ARTICLE XVII. MILITIA. SEC. 4. The General Assembly shall provide for the safe-keeping of the public arms, military records, relics, and banners of the State. SEC. 5. No person having conscientious scruples against bearing arms shall be compelled to do militia duty in time of peace: Provided, Such person shall pay an equivalent for such exemption. ARTICLE XVIII. MISCELLANEOUS. SECTION 1. The General Assembly shall pass liberal homestead and exemption laws. SEC. 2. The General Assembly shall have no power to authorize lotteries or gift enterprises for any purpose, and shall pass laws to prohibit the sale of lottery or giftenterprise tickets in this State. SEC. 3. It shall be the duty of the General Assembly to pass such laws as may be necessary and proper to decide differences by arbitrators, to be appointed by mutual agreement of the parties to any controversy, who may choose that mode of adjustment. The powers and duties of such arbitrators shall be as prescribed by law. SEC. 5. The General Assembly shall prohibit by law the importation into this State, for the purpose of sale, of any spurious, poisonous, or drugged spirituous liquors, or spirituous liquors adulterated with any poisonous or deleterious substance, mixture, or compound; and shall prohibit the compounding or manufacture within this State, except for chemical or mechanical purposes, of any of said liquors, whether they be denominated spirituous, vinous, malt, or otherwise; and shall also prohibit the sale of any such liquors to be used as a beverage; and any violation of either of said prohibitions shall be punished by fine and imprisonment. The General Assembly shall provide by law for the condemnation and destruction of all spurious, poisonous, or drugged liquors herein prohibited. SEC. 6. The General Assembly shall enact laws in order to prevent the destruction of, and to keep in good preservation, the forests upon the lands of the State, or upon lands of the public domain, the control of which shall be conferred by Congress upon the State. SEC. 7. The General Assembly may provide that the increase in the value of private lands, caused by the planting of hedges, orchards, and forests thereon, shall not, for a limited time, to be fixed by law, be taken into account in assessing such lands for taxation. SEC. 8. The General Assembly shall provide for the publication of the laws passed at each session thereof; and, until the year 1900, they shall cause to be published in Spanish and German a sufficient number of copies of said laws to supply that portion of the inhabitants of the State who speak those languages, and who may be unable to read and understand the English language. ARTICLE XIX. FUTURE AMENDMENTS. SECTION 1. The General Assembly may, at any time, by a vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each House, recommend to the electors of the State to vote at the next general election for or against a convention to revise, alter, and amend this Constitution; and if a majority of those voting on the question shall declare in favor of such convention, the General Assembly shall, at its next session, provide for the calling thereof. The number of members of the convention shall be twice that of the Senate, and they shall be elected in the same manner, at the same places, and in the same districts. The General Assembly shall, in the act calling the convention, designate the day, hour, and place of its meeting; fix the pay of its members and officers, and provide for the payment of the same, together with the necessary expenses of the convention. Before proceeding the members shall take an oath to support the Constitution of the United States and of the State of Colorado, and to faithfully discharge their duties as members of the convention. The qualifications of members shall be the same as of members of the Senate, and vacancies occurring shall be filled in the manner provided for filling vacancies in the General Assembly. Said convention shall meet within three months after such election, and prepare such revisions, alterations, or amendments to the Constitution as may be deemed necessary, which shall be submitted to electors for their ratification or rejection at an election appointed by the convention for that purpose, not less than two nor more than six months after the adjournment thereof; and unless so submitted and approved by a majority of the electors voting at the election, no such revision, alteration, or amendment shall take effect. SEC. 2. Any amendment or amendments to this Constitution may be proposed in either House of the General Assembly, and if the same shall be voted for by twothirds of all the members elected to each House, such proposed amendments, together with the ayes and noes of each House thereon, shall be entered in full on their respective journals; and the Secretary of State shall cause the said amendment or amendments to be published in full in at least one newspaper in each county, (if such there be,) for three months previous to the next general election for members to the General Assembly; and at said election the said amendment or amendments shall be submitted to the qualified electors of the State for their approval or rejection, and such as are approved by a majority of those voting thereon shall become part of this Constitution; but the General Assembly shall have no power to propose amendments to more than one article of this Constitution at the same session. [The instrument closes with a long "Schedule," of the sort which was appended to the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1790, providing for certain details, "that no inconvenience may arise by reason of the change in the form of government."]- 2 Poore's Constitutions, 219. PASSAGES FROM THE CONSTITUTION OF COLOMBIA.1 Title V. Art. 59. — The President and the ministers, and in each particular transaction the President with the ministers of the respective departments, shall constitute the government. Title VII. Art. 81. -- - No legislative Act shall become a law unless : I. It shall have passed three readings and been adopted in each House, on three different days, by a majority of the members thereof. II. It shall have obtained the approval of the government. Ib. Art. 83.-The government, by means of its ministers, may take part in legislative debates. Ib. Art. 84. The judges of the Supreme Court shall be entitled to be heard in the discussion of bills relating to civil matters and judicial procedure. Ib. Art. 85. - After a bill shall have passed both Houses, it shall be sent to the government, and if approved by the government, it shall be promulgated as a law. [The President may return a bill with objections.] Ib. Art. 88. The President of the Republic shall approve, without power to present new objections, any bill which shall have been reconsidered and adopted by twothirds of the members in each House. Ib. Art. 90. If a bill should be objected to on the ground that it is unconstitutional, it shall be excepted from the provision of Article 88. In this case, if the House insist, the bill shall pass to the Supreme Court, in order that this body, within six days, may decide upon its constitutionality. If the decision of the court should be favorable to the bill, the President shall give it his approval. If the decision should be unfavorable, the bill shall fail and be removed from the calendar. Title XV. Art. 151.-The Supreme Court shall exercise the following functions IV. To decide finally, upon the constitutionality of legislative Acts, which may have been objected to by the government as unconstitutional. 1 From the Supplement (January, 1893) to the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, in Philadelphia. Translated by Professor Bernard Moses. -ED. 12 24 3 |