to be perpetual funds for common school purposes, of which the annual interest or income only can be appropriated, to-wit: First. Such per centum as has been, or may hereafter be granted by congress on the sale of lands in this state. Second. All moneys arising from the sale or leasing of sections number sixteen and thirtysix in each township in this state, and the lands selected, or that may be selected in lieu thereof. Third. The proceeds of all iands that have been, or may hereafter be granted to this state, where, by the terms and conditions of such grant, the same are not to be otherwise appropriated. Fourth. The net proceeds of lands and other property and effects that may come to the state, by escheat or forfeiture, or from unclaimed dividends, or distributive shares of the estates of deceased persons. Fifth. All moneys, stocks, bonds, lands, and other property, now belonging to the common school fund.

SEC. 4. [Temporary school fund.]-All other grants, gifts and devises that have been, or may hereafter be made to this state, and not otherwise appropriated by the terms of the grant, gift, or devise, the interest arising from all the funds mentioned in the preceding section, together with all the rents of the unsold school lands, and such other means as the legislature may provide, shall be exclu sively applied to the support and maintenance of common schools in each school district in the state.

SEC. 5. All fines, penalties, and license moneys arising under the general laws of the state, shall belong and be paid over to the counties, respectively, where the same may be levied or imposed, and all fines, penalties, and license moneys arising under the rules, by-laws, or ordinance of cities, villages, towns, precincts, or other municipal sub-division less than a county, shall belong and be paid over to the same respectively. All such fines, penalties, and license moneys shall be appropriated exclusively to the use and support of common schools in the respective sub-divisions where the same may accrue.

SEC. 6. [Common schools.]-The legislature shall provide for the free instruction in the common schools of this state of all persons between the ages of five and twenty-one years.

SEC. 7. [Distribution of income.]-Provisions shall be made by general law for an equitable distribution of the income of the fund set apart for the support of the common schools, among the several school districts of the state, and no appropriation shall be made from said fund to any district for the year in which school is not maintained at least three months.

SEC. 8. University, agricultural college, common school, or other lands, which are now held, or may hereafter be acquired by the state for educational purposes, shall not be sold for less than seven dollars per acre, nor less than the appraised value.

SEC. 9. [Funds to remain inviolate.]-All funds belonging to the state for educational purposes, the interest and income whereof only are to be used, shall be deemed trust funds held by the state, and the state shall supply all losses thereof that may in any manner accrue, so that the same shall remain forever inviolate and undiminished; and shall not be invested or loaned except on United States or state securities, or registered county bonds of this state; and such funds, with the interest and income thereof, are hereby solemnly pledged for the purposes for which they are granted and set apart, and shall not be transferred to any other fund for other uses.

SEC. 10. [University.]-The general government of the university of Nebraska shall, under direction of the legislature, be vested in a board of six regents, to be styled the board of regents of the university of Nebraska, who shall be elected by the electors of the state at large, and their term of office, except those chosen at the first election, as hereinafter provided, shall be six years. Their duties and powers shall be prescribed by law; and they shall receive no compensa

SEC. 4. 5 Neb. 206.

SEC. 5. 6 Neb. 45. 8 Id. 31, 162. 9 Id. 184, 352, 404.

SEC. 7. 5 Neb. 104.

SEC. 10. 5 Neb. 426.

B

tion, but may be reimbursed their actual expenses incurred in the discharge of their duties.

SEC. 11. No sectarian instruction shall be allowed in any school or institution supported in whole or in part by the public funds set apart for educational purposes; nor shall the state accept any grant, conveyance, or bequest of money, lands or other property, to be used for sectarian purposes.

SEC. 12. [Reform schools.]-The legislature may provide by law for the establishment of a school or schools for the safe keeping, education, employment and reformation of all children under the age of sixteen years, who, for want of proper parental care, or other cause, are growing up in mendicancy or crime.

ARTICLE [IX.-REVENUE AND FINANCE.

SECTION 1. [Taxes.]—The legislature shall provide such revenue as may be needful, by levying a tax by valuation, so that every person and corporation shall pay a tax in proportion to the value of his, her, or its property and franchises, the value to be ascertained in such manner as the legislature shall direct, and it shall have power to tax peddlers, auctioneers, brokers, hawkers, commission merchants, showmen, jugglers, inn-keepers, liquor dealers, toll bridges, ferries, insurance, telegraph and express interests or business, venders of patents, in such manner as it shall direct by general law, uniform as to the class upon which it operates.

SEC. 2. [Exemption from taxation.]-The property of the state, counties and municipal corporations, both real and personal, shall be exempt from taxation, and such other property as may be used exclusively for agricultural and horticultural societies, for school, religious, cemetery and charitable purposes, may be exempted from taxation, but such exemptions shall be only by general law. In the assessment of real estate incumbered by public easement, any depreciation occasioned by such easement may be deducted in the valuation of such property. The legislature may provide that the increased value of lands, by reason of live fences, fruit and forest trees grown and cultivated thereon, shall not be taken into account in the assessment thereof.

SEC. 3. [Redemption.]-The right of redemption from all sales of real estate, for the non-payment of taxes or special assessments of any character whatever, shall exist in favor of owners and persons interested in such real estate for a period of not less than two years from such sales thereof; Provided, That occupants shall in all cases be served with personal notice before the time of redemption expires.

SEC. 4. [Taxes not to be released.]-The legislature shall have no power to release or discharge any county, city, township, town or district whatever, or the inhabitants thereof, or any corporation, or the property therein, from their or its proportionate share of taxes to be levied for state purposes, or due any municipal corporation, nor shall commutation for such taxes be authorized in any form whatever.

SEC. 5. [County taxes.]-County authorities shall never assess taxes the aggregate of which shall exceed one and a half dollars per one hundred dollars. valuation, except for the payment of indebtedness existing at the adoption of this. constitution, unless authorized by a vote of the people of the county.

SEC. 6. [Municipal taxes.]—The legislature may vest the corporate authorities of cities, towns, and villages, with power to make local improvements by special assessments, or by special taxation of property benefited. For all other corporate purposes, all municipal corporations may be vested with authority to assess and collect taxes, but such taxes shall be uniform in respect to persons and property within the jurisdiction of the body imposing the same.

SEC. 7. [Property exempt.)-Private property shall not be liable to be

taken or sold for the payment of the corporate debts of municipal corporations. The legislature shall not impose taxes upon municipal corporations, or the inhabitants or property thereof, for corporate purposes.

SEC. 8. Funding indebtedness.]-The legislature at its first session shall provide by law for the funding of all outstanding warrants and other indebtedness of the state, at a rate of interest not exceeding eight per cent. per annum.

SEC. 9. [Claims upon treasury.j-The legislature shall provide by law that all claims upon the treasury shall be examined and adjusted by the auditor and approved by the secretary of state before any warrant for the amount allowed shall be drawn; Provided, That a party aggrieved by the decision of the auditor and secretary of state may appeal to district court.

ARTICLE [X.]—COUNTIES.

SECTION 1. [Area.]-No new county shall be formed or established by the legislature which will reduce the county or counties, or either of them, to a less area than four hundred square miles, nor shall any county be formed of a less area.

SEC. 2. [Division.]-No county shall be divided, or have any part stricken therefrom without first submitting the question to a vote of the people of the county, nor unless a majority of all the legal voters of the county voting on the question shall vote for the same.

SEC. 3. [Same.]-There shall be no territory stricken from any organized county unless a majority of the voters living in such territory shall petition for such division, and no territory shall be added to any organized county without the consent of the majority of the voters of the county to which it is proposed to be added; but the portion so stricken off and added to another county, or formed in whole or in part into a new county, shall be holden for and obliged to pay its proportion of the indebtedness of the counties from which it has been taken.

SEC. 4. [Election.]-The legislature shall provide by law for the election of such county and township officers as as may be necessary.

SEC. 5. [Township organization.]—The legislature shall provide by general law for township organization, under which any county may organize whenever a majority of the legal voters of such county, voting at any general election shall so determine: and in any county that shall have adopted a township organization, the question of continuing the same may be submitted to a vote of the electors of such county at a general election in the manner that shall be provided by law.

ARTICLE [XI.-CORPORATIONS.

RAILROAD CORPORATIONS.

SECTION 1. [Public office.]-Every railroad corporation organized or doing business in this state, under the laws or authority thereof, or of any other state or of the United States, shall have and maintain a public office or place in this state for the transaction of its business, where transfers of stock shall be made, and in which shall be kept, for public inspection, books in which shall be recorded the amount of capital stock subscribed, and by whom, the names of the owners of its stock, and the amounts owned by them respectively, the amount of stock paid in and by whom, the transfers of said stock, the amount of its assets and liabilities, and the names and places of residence of its officers. The directors of every railroad corporation, or other parties having control of its road, shall annually make a report, under oath, to the auditor of public accounts, or some officer to be desig nated by law, of the amount received from passengers and freight, and such other matters relating to railroads as may be prescribed by law. And the legislature shall pass laws enforcing by suitable penalties the provisions of this section.

SEC. 2. [Property liable to sale on execution.]-The rolling stock

SEC. 8. 6 Neb. 512.

SEC. 5. 6 Neb. 482.

and all other movable property belonging to any railroad company or corporation in this state shall be liable to execution and sale in the same manner as the personal property of individuals, and the legislature shall pass no law exempting any such property from execution and sale.

SEC. 3. [Consolidation of stock.]-No railroad corporation or telegraph company shall consolidate its stock, property, franchises, or earnings, in whole or in part, with any other railroad corporation or telegraph company owning a parallel or competing line; and in no case shall any consolidation take place except upon public notice of at least sixty days to all stockholders in such manner as may be provided by law.

SEC. 4. [Rates of charges.]-Railways heretofore constructed, or that may hereafter be constructed in this state, are hereby declared public highways, and shall be free to all persons for the transportation of their persons and property thereon, under such regulations as may be prescribed by law. And the legislature may 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. The liability of railroad corporations as common carriers shall never be limited.

SEC. 5. [Increase of stock and bonds.]—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 railroad corporations shall not be increased for any purpose, except after public notice for sixty days, in such manner as may be provided by law.

SEC. 6. [Eminent domain.]-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 legislature, of the property and franchises of incorporated companies already organized or hereafter to be organized, and subjecting them to the public necessity, the same as of individuals.

SEC. 7. [Abuses to be regulated by law.]-The legislature shall pass laws to correct abuses, and prevent unjust discrimination and extortion in all charges of express, telegraph, and railroad companies 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.

SEC. 8. [Railroads organized in other states.]-No railroad corporation, organized under the laws of any other state, or of the United States, and doing business in this state, shall be entitled to exercise the right of eminent domain, or have power to acquire the right of way, or real estate for depot or other uses, until it shall have become a body corporate pursuant to and in accordance with the laws of this state.

MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS.

SECTION 1. [Subscriptions.]-No city, county, town, precinct, municipality, or other sub-division of the state, shall ever become a subscriber to the capital stock, or owner of such stock, or any portion or interest therein, of any railroad or private corporation, or association.

MISCELLANEOUS CORPORATIONS.

SECTION 1. [Incorporations to be by general law.]-No corporation shall be created by special law, nor its charter extended, changed, or amended, except those for charitable, educational, penal, or reformatory purposes, which are to be and remain under the patronage and control of the state, but the legislature shall provide by general laws for the organization of all corporations hereafter to be created. All general laws passed pursuant to this section may be altered from time to time, or repealed.

SEC. 2. [Street railroads.]-No such general law shall be passed by the
Miscellaneous Corporations. 5 Neb. 127, 427. 8 Id. 179,518.

legislature granting the right to construct and operate a street railroad within any city, town, or incorporated village, without first requiring the consent of a majority of the electors thereof.

SEC. 8. [Suits.]-All corporations may sue and be sued in like cases as natural persons.

SEC. 4. [Liabilities of subscribers to stock.]-In all cases of claims against corporations and joint stock associations, the exact amount justly due shall be first ascertained, and after the corporate property shall have been exhausted, the original subscribers thereof shall be individually liable to the extent of their unpaid subscription, and the liability for the unpaid subscription shall follow the stock.

SEC. 5. [Elections.]-The legislature shall provide by law that in all elections for directors or managers of incorporated companies, every stockholder shall [have] the right to vote in person or proxy for the number of shares of stock owned by him, for as many persons as there are directors or managers to be elected, or to cumulate said shares and give one candidate as many votes as the number of directors multiplied by the number of his shares of stock shall equal, or to distribute them upon the same principle among as many candidates as he shall think fit; and such directors or managers shall not be elected in any other manner.

SEC. 6. All existing charters or grants of special or exclusive privileges under which organization shall not have taken place, or which shall not be in operation within sixty days from the time this constitution takes effect, shall thereafter have no validity or effect whatever.

SEC. 7. [Stockholders in banks.]-Every stockholder in a banking corporation or institution shall be individually responsible and liable to its creditors, over and above the amount of stock by him held, to an amount equal to his respective stock or shares so held, for all its liabilities accruing while he remains such stockholder; and all banking corporations shall publish quarterly statements, under oath, of their assets and liabilities.

ARTICLE [XII.] STATE, COUNTY AND MUNICIPAL INDEBTEDNESS.

SECTION 1. [Debts.]-The state may, to meet casual deficits or failures in the revenues, contract debts never to exceed in the aggregate one hundred thousand dollars; and no greater indebtedness shall be incurred except for the purpose of repelling invasion, suppressing insurrection, or defending the state in war; and provision shall be made for the payment of the interest annually, as it shall accrue, by a tax levied for the purpose, or from other sources of revenue, which law providing for the payment of such interest by such tax shall be irrepealable until such debt be paid.

SEC. 2. [Donations.]-No city, county, town, precinct, municipality, or other subdivision of the state, shall ever make donations to any railroad or other works of internal improvement, unless a proposition so to do shall have been first submitted to the qualified electors thereof at an election by authority of law: Provided, That such donations of a county with the donations of such subdivisions in the aggregate shall not exceed ten per cent. of the assessed valuation of such county; Provided further, That any city or county may, by a two-thirds vote, increase such indebtedness five per cent., in addition to such ten per cent., and no bonds or evidences of indebtedness so issued shall be valid unless the same shall have endorsed thereon a certificate signed by the secretary and auditor of state, showing that the same is issued pursuant to law.

SEC. 3. The credit of the state shall never be given or loaned in aid of any individual, association or corporation.

SECTION 1. The legislature shall determine what persons shall constitute the militia of the stated may provide for organizing and disciplining the same.