shall be published in full at least three months preceding the election, and if a majority of the electors voting at said election shall vote for the proposed amendments, they shall become a part of this constitution. But the general assembly shall have no power to propose amendments to more than one article of this constitution at the same session, nor to the same article oftener than once in four years.

SEPARATE SECTIONS.

Illinois Central Railroad. No contract, obligation or liability whatever, of the Illinois Central Railroad Company, to pay any money into the State treasury, nor any lien of the State upon, or right to tax property of said company in accordance with the provisions of the charter of said company, approved February 10th, in the year of our Lord

[*82]

1851, shall ever be released, suspended, modified, altered, remitted, or in any manner diminished or impaired by legislative or other authority; and all moneys derived from said company, after the payment of the State debt, shall be appropriated and set apart for the payment of the ordinary expenses of the State government, and for no other purposes whatever.

Municipal subscriptions to railroads or private corporations. No county, city, town, township or other municipality, shall ever become subscriber to the capital stock of any railroad or private corporation, or make donation to or loan its credit in aid of such corporation: Provided, however, that the adoption of this article shall not be construed as affecting the right of any such municipality to make such subscriptions where the same have been authorized, under existing laws, by a vote of the people of such municipalities prior to such adoption.

[Wright v. Bishop, 88 Ill. 302.

Canal. The Illinois and Michigan canal shall never be sold or leased until the specific proposition for the sale or lease thereof shall first have been submitted to a vote of the people of the State at a general election, and have been approved by a majority of all the votes polled at such election. The general assembly shall never loan the credit of the State, or make appropriations from the treasury thereof, in aid of railroads or canals: Provided, that any surplus earnings of any canal may be appropriated for its enlargement or extension.

SCHEDULE.

That no inconvenience may arise from the alterations and amendments made in the constitution of this State, and to carry the same into complete effect, it is hereby ordained and declared:

SEC. 1. That all laws in force at the adoption of this constitution, not inconsistent therewith, and all rights, actions, prosecutions, claims, and contracts of this State, individuals, or bodies corporate, shall continue to be as valid as if this constitution had not been adopted. [Fuller v. Heath, 89 Ill. 313; City of Chicago v. Rumsey, 87 Ill. 360.

$2. That all fines, taxes, penalties and forfeitures, due and owing to the State of Illinois under the present constitution and laws, shall inure to the use of the people of the State of Illinois, under this constitution. $3. Recognizances, bonds, obligations, and all other instruments entered into or executed before the adoption of this Constitution, to the people of the State of Illinois, to any State or county officer or public body, shall remain binding and valid; and rights and liabilities upon the same shall continue, and all crimes and misdemeanors shall be tried and punished as though no change had been made in the constitution of this State.

$4. County courts for the transaction of county business in counties not having adopted township organization, shall continue in existence and exercise their present jurisdiction until the board of county commissioners provided in this constitution is organized in pursuance of an

act of the general assembly; and the county courts in all other counties shall have the same power and jurisdiction they now possess until otherwise provided by general law.

5. All existing courts which are not in this constitution specifically enumerated, shall continue in existence and exercise their present juris. diction until otherwise provided by law.

6. All persons now filling any office or appointment shall continue in the exercise of the duties thereof according to their respective commissions or appointments, unless by this constitution it is otherwise directed.

[blocks in formation]

18. All laws of the State of Illinois, and all official writings, and the executive, legislative and judicial proceedings, shall be conducted, preserved and published in no other than the English language.

19. The general assembly shall pass all laws necessary to carry into effect the provisions of this constitution.

20. The circuit clerks of the different counties having a popu [*83] lation over sixty thousand, shall continue to be recorders (ex-officio) for their respective counties, under this constitution, until the expiration of their respective terms.

21. The judges of all courts of record in Cook county shall, in lieu of any salary provided for in this constitution, receive the compensation now provided by law until the adjournment of the first session of the general assembly after the adoption of this constitution.

22. The present judge of the circuit court of Cook county shall continue to hold the circuit court of Lake county until otherwise provided by law.

$23. When this constitution shall be adopted, and take effect as the supreme law of the State of Illinois, the two-mill tax provided to be annually assessed and collected upon each dollar's worth of taxable property, in addition to all other taxes, as set forth in article fifteen of the now existing constitution, shall cease to be assessed after the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy.

24. Nothing contained in this constitution shall be so construed as to deprive the general assembly of power to authorize the city of Quincy to create any indebtedness for railroad or municipal purposes, for which the people of said city shall have voted, and to which they shall have given, by such vote, their assent, prior to the thirteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixtynine: Provided, that no such indebtedness, so created, shall in any part thereof be paid by the State, or from any State revenue, tax or fund, but the same shall be paid, if at all, by the said city of Quincy alone, and by taxes to be levied upon the taxable property thereof: And, provided, further, that the general assembly shall have no power in the premises that it could not exercise under the present constitution of this State.

25. In case this constitution and the articles and sections submitted separately be adopted, the existing constitution shall cease in all its provisions; and in case this constitution be adopted, and any one or more

[NOTE.- 7 to 17 inclusive were temporary in character, having sole reference to the submission of this constitution to the people to vote upon it, etc., and are, consequently, omitted.—ED.]

« SebelumnyaLanjutkan »