one for two years, one for four years, their office on the first day of January Sec. 10. Institutions for the benefit of those inhabitants who are deaf, dumb, blind, or insane, shall always be fostered and supported. [See Art. XII, Sec. 2.] 1 Sec. 11. The Legislature shall en- Sec. 9. The Legislature shall procourage the promotion of intellectual, vide for the support and maintenance scientific, and agricultural improve- of an agricultural college, for instrucment; and shall as soon as practicable, tion in agriculture, and the natural provide for the establishment of an sciences connected therewith. agricultural school. The Legislature may appropriate the twenty-two sections of salt spring lands now unappropriated, or the money arising from the sale of the same, where such lands have been already sold, and any land which may hereafter be granted or appropriated for such purpose, for the support and maintenance of such school, and may make the same a branch of the University, for instructions in agriculture and the natural sciences connected therewith, and place the same under the supervision of the regents of the University. Sec. 12. The Legislature shall also provide for the establishment of at least one library in each township; and all fines assessed and collected in the several counties and townships for any breach of the penal laws, shall be exclusively applied to the support of such libraries. [See Art. XIII, Sec. 2.] [See Art. XIII, Sec. 3.] [See Art. XII, Sec. 4.] Sec. 10. The proceeds from the sale of all lands that have been or hereafter may be granted by the United States to the State for educational purposes, and the proceeds of all lands or other property given by individuals, or appropriated by the State for like purposes, shall be and remain a perpetual fund, the interest and income of which, together with the rents of all such lands as may remain unsold, shall be inviolably appropriated and annually applied to the specific objects of the original gift, grant or appropriation. Sec. 11. All lands, the title of which shall fail from a defect of heirs, shall escheat to the State; and the interest on the clear proceeds from the sale thereof, shall be appropriated exclusively to the support of primary schools. [See Art. XVII, Sec. 1.1 [See Art. XVII, Sec. 2.] [See Art. XVII, Sec. 3.] ARTICLE XIII. MILITARY DEPARTMENT. SECTION 1. The militia shall be composed of all able bodied male citizens between the ages of eighteen and fortyfive years, except such as are exempted by the laws of the United States, or of this State; but all citizens of any religious denomination, who, from scruples of conscience, may be averse to bearing arms, shall, in time of peace, be excused therefrom upon such terms and conditions as shall be prescribed by law. Sec. 2. The Legislature shall provide by law for organizing, equipping and disciplining the militia in such manner as they shall deem expedient, not incompatible with the laws of the United States. Sec. 3. Officers of the militia shall be elected or appointed, and be commissioned in such a manner as may be provided by law. ARTICLE XIV. FINANCE AND TAXATION. Sec. 1. All specific State taxes, except those received from the mining companies of the Upper Peninsula, shall be applied in paying the interest upon the primary school, university and other educational funds, and the interest and principal of the State debt, in the order herein recited, until the extinguishment of the State debt, other than the amounts due to educational funds; when such specific taxes shall be added to, and constitute a part of the primary school interest fund. The Legislature shall provide for an annual tax, sufficient, with other resources, to pay the estimated expenses of the State government, the interest of the State debt, and such deficiency as may occur in the resouces. Sec. 2. The Legislature shall provide by law a sinking fund of at least twenty thousand dollars a year, to commence in eighteen hundred and fifty-two, with compound interest at the rate of six per cent. per annum, and an annual increase of at least five per cent., to be applied solely to the payment and extinguishment of the principal of the State debt, other than the amounts due to educational funds, and shall be continued until the extinguishment thereof. The unfunded debt shall not CONSTITUTION OF 1835. [See Art. XII, Sec. 4.] CONSTITUTION OF 1850. be funded or redeemed at a value exceeding that established by law in one thousand eight hundred and fortyeight. Sec. 3. The State may contract debts to meet deficits in revenues. Such debts shall not in the aggregate at any one time exceed fifty thousand dollars. The moneys so raised shall be applied to the purposes for which they were obtained, or to the payment of the debts so contracted. Sec. 4. The State may contract debts to repel invasion, suppress insurrection, or defend the State in time of war. The money arising from the contracting of such debts shall be applied to the purposes for which it was raised, or to repay such debts. Sec. 5. No money shall be paid out of the treasury except in pursuance of appropriations made by law. Sec. 6. The credit of the State shall not be granted to or in aid of any person, association or corporation. Sec. 7. No scrip, certificate, or other evidence of State indebtedness shall be issued, except for the, redemption of stock previously issued, or for such debts as are expressly authorized in this Constitution. Sec. 8. The State shall not subscribe to or be interested in the stock of any company, association or corporation. Sec. 9. The State shall not be a party to or interested in any work of internal improvement, nor engaged in carrying on any such work, except in the expenditure of grants to the State, of land or other property. Sec. 10. The State may continue to collect all specific taxes accruing to the treasury under existing laws. The Legislature may provide for the collection of specific taxes from banking, railroad, plank road and other corporations hereafter created. Sec. 11. The Legislature shall provide an uniform rule of taxation, except on property paying specific taxes; and taxes shall be levied on such property as shall be prescribed by law. Sec. 12. All assessments hereafter authorized shall be on property at its cash value. Sec. 13. The Legislature shall provide for an equalization by a State board in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, and every fifth year thereafter, of assessments on all taxable property except that paying specific taxes. Sec. 14. Every law which imposes, continues or revives a tax, shall distinctly state the tax, and the object to which it is to be applied; and it shall not be sufficient to refer to any other aw to fix such tax or object. CONSTITUTION OF 1835. See Art. XII, Sec. 7.] [See Art. VII, Sec. 4.] CONSTITUTION OF 1850. [See Art. X, Sec. 1.] CONSTITUTION OF 1867. ARTICLE XIV. COUNTIES. SECTION 1. Each organized county shall be a body corporate, with such powers and immunities as shall be established by law. All suits and proceedings, by or against a county, shall be in the name thereof. Sec. 2. No new county shall be organized without submitting the question to a vote of the electors residing therein, nor unless a majority voting thereon shall vote for the same. Sec. 3. No new county, containing less than sixteen towns, as surveyed by the United States, shall be organized from one or more counties, nor shall any organized county be reduced by the organization of new counties to less than sixteen such towns, unless in pursuance of law, a majority of the votes cast by the electors residing in the county, or each of the counties to be thereby so reduced below sixteen townships, shall be in favor of such organization: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to prevent the Legislature from organizing any county composed wholly of islands within the territory of the State, or discontinuing any such county, and attaching the same to the nearest county or counties on the main land. Sec. 4. In each organized county there shall be a sheriff, a county clerk, a county treasurer, a register of deeds, a prosecuting attorney, and such other officers as may be provided by law, chosen by the electors thereof once in two years, and as often as vacancies shall happen, whose duties and powers shall be prescribed by the Legislature. The board of supervisors in any county may unite the offices of county clerk and register of deeds in one office, or disconnect the same. Sec. 5. The sheriff, county clerk, county treasurer, judge of probate, and register of deeds, shall hold their offices at the county seat. Sec. 6. The sheriff shall hold no other county office, nor the office of supervisor. No person shall be eligible to the office of sheriff for more than four in a period of six years. The county shall never be responsible for his acts. Sec. 7. A board of supervisors, consisting of one from each organized township, shall be established in each county, with such powers as shall be prescribed by law. Sec. 8. Cities shall have such representation in the board of supervisors as the Legislature may direct; and one or more additional representatives on the board may be allowed by the Leg CONSTITUTION OF 1867. islature to townships containing not less than three thousand inhabitants. Sec. 9. No county seat, once established, shall be removed until the place to which it is proposed to be removed shall be designated by a majority of the members elect of the board of supervisors of the county, and two-thirds of the electors voting thereon shall have voted in favor of the proposed location, in such manner as shall be prescribed by law. Sec. 10. The board of supervisors of any county may borrow, or raise by tax, a sum not exceeding one and onehalf mill upon the dollar, of the assessed valuation thereof, for constructing or repairing public buildings, highways or bridges; but no greater sum shall be borrowed, or raised by tax, for such purpose, in any one year, unless authorized by a majority of the electors of such county voting thereon. Sec. 11. The board of county auditors, in the county of Wayne, and in such other counties as may be authorized by law to elect county auditors, and in every other county the board of supervisors, shall, except as otherwise provided by law, have power to prescribe the compensation due for all services rendered for, and adjust all claims against their respective counties, and such determination and adjustment shall be subject to no appeal. Supervisors and county auditors shall receive for their services such compensation as shall be prescribed by law. ARTICLE XV. TOWNSHIPS. SECTION 1. There shall be elected annually, on the first Tuesday of March, in each organized township, one supervisor, one township clerk, one township treasurer, one school inspector, one commissioner of highways, not exceeding four constables, one overseer of highways for each highway district, and such other township officers as the Legislature may by law provide, who shall hold their offices until their successors are elected and qualified, and whose terms of office, powers and duties shall be prescribed by law. Sec. 2. Each organized township shall be a body corporate, with such powers and immunities as shall be prescribed by law. All suits and proceedings, by or against a township, shall be in the name thereof. ARTICLE XVI. CITIES AND VILLAGES. SECTION 1. The Legislature shall provide for the incorporation of cities and villages, and shall restrict their powers of taxation, borrowing money, contracting debts, and loaning their credit. }f : |