tribunals within their respective jurisdictions, and in other cases provided by law. The appellate jurisdiction of said courts shall not extend to any civil case in which the amount or value of the thing in controversy is less than twenty-five dollars, exclusive of costs, except upon an allowance of an appeal or writ of certiorari by a circuit court commissioner or the judge of the court entitled to exercise such appellate jurisdiction.

SEC. 9. Whenever a judge shall remove beyond the limits of the jurisdiction for which he was elected or appointed, or a justice of the peace from the township in which he was elected, or by a change in the boundaries of such township, shall be placed without the same, he shall be deemed to have vacated his office.

SEC. 10. When a vacancy occurs in the office of judge of the supreme, circuit, or probate court, it shall be filled by appointment of the governor, which shall continue until a successor is elected and qualified. When elected, such successor shall hold his office during the residue of the unexpired term.

SEC. 11. The clerk of each county organized for judicial purposes shall be clerk of the circuit court of such county. The judges of the circuit courts, within their respective jurisdictions, may fill vacancies in the offices of county clerk and prosecuting attorney.

SEC. 12. During their continuance in office, and for one year thereafter, the judges of the supreme and circuit courts shall be ineligible to any other than a judicial office.

SEC. 13. In each county organized for judicial purposes there shall be a court of probate. It shall have such probate jurisdiction, powers and duties as shall be prescribed by law. Other jurisdiction, civil and criminal, may also be, conferred on courts of probate. Judges of probate shall hold their offices for a term of four years, and shall be elected by the electors of their respective counties, as shall be provided by law.

SEC. 14. The supreme, circuit and probate courts shall be courts of record, and shall each have a common seal.

SEC. 15. There shall be not exceeding four justices of the peace in each organized township. They shall be elected by the electors of the townships, and shall hold their offices for four years, and until their successors are elected and qualified. At the first election in any township, they shall be classified as shall be prescribed by law. A justice elected to fill a vacancy shall hold his office for the residue of the unexpired term.

SEC. 16. In civil cases justices of the peace shall have exclusive jurisdiction to the amount of one hundred dollars, and concurrent jurisdiction to the amount of three hundred dollars, which may be increased to five hundred dollars, with such exceptions and restrictions as may be provided by law. They shall also have such criminal jurisdiction, and perform such duties, as shall be prescribed by the legislature.

SEC. 17. Judges of the supreme court, circuit judges, and justices of the peace, shall be conservators of the peace within their respective jurisdictions. SEC. 18. The style of all process shall be: "In the name of the People of the State of Michigan."

ARTICLE VII.

ELECTIVE FRANCHISE.

SECTION 1. In all elections, every person of the age of twenty-one years who shall have resided in this State three months, and in the township or ward

in which he offers to vote ten days next preceding an election, belonging to either of the following classes, shall be an elector and entitled to vote:

First-Every male citizen of the United States;

Second-Every male inhabitant of this State, who shall have resided in the United States two years and six months, and declared his intention to become a citizen of the United States pursuant to the laws thereof, six months preceding an election;

Third-Every male inhabitant residing in this State on the twenty-fourth day of June, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five.

SEC. 2. In time of war, insurrection or rebellion, the right to vote at such place, and in such manner as shall be prescribed by law, shall be enjoyed by all persons otherwise entitled thereto, who may be in the actual military or naval service of the United States, or of this State, and their votes shall be made to apply to the township or ward of which they are residents. The Legislature may provide by law for allowing townships to hold their elections in any city wholly or in part within the limits of such townships.

SEC. 3. All elections shall be by ballot, except of such township officers as may be authorized by law to be otherwise chosen.

SEC. 4. Every elector, in all cases except treason, felony, misdemeanor, or breach of the peace, shall be privileged from arrest during his attendance at election, and in going to and returning from the same. No elector shall be obliged to attend court as a suitor or witness on the day of election, or to do military duty thereon except in time of war or public danger.

SEC. 5. No elector shall be deemed to have gained or lost his residence by reason of absence there from in the service of the United States or of this State, nor while engaged in the navigation of the waters of this State or of the United States, or of the high seas, nor while a student at any seminary of learning, nor while kept at any alms-house or other asylum at public expense, nor while confined in any public prison.

SEC. 6. Laws may be passed to preserve the purity of elections, and guard against abuses of the elective franchise.

SEC. 7. No soldier, seaman, or marine in the army or navy of the United States, shall be deemed a resident of this State in consequence of being stationed in any place within the same.

SEC. 8. Any inhabitant of this State who may hereafter be engaged in a duel shall be disqualified from holding any office and from voting at any election.

ARTICLE VIII. .

STATE OFFICERS.

SECTION 1. There shall be elected at each general biennial election in November a secretary of state, a state treasurer, a commissioner of the state land office, a superintendent of public instruction, an auditor general, and an attorney general, for the term of two years, each of whom shall keep his office at the seat of government, and shall perform such duties as may be prescribed by law.

SEC. 2. Their term of office shall commence on the first day of January following their election.

SEC. 3. Whenever a vacancy shall occur in any of the State offices, the governor shall fill the same by appointment, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, if in session.

SEC. 4. The secretary of state, state treasurer and commissioner of the state land office, shall constitute a board of state auditors, to examine and adjust

all claims against the State not otherwise provided for by law. They shall also constitute a board of state canvassers, to determine the result of all elections for governor, lieutenant governor and state officers, and of such other officers as shall by law be referred to them.

SEC. 5. In case two or more persons have an equal and the highest number of votes for any office, às canvassed by the board of state canvassers, the legislature, in joint convention, shall choose one of said persons to fill such office. When the determination of the board of state canvassers is contested, the legislature in joint convention shall decide which person is elected.

ARTICLE IX.

SALARIES.

SECTION 1. The governor shall receive an annual salary of three thousand dollars; the circuit judges shall receive an annual salary of two thousand five hundred dollars; the state treasurer shall receive an annual salary of two thousand five hundred dollars; the auditor general shall receive an annual salary of two thousand five hundred dollars; the superintendent of public instruction shall receive an annual salary of two thousand dollars; the secretary of state shall receive an annual salary of two thousand dollars; the commissioner of the land office shall receive an annual salary of two thousand dollars; the attorney general shall receive an annual salary of two thousand five hundred dollars; they shall receive no fees or perquisites whatever, for the performance of any duties connected with their offices. It shall not be competent for the legislature to increase or diminish the salaries herein provided. The auditor general, the superintendent of public instruction, the secretary of state, the commissioner of the land office, and the attorney general, shall each reside, during the term of his office, at the seat of government, and shall personally superintend the duties of his office.

ARTICLE X.

MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS.

SECTION 1. No county, city, township, or other municipal corporation, shall become a stockholder in, or make any loan or gift to, or lend its credit in aid of any person, private corporation or association; nor shall any county, city, township, or other municipality construct or become the owner of any railroad. The provisions of this section shall not prevent such municipalities from aiding enlistments, and in the support of the families of soldiers in time of war; or supporting their poor in such manner as may be provided by law.

Counties.

SEC. 2. Each organized county shall be a body corporate, with such powers and immunities as shall be prescribed by law. All suits and proceedings by or against a county shall be in the name thereof. The power of counties to levy taxes, borrow money, and contract debts, shall be restricted by law.

SEC. 3. The board of supervisors of any county may, by a vote of twothirds of their whole number, borrow or raise by tax a sum not exceeding in any one year one mill upon the dollar of the assessed valuation thereof, for constructing or repairing public buildings, highways, or bridges: Provided, The indebtedness of a county incurred under this section shall at no time exceed two mills upon a dollar of such assessed valuation, unless authorized

by a majority of the electors of the county voting thereon, as shall be provided by law.

SEC. 4. No organized county shall ever be reduced, by the organization of new counties, to less than sixteen townships as surveyed by the United States, unless, in pursuance of law, a majority of electors residing in each county to be affected thereby shall so decide. The legislature may organize any city into a separate county when it has attained a population of twenty thousand inhabitants, without reference to geographical extent, when a majority of the electors of a county in which such city may be situated, voting thereon, shall be in favor of a separate organization, 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. 5. In each organized county there shall be a sheriff, a connty clerk, a county treasurer, a register of deeds, one or more circuit court commissioners, and a prosecuting attorney, chosen by the electors thereof once in two years, whose duties and powers shall be prescribed by law. 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. 6. The sheriff, county clerk, county treasurer, judge of probate and register of deeds, shall hold their offices at the county seat.

SEC. 7. The sheriff shall hold no other office. 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. 8. 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. Cities and villages shall have such representation in the board of supervisors of the counties in which they are situated as the legislature may direct.

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 two-thirds of the board of supervisors of the county, and a majority 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 county auditors in such 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 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.

SEC. 11. The board of supervisors of each organized county may provide for laying out highways, constructing bridges, and organizing townships, under such restrictions and limitations as shall be prescribed by law.

Townships.

SEC. 12. Each organized township shall be a body corporate, with such pow ers and immunities as shall be prescribed by law. All suits and proceedings by or against a township shall be in the name thereof.

SEC. 13. There shall be elected in each organized township, annually, on the first Monday of April, or at such other time as the legislature may pro

vide, one supervisor, one township clerk, who shall be ex officio school inspector, one commissioner of highways, who shall hold his office for one year, one township treasurer, one school inspector, who shall hold his office for two years, not exceeding four constables, and one overseer of highways of each highway district, and such other officers as may be provided by law, whose powers and duties shall be prescribed by law.

Cities and Villages.

SEC. 14. Cities and villages shall hereafter be incorporated only under general laws, in which their powers of taxation, borrowing money, and contracting debts, shall be restricted.

SEC. 15. No city or village shall incur indebtedness, including that incurred by or on behalf of any school district within its corporate limits, so that its aggregate debt at any time shall exceed ten per cent on the valuation of its taxable property, as shown by the assessment roll, unless authorized by a majority of the electors residing within such corporation voting thereon as may be prescribed by law.

SEC. 16. The judicial, chief executive and legislative officers of cities and villages shall be elected.

SEC. 17. Existing charters of cities and villages may be altered and amended.

ARTICLE XI.

CORPORATIONS OTHER THAN MUNICIPAL.

SECTION 1. Corporations (other than municipal, and those for charitable, educational, penal and reformatory purposes under the control of public authority) shall be hereafter created only by general laws. All general acts of incorporation, and general laws affecting incorporations, may be altered, amended, or repealed. The charter of no existing corporation, not embraced in the above exceptions, shall be renewed or extended, nor shall the power of such corporation be increased or enlarged.

SEC. 2. No banking law, authorizing banks of issue, shall have effect until the same shall, after its passage, be submitted to a vote of the electors of the State, at a general election, and be approved by a majority of the votes cast thereon at such election, but the legislature may alter or amend the same.

SEC. 3. The stockholders of every corporation or association for banking purposes, issuing bank notes or paper credits to circulate as money, shall be individually liable for all debts contracted during the time of their being stockholders of such corporation or association, equally and ratably to the extent of their respective shares of stock in any such corporation or association. SEC. 4. The legislature shall provide for the registry of all bills or notes. issued or put in circulation as money by any bank organized under the laws of this State, and shall require security to the full amount of notes and bills so registered, in interest-bearing stocks of this State, or of the United States, which shall be deposited with the State Treasurer, for the redemption of such bills or notes in lawful money of the United States.

SEC. 5. In case of the insolvency of any bank or banking association, the billholders thereof shall be entitled to preference in payment over all other creditors of such bank or association.

SEC. 6. The legislature shall pass no law authorizing or sanctioning the suspension of payments by any person, association, or corporation.

SEC. 7. The stockholders in all corporations shall be individually liable for