Gambar halaman
PDF
ePub

submit such proposed amendment or amendments to the people in such manner and at such time as the legislature shall prescribe; and if the people shall approve and ratify such amendment or amendments by a majority of the electors qualified to vote for members of the legislature, voting thereon, such amendment or amendments, shall become part of the Constitution.

SEC. 2. And if, at any time two-thirds of the senate and assembly shall think it necessary to revise and change this entire constitution, they shall recommend to the electors, at the next election for members of the legislature, to vote for or against the convention; and if it shall appear that a majority of the electors voting at such election have voted in favor of calling a convention, the legislature shall, at its next session, provide by law for calling a convention, to be holden within six months after the passage of such law; and such convention shall consist of a number of members not less than that of both branches of the legislature.

ARTICLE XI

MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS

SECTION 1. The first session of the legislature shall be held at the Pueblo de San Jose; which place shall be the permanent seat of government until removed by law: Provided, however, That two-thirds of all the members elected to each house of the legislature shall concur in the passage of such law.

SEC. 2. Any citizen of this State who shall, after the adoption of this constitution, fight a duel with deadly weapons, or send, or accept a challenge to fight a duel with deadly weapons, either within this State or out of it; or who shall act as second, or knowingly aid or assist in any manner those thus offending, shall not be allowed to hold any office of profit, or to enjoy the right of suffrage under this constitution.

SEC. 3. Members of the legislature, and all officers, executive and judicial, except such inferior officers and may be by law exempted, shall, before they enter on the duties of their respective offices, take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm, as the case may be) that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and the constitution of the State of California, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of, according to the best of my ability.

And no other oath, declaration, or test, shall be required as a qualification for any office or public trust.

SEC. 4. The legislature shall establish a system of county and town governments, which shall be as nearly uniform as practicable throughout the State.

SEC. 5. The legislature shall have power to provide for the election of a board of supervisors in each county; and these supervisors shall jointly and individually perform such duties as may be prescribed by

law.

SEC. 6. All officers whose election or appointment is not provided for by this constitution, and all officers whose offices may hereafter be created by law, shall be elected by the people, or appointed as the legislature may direct.

SEC. 7. When the duration of any office is not provided for by this Constitution, it may be declared by law, and if not so declared, such office shall be held during the pleasure of the authority making the appointment; nor shall the duration of any office not fixed by this constitution ever exceed four years.

SEC. 8. The fiscal year shall commence on the 1st day of July.

SEC. 9. Each county, town, city, and incorporated village, shall make provision for the support of its own officers, subject to such restrictions and regulations as the legislature may prescribe.

SEC. 10. The credit of the State shall not, in any manner, be given or loaned to or in aid of any individual, association, or corporation; nor shall the State directly or indirectly become a stockholder in any association or corporation.

SEC. 11. Suits may be brought against the State in such manner. and in such courts, as shall be directed by law.

SEC. 12. No contract of marriage, if otherwise duly made, shall be invalidated for want of conformity to the requirements of any relig ious sect.

SEC. 13. Taxation shall be equal and uniform throughout the State. All property in this State shall be taxed in proportion to its value, to be ascertained as directed by law; but assessors and collectors of town, county, and State taxes shall be elected by the qualified electors of the district, county, or town in which the property taxed for State, county, or town purposes is situated.

SEC. 14. All property, both real and personal, of the wife, owned or claimed by marriage, and that acquired afterwards by gift, devise, or descent, shall be her separate property; and laws shall be passed more clearly defining the rights of the wife, in relation as well to her separate property, as to that held in common with her husband. Laws shall also be passed providing for the registration of the wife's separate property.

SEC. 15. The legislature shall protect by law from forced sale a certain portion of the homestead and other property of all heads of families.

SEC. 16. No perpetuities shall be allowed, except for eleemosynary purposes.

SEC. 17. Every person shall be disqualified from holding any office of profit in this State who shall have been convicted of having given or offered a bribe to procure his election or appointment.

SEC. 18. Laws shall be made to exclude from office, serving on juries, and from the right of suffrage, those who shall hereafter be convicted of bribery, perjury, forgery, or other high crimes. The privilege of free suffrage shall be supported by laws regulating elections, and prohibiting, under adequate penalties, all undue influence thereon from power, bribery, tumult, or other improper practice.

SEC. 19. Absence from the State on business of the State or of the United States shall not affect the question of residence of any person. SEC. 20. A plurality of the votes given at an election shall constitute a choice, where not otherwise directed in this constitution.

SEC. 21. All laws, decrees, regulations, and provisions, which from their nature require publication, shall be published in English and Spanish.

ARTICLE XII

BOUNDARY

The boundary of the State of California shall be as follows: Commencing at the point of intersection of forty-second degree of north latitude with the one hundred and twentieth degree of longitude west from Greenwich, and running south on the line of said one hundred and twentieth degree of west longitude until it intersects the thirty-ninth degree of north latitude; thence running in a straight line in a southeasterly direction to the river Colorado, at a point. where it intersects the thirty-fifth degree of north latitude; thence down the middle of the channel of said river to the boundary-line between the United States and Mexico, as established by the treaty of May 30, 1848; thence running west and along said boundary-line to the Pacific Ocean, and extending therein three English miles; thence running in a northwesterly direction, and following the direction of the Pacific coast, to the forty-second degree of north latitude; thence on the line of said forty-second degree of north latitude to the place of beginning. Also all the islands, harbors, and bays along and adjacent to the Pacific coast.

SCHEDULE

SECTION 1. All rights, prosecutions, claims, and contracts, as well of individuals as of bodies-corporate, and all laws in force at the time of the adoption of this constitution, and not inconsistent therewith, until altered or repealed by the legislature, shall continue as if the same had not been adopted.

SEC. 2. The legislature shall provide for the removal of all causes which may be pending when this constitution goes into effect to courts created by the same.

SEC. 3. In order that no inconvenience may result to the public service from the taking effect of this constitution, no office shall be superseded thereby, nor the laws relative to the duties of the several officers be changed, until the entering into office of the new officers to be appointed under this constitution.

SEC. 4. The provisions of this constitution concerning the term of residence necessary to enable persons to hold certain offices therein mentioned, shall not be held to apply to officers chosen by the people at the first election, or by the legislature at its first session.

SEC. 5. Every citizen of California, declared a legal voter by this constitution, and every citizen of the United States, a resident of this State on the day of election, shall be entitled to vote at the first general election under this constitution, and on the question of the adoption thereof.

SEC. 6. This constitution shall be submitted to the people, for their ratification or rejection, at the general election to be held on Tuesday, the 13th day of November next. The executive of the existing government of California is hereby requested to issue a proclamation to the people, directing the prefects of the several districts, or in case of vacancy, the sub-prefects, or senior judge of first instance, to cause such election to be held, the day aforesaid, in the respective districts. The election shall be conducted in the manner

which was prescribed for the election of delegates to this convention, except that the prefect, sub-prefect, or senior judge of first instance ordering such election in each district, shall have power to designate any additional number of places for opening the polls, and that, in every place of holding the election, a regular poll-list shall be kept by the judges and inspectors of election. It shall also be the duty of these judges and inspectors of election, on the day aforesaid, to receive the votes of the electors qualified to vote at such election. Each voter shall express his opinion, by depositing in the ballot-box a ticket, whereon shall be written, or printed "For the constitution," or "Against the constitution," or some such words as will distinctly convey the intention of the voter. These judges and inspectors shall also receive the votes for the several officers to be voted for at the said election as herein provided. At the close of the election, the judges and inspectors shall carefully count each ballot, and forthwith make duplicate returns thereof to the prefect, sub-prefect, or senior judge of first instance, as the case may be, of their respective districts; and said prefect, sub-prefect, or senior judge of first instance shall transmit one of the same, by the most safe and rapid conveyance, to the secretary of state. Upon the receipt of said returns, or on the 10th day of December next, if the returns be not sooner received, it shall be the duty of a board of canvassers, to consist of the secretary of state, one of the judges of the superior court, the prefect, judge of first instance, and an alcalde of the district of Monterey, or any three of the aforementioned officers, in the presence of all who shall choose to attend, to compare the votes given at said election, and to immediately publish an abstract of the same in one or more of the newspapers of California. And the executive will also immediately after ascertaining that the constitution has been ratified by the people, make proclamation of the fact; and thenceforth this constitution shall be ordained and established as the constitution of California.

SEC. 7. If this constitution shall be ratified by the people of California, the executive of the existing government is hereby requested immediately after the same shall be ascertained, in the manner herein directed, to cause a fair copy thereof to be forwarded to the President of the United States, in order that he may lay it before the Congress of the United States.

SEC. 8. At the general election aforesaid, viz, the thirteenth day of November next, there shall be elected a governor, lieutenant-governor, members of the legislature, and also two members of Congress.

SEC. 9. If this constitution shall be ratified by the people of California, the legislature shall assemble at the seat of government on the fifteenth day of December next, and in order to complete the organization of that body, the senate shall elect a president pro tempore, until the lieutenant-governor shall be installed into office.

SEC. 10. On the organization of the legislature, it shall be the duty of the secretary of state, to lay before each house, a copy of the abstract made by the board of canvassers, and if called for, the original returns of election, in order that each house may judge of the correctness of the report of said board of canvassers.

SEC. 11. The legislature, at its first session, shall elect such officers as may be ordered by this constitution, to be elected by that body, and within four days after its organization, proceed to elect two

Senators to the Congress of the United States. But no law passed by this legislature shall take effect until signed by the governor after his installation into office.

SEC. 12. The Senators and Representatives to the Congress of the United States, elected by the legislature and people of California as herein directed, shall be furnished with certified copies of this constitution when ratified, which they shall lay before the Congress of the United States, requesting, in the name of the people of California, the admission of the State of California into the American Union.

SEC. 13. All officers of this State, other than members of the legislature, shall be installed into office on the 15th day of December next, or as soon thereafter as practicable.

SEC. 14. Until the legislature shall divide the State into counties, and senatorial and assembly districts, as directed in this constitution, the following shall be the apportionment of the two houses of the legislature, viz: the districts of San Diego and Los Angeles shall jointly elect two senators; the districts of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo shall jointly elect one senator; the district of Monterey, one senator; the district of San Jose, one senator; the district of San Francisco, two senators; the district of Sonoma, one senator; the district of Sacramento, four senators; and the district of San Joaquin, four senators. And the district of San Diego shall elect one member of assembly; the district of Los Angeles, two members of assembly; the district of Santa Barbara, two members of assembly; the district of San Luis Obispo, one member of assembly; the district of Monterey, two members of assembly; the district of San Jose, three members of assembly; the district of San Francisco, five members of assembly; the district of Sonoma, two members of assembly; the district of Sacramento, nine members of assembly; and the district of San Joaquin, nine members of assembly.

SEC. 15. Until the legislature shall otherwise direct, in accordance with the provisions of this constitution, the salary of the governor shall be ten thousand dollars per annum; and the salary of the lieutenant-governor shall be double the pay of a State senator; and the pay of members of the legislature shall be sixteen dollars per diem while in attendance, and sixteen dollars for every twenty miles travel by the usual route from their residences to the place of holding the session of the legislature, and in returning therefrom. And the legis lature shall fix the salaries of all officers, other than those elected by the people at the first election.

SEC. 16. The limitation of the powers of the legislature, contained in article eighth of this constitution, shall not extend to the first legislature elected under the same, which is hereby authorized to negotiate for such amount as may be necessary to pay the expenses of the State government.

WM. G. MARCY, Secretary.

R. SEMPLE, President.

« SebelumnyaLanjutkan »