pursuant to the provisions of this constitution, except when herein otherwise directed, shall commence on the day of the date of their respective commissions; but no commission for any office shall bear date prior to the expiration of the term of the incumbent of said office.

ARTICLE VIII.

GENERAL PROVISIONS.

1. The secretary of state shall be ex officio an auditor of the accounts of the treasurer, and as such, it shall be his duty to assist the legislature in the annual examination and settlement of said accounts, until otherwise provided by law.

2. The seal of the state shall be kept by the governor or person administering the government, and used by him officially, and shall be called the Great Seal of the State of New Jersey.

3. All grants and commissions shall be in the name and by the authority of the State of New Jersey, sealed with the great seal, signed by the governor or person administering the government, and countersigned by the secretary of state, and shall run thus: "The State of New Jersey, to

greeting." All writs shall be in the name of the state; and all indictments shall conclude in the following manner, viz: "against the peace of this state the government and dignity of the same."

4. This constitution shall take effect and go into operation on the second day of September in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and forty-four.

ARTICLE IX.

AMENDMENTS.

Any specific amendment or amendments, to the constitution may be proposed in the Senate or General Assembly, and if the same shall be agreed to by a majority of the members elected to each of the two houses, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be entered on their journals, with the yeas and nays taken thereon, and referred to the legislature then next to be chosen, and shall be published for three months previous to making such choice, in at least one newspaper of each county, if any be published therein; and if in the legislature, next chosen, as aforesaid, such proposed amendment or amendments, or any of them, shall be agreed to by a majority of all the members elected to each house, then it shall be the duty of the legislature to submit such proposed amendment or amendments, or such of them as may have been agreed to as aforesaid by the two legislatures, to the people, in such manner and at such time at

least four months after the adjournment of the legislature, as the legislature shall prescribe; and if the people at a special election, to be held for that purpose only, shall approve and ratify such amendment or amendments, or any of them by a majority of the electors qualified to vote for members of the legislature voting thereon, such amendment or amendments so approved and ratified shall become part of the constitution: provided, that if more than one amendment be submitted, they shall be submitted in such manner and form that the people may vote for, or against each amendment separately and distinctly; but no amendment or amendments shall be submitted to the people by the legislature oftener than once in five years.

ARTICLE X.

SCHEDULE.

That no inconvenience may arise from the change in the constitution of this state, and in order to carry the same into complete operation, it is hereby declared and ordained, that

1. The common law and statute laws now in force not repug nant to this constitution, shall remain in force until they expire by their own limitation, or be altered or repealed by the legis lature; and all writs, actions, causes of action, prosecutions, contracts, claims and rights of individuals and of bodies corporate, and of the state, and all charters of incorporation, shall continue, and all indictments which shall have been found, or which may hereafter be found, for any crime or offence committed before the adoption of this constitution, may be proceeded upon as if no change had taken place. The several courts of law and equity, except as herein otherwise provided, shall continue with the like powers and jurisdiction as if this constitution had not been adopted.

2. All officers 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.

3. The present governor, chancellor and ordinary or surrogate general, and treasurer shall continue in office until successors elected or appointed under this constitution shall be sworn or affirmed into office.

4. In case of the death, resignation, or disability of the present governor, the person who may be vice president of Council at the time of the adoption of this constitution shall continue in office and administer the government until a governor shall have been elected and sworn or affirmed into office under this constitution.

5. The present governor, or in case of his death or ina

bility to act, the vice president of Council, together with the present members of the Legislative Council and secretary of state shall constitute a board of state canvassers, in the manner now provided by law, for the purpose of ascertaining and declaring the result of the next ensuing election for governor, members of the House of Representatives and electors of president and vice president.

6. The returns of the votes for governor, at the said next ensuing election shall be transmitted to the secretary of state, the votes counted, and the election declared, in the manner now provided by law in the case of the election of electors of president and vice president.

7. The election of clerks and surrogates, in those counties where the term of office of the present incumbents shall expire previous to the general election of eighteen hundred and forty-five, shall be held at the general election next ensuing the adoption of this constitution; the result of which election shall be ascertained in the manner now provided by law for the election of sheriffs.

8. The elections for the year eighteen hundred and fortyfour shall take place as now provided by law.

9. It shall be the duty of the governor to fill all vacancies in office happening between the adoption of this constitution and the first session of the Senate, and not otherwise provided for; and the commissions shall expire at the end of the first session of the Senate, or when successors shall be elected or appointed and qualified.

10. The restriction of the pay of members of the legislature, after forty days from the commencement of the session, shall not be applied to the first legislature convened under this constitution.

11. Clerks of counties shall be clerks of the inferior courts of common pleas and quarter-sessions of the several counties, and perform the duties, and be subject to the regulations now required of them by law until otherwise ordained by the legis lature.

12. The legislature shall pass all laws necessary to carry into effect the provisions of this constitution.

Done in convention, at the State House in Trenton, on the twenty-ninth day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-four, and of the independence of the United States of America the sixty-eighth.

ALEXANDER WURTS,
President of the Convention.

WILLIAM PATERSON, Secretary.
TH: J. SAUNDERS, Assist. Sec'y.

NEW JERSEY, SS.

Be it remembered, that on the twenty-ninth day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fortyfour, the above constitution was delivered to the governor of this state, in open convention, by the president thereof; and it is thereupon, by the said governor, ordered and directed that the same be filed in the office of the secretary of state.

STATE OF NEW JERSEY, SS.

DAN'L. HAINES, Gov. of N. J.

The within constitution was delivered by His Excellency Daniel Haines, governor of this state, to me, in open convention, and is, by his order, filed in my office this 29th June, 1844. CHARLES G. McCHESNEY, Secretary of State.

A true copy.

CHARLES G. McCHESNEY, Sec'y of State.