ARTICLE 5.-JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT. 1. The judicial power shall be vested in a supreme court, district courts, and such inferior courts as the general assembly may from time to time establish. 2. The supreme court shall consist of a chief justice and two associates, two of whom shall be a quorum to hold court. 3. The judges of the supreme court shall be elected by joint vote of both branches of the general assembly, and shall hold their courts at such time and place as the general assembly may direct, and hold their offices for six years, and until their successors are elected and qualified, and shall be ineligible to any other office during the term for which they may be elected. The supreme court shall have appellate jurisdiction only in all cases in chancery, and shall constitute a court for the correction of errors at law, under such restrictions as the general assembly may by law prescribe. The supreme court may have power to issue all writs and process necessary to do justice to parties, and exercise a supervisory control over all inferior judicial tribunals, and the judges of the supreme court shall be conservators of the peace throughout the State. 4. The district court shall consist of a judge, who shall be elected by the qualified voters of the district in which he resides, at the township election, and hold his office for the term of five years, and until his successor is elected and qualified, and shall be ineligible to any other office during the term for which he may be elected. The district court shall be a court of law and equity and have jurisdiction in all civil and criminal matters arising in their respective districts, in such manner as shall be prescribed by law. The judges of the district courts shall be conservators of the peace in their respective districts. The first session of the general assembly shall divide the State into four districts, which may be increased as the exigencies require. 5. The qualified voters of each county, shall at the general election elect one prosecuting attorney and one clerk of the district court, who shall be residents therein, and who shall hold their several offices for the term of two years and until their successors are elected and qualified. 6. The style of the process shall be, "The State of Iowa," and all prosecutions shall be conducted in the name and by the authority of the same. 1. The militia of the State shall be composed of all able-bodied white male citizens between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years, except such as are or may hereafter be exempt by the laws of the United States, or of this State, and shall be armed, equipped, and trained, as the general assembly may provide by law. 2. No person or persons conscientiously scrupulous of bearing arms shall be compelled to do militia duty in time of peace: provided, that such person or persons shall pay an equivalent for such exemption in the same manner as other citizens. 3. All commissioned officers of the militia, (staff officers excepted), shall be elected by the person's liable to perform military duty, and shall be commissioned by the governor. ARTICLE 7.STATE DEBTS. 1. The general assembly 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 one hundred thousand dollars, except in case of war, to repel invasion, or suppress insurrection, unless the same shall be authorized by some 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 irrepealable 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 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 judicial district, if one is published therein, throughout the State, for three months preceding the election at which it is submitted to the people. 1. No corporate body shall hereafter be created, renewed or extended with the privilege of making, issuing, or putting in circulation, any bill, check, ticket, certificate, promissory note, or other paper, or the paper of any bank to circulate as money. The general assembly of this State shall prohibit, by law, any person or persons, association, company or corporation, from exercising the privilege of banking, or creating paper to circulate as money. 2. Corporations shall not be created in this State by special laws, except for political or municipal purposes; but the general assembly shall provide by general laws, for the organization of all other corporations, except corporations with banking privileges, the creation of which is prohibited. The stockholders shall be subject to such liabilities and restrictions as shall be provided by law. The State shall not directly or indirectly become a stockholder in any corporation. ARTICLE 9. -EDUCATION AND SCHOOL LANDS. 1. The general assembly shall provide for the election by the people, of a superintendent of public instruction, who shall hold his office for three years and whose duties shall be prescribed by law, and who shall receive such compensation as the general assembly may direct. 2. The general assembly shall encourage, by all suitable means the promotion of intellectual, scientific, moral and agricultural improvement. The proceeds of lands that have been or hereafter may be granted by the United States to this State, for the support of schools, which shall hereafter be 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. 1841, and all estates of deceased persons, who may have died without leaving a will or heir; and also such per cent as may be 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 general assembly may provide shall be inviolably appropriated to the support of common schools throughout the state. 3. The general assembly shall provide for a system of common schools, by which a school shall be kept up and supported in each school district, at least three months in every year; and any school district neglecting to keep up and support such a school may be deprived of its proportion of the interest of the public fund during such neglect. 4. The money which shall be paid by persons as an equivalent for exemption from military duty, and the clear proceeds of all fines collected in the several counties for any breach of the penal laws, shall be exclusively applied in the several counties in which such money is paid or fine collected, among the several school districts of said counties, in the proportion to the number of inhabitants in such districts, to the support of common schools, or the establishment of libraries, as the general assembly shall, from time to time, provide by law. 5. The general assembly shall take measures for the protection, improvement or other disposition of such lands as have been or may hereafter be reserved or granted by the United States, or any person or persons to this State, for the use of a university; and the funds accruing from the rents or sale of such lands, or from any other source, for the purposes aforesaid, shall be and remain a permanent fund, the interest of which shall be applied to the support of said university, with such branches as the public convenience may hereafter demand for the promotion of literature, the arts and sciences, as may be authorized by the terms of such grant. And it shall be the duty of the general assembly, as soon as may be, to provide effectual means for the improvement and permanent security of the funds of said university. 1. If at any time the general assembly shall think it necessary to revise or amend this constitution, they shall provide by law for a vote of the people for or against a convention, at the next ensuing election for members of the general assembly. In case a majority of the people vote in favor of a convention, said general assembly shall provide for an election of delegates to a convention, to be held within six months after the vote of the people in favor thereof. ARTICLE 11.- MISCELLANEOUS. 1. The jurisdiction of the justices of the peace shall extend to all civil cases (except cases in chancery, and cases where the question of title to any real estate may arise) where the amount in controversy does not exceed one hundred dollars, and by the consent of parties may be extended to any amount not exceeding five hundred dollars. 2. No new county shall be laid off hereafter, nor old county reduced to less contents than four hundred and thirty-two square miles. 3. The general assembly shall not locate any of the public lands which have. been or may be granted by congress to this State, and the location of which may be given to the general assembly, upon lands actually settled, without the consent of the occupant. The extent of the claim of such occupant, so exempted, shall not exceed three hundred and twenty acres. ARTICLE 12.- SCHEDULE. 1. That no inconvenience may arise from the change of a territorial govern. ment to a permanent state government, it is declared that all writs, actions, prosecutions, contracts, claims and rights shall continue as if no change had taken place in this government; and all process which may, before the organization of the judicial department under this constitution, be issued under the authority of the territory of Iowa, shall be as valid as if issued in the name of the State. 2. All the laws now in force in this territory, which are not repugnant to this constitution, shall remain in force until they expire by their own limitations, or be altered or repealed by the general assembly of this State. 3. All fines, penalties and forfeitures accruing to the territory of Iowa shall accrue to the use of the State. 4. All recognizances heretofore taken, or which may hereafter be taken, before the organization of the judicial department under this constitution, shall remain valid, and shall pass to and may be prosecuted in the name of the State. And all bonds executed to the governor of this territory, or to any other officer in his official capacity, shall pass over to the governor of the State or other proper State authority, and to their successors in office, for the uses therein respectively expressed, and may be sued for and recovered accordingly. All criminal prosecutions and penal actions which may have arisen, or may arise, before the organization of the judicial department under this constitution, and which shall then be pending, may be prosecuted to judgment and execution in the name of the State. 5. All officers, civil and military, now holding their offices and appointments in this territory, under the authority of the United States, or under the authority of this territory, shall continue to hold and execute their respective offices and appointments until superseded under this constitution. 6. The first general election under this constitution shall be held at such time as the governor of the territory, by proclamation, may appoint, within three months after its adoption, for the election of a governor, two representatives in the congress of the United States (unless congress shall provide for the election of one representative), members of the general assembly, and one auditor, treasurer, and secretary of state. Said election shall be conducted in accordance with the existing laws of this territory; and said governor, representatives in the congress of the United States, auditor, treasurer, and secretary of state, duly elected at said election, shall continue to discharge the duties of their respective offices for the time prescribed by this constitution, and until their successors are elected and qualified. The returns of said election shall be made in conformity to the existing laws of this territory.. 7. Until the first enumeration of the inhabitants of this Statę, as directed by this constitution, the following shall be the apportionment of the general assembly: The county of Lee shall be entitled to two senators and five representatives; The county of Van Buren, two senators and four representatives; The counties of Davis and Appanoose, one senator and one representative, . jointly; The counties of Wapello and Monroe, one senator jointly and one representative each; The counties of Marion, Polk, Dallas, and Jasper, one senator and two representatives, jointly; The county of Des Moines, two senators and four representatives; The county of Jefferson, one senator and three representatives; The counties of Louisa and Washington, one senator jointly, and one representative each; The counties of Keokuk and Mahaska, one senator jointly, and one representative each; The counties of Muscatine, Johnson, and Iowa, one senator and one representative jointly, and Muscatine one representative, and Johnson and Iowa one representative jointly ; The counties of Scott and Clinton, one senator jointly, and one representative each; The counties of Cedar, Linn, and Benton, one senator jointly; the county of Cedar one representative, and the counties of Linn and Benton one representative jointly; The counties of Jackson and Jones, one senator and two representatives; The counties of Dubuque, Delaware, Clayton, Fayette, Buchanan and Blackhawk, two senators and two representatives jointly; And any county attached to any county for judicial purposes shall, unless otherwise provided for, be considered as forming part of such county, for election purposes. 8. The first meeting of the general assembly under this constitution shall be at such time as the governor of the territory may by proclamation appoint, within four months after its ratification by the people, at Iowa city, in Johnson county, which place shall be the seat of government of the State of Iowa, until removed by law. Done in convention, at Iowa city, this eighteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the seventieth. In testimony whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names: ENOS LOWE, President. E |