Private claim bills.

Two-thirds acts.

The appropriation acts.

Specific appropriation.

The revision of the statutes.

Granting to any corporation, association or Individual the right to lay down railroad tracks.

Granting to any private corporation, association or individual any exclusive privilege, immunity or fran chise whatever.

Granting to any persons, association, firm or corporation, an exemption from taxation on real or personal property. Providing for building bridges, and chartering companies for such purposes, except on the Hudson River below Waterford, and on the East River, or over the waters forming a part of the boundaries of the State.

The Legislature shall pass general laws providing for the cases enumerated in this section, and for all other cases which in its judgment, may be provided for by general laws. But no law shall authorize the construction or operation of a street railroad except upon the condition that the consent of the owners of onehalf in value of the property bounded on, and the consent also of the local authorities having the control of, that portion of a street or highway upon which it is proposed to construct or operate such railroad be first obtained, or in case the consent of such property owners cannot be obtained, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the department in which it is proposed to be constructed, may, upon application, appoint three commissioners who shall determine, after a hearing of all parties interested, whether such railroad ought to be constructed or operated, and their determination, confirmed by the court, may be taken in lieu of the consent of the property owners.

SECTION XIX. The Legislature shall neither audit nor allow any private claim or account against the State, but may appropriate money to pay such claims as shall have been audited and allowed according to law. SECTION XX. The assent of two-thirds of the members elected to each branch of the Legislature shall be requisite to every bill appropriating the public moneys or property for local or private purposes.

SECTION XXI. No money shall ever be paid out of the treasury of this State, or any of its funds, or any of the funds under its management, except in pursuance of an appropriation by law; nor unless such payment be made within two years next after the passage of such appropriation act; and every such law making a new appropriation, or continuing or reviving an appropriation, shall distinctly specify the sum appropriated, and the object to which it is to be applied; and it shall not be sufficient for such law to refer to any other law to fix such sum.

SECTION XXII. No provision or enactment shall be embraced in the annual appropriation or supply bill, unless it relates specifically to some particular appropriation in the bill; and any such provision or enactment shall be limited in its operation to such appropriation.

SECTION XXIII. Sections XVII and XVIII of this article shall not apply to any bill, or the amendments to any bill, which shall be reported to the Legislature by commissioners who have been appointed pursuant to law to revise the statutes.

Taxes to be stat SECTION XXIV. Every law which imposes, continues or revives a tax shall distinctly state the tax and ed distinctly. the object to which it is to be applied, and it shall not be sufficient to refer to any other law to fix such tax or object. Quorum in the Legislature.

SECTION XXV. On the final passage, in either House of the Legislature, of any act which imposes, continues or revives a tax, or creates a debt or charge, or makes, continues or revives any appropriation of public or trust money or property, or releases, discharges or commutes any claim or demand of the State, the question shall be taken by yeas and nays, which shall be duly entered upon the journals, and three-fifths of all the members elected to either House shall, in all such cases, be necessary to constitute a quorum therein. The boards of SECTION XXVI. There shall be in each county, except in a county wholly included in a city, a board of supervisors.

supervisors, to be composed of such members and elected in such manner and for such period as is or may be provided by law. In a city which includes an entire county, or two or more entire counties, the powers and duties of a board of supervisors may be devolved upon the municipal assembly, common council, board of aldermen or other legislative body of the city.

Local legisla- SECTION XXVII. The Legislature shall, by general laws, confer upon the boards of supervisors of the tion. several counties of the State such further powers of local legislation and administration as the Legislature Prohibition of may, from time to time, deem expedient. extra compensation.

convicts.

SECTION XXVIII. The Legislature shall not, nor shall the common council of any city, nor any board of supervisors, grant any extra compensation to any public officer, servant, agent or contractor. Occupation for SECTION XXIX. The Legislature, shall by law, provide for the occupation and employment of prisoners sentenced to the several State prisons, penitentiaries, jails and reformatories in the State; and on and after January 1, in the year 1897, no person in any such prison, penitentiary, jail or reformatory, shall be required or allowed to work, while under sentence thereto, at any trade, industry or occupation, wherein or whereby his work, or the product or profit of his work, shall be farmed out, contracted, given or sold to any person, firm, association or corporation. This section shall not be construed to prevent the Legislature from providing that convicts may work for, and that the products of their labor may be disposed of to, the State or any political division thereof, or for or to any public institution owned or managed and controlled by the State, or any political division thereof.

ARTICLE IV.

The power of SECTION I. The executive power shall be vested in a Governor, who shall hold his office for two years; a the Governor. Lieutenant-Governor shall be chosen at the same time, and for the same term. The Governor and LieutenantGovernor elected next preceding the time when this section shall take effect, shall hold office until and includPersons eligible ing December 31, 1896, and their successors shall be chosen at the general election in that year. for Governor SECTION II. No person shall be eligible to the office of Governor or Lieutenant-Governor, except a citizen and Lieuten- of the United States, of the age of not less than 30 years, and who shall have been five years next preceding his ant Governor. election a resident of this State.

When Governor SECTION III. The Governor and Lieutenant-Governor shall be elected at the times and places of choosing and Lieuten- members of the Assembly. The persons respectively having the highest number of votes for Governor and ant Governor Lieutenant-Governor shall be elected; but in case two or more shall have an equal and the highest number of are to be elec- votes for Governor, or for Lieutenant-Governor, the two Houses of the Legislature at its next annual session shall forthwith by joint ballot, choose one of the said persons so having an equal and the highest number of votes for Governor or Lieutenant Governor.

ted.

Powers of Govarnor.

SECTION IV. The Governor shall be Commander in-Chief of the military and naval forces of the State. He shall have power to convene the Legislature, or the Senate only, on extraordinary occasions. At extraordinary sessions no subject shall be acted upon, except such as the Governor may recommend for consideration. He shall communicate by message to the Legislature at every session the condition of the State, and recommend such matters to it as he shall judge expedient. He shall transact all necessary business with the officers of government, civil and military. He shall expedite all such measures as may be resolved upon by the Legislature, and shall take care that the laws are faithfully executed. He shall receive for his services an annual salary of $10,000, and there shall be provided for his use a suitable and furnished executive residence.

Governor's right SECTION V. The Governor shall have the power to grant reprieves, commutations and pardons after conto pardon. viction, for all offences except treason and cases of impeachment, upon such conditions and with such restrictions and limitations, as he may think proper, subject to such regulations as may be provided by law relative to the manner of applying for pardons. Upon conviction for treason, he shall have power to suspend the execution of the sentence, until the case shall be reported to the Legislature at its next meeting, when the Legislature shall either pardon, or commute the sentence, direct the execution of the sentence, or grant a further reprieve. He shall annually communicate to the Legislature each case of reprieve, commutation or pardon granted, stating the name of the convict, the crime of which he was convicted, the sentence and its date, and the date of commutation, pardon or reprieve.

Lieutenant-Gov- SECTION VI. In case of the impeachment of the Governor, or his removal from office, death, inability to ernor becomes discharge the powers and duties of the said office, resignation, or absence from the State, the powers and duties Governor. of the office shall devolve upon the Lieutenant-Governor for the residue of the terin, or until the disability shall cense. But when the Governor shall, with the consent of the Legislature, be out of the State, in time of war, at the head of a military force thereof, he shall continue Commander-in-Chief of all the military force of the State.

Lor.

Powers of LienSECTION VII. The Lieutenant-Governor shall possess the same qualifications of eligibility for office as tenant-Gover- the Governor. He shall be President of the Senate, but shall have only a casting vote therein. If during a vacancy of the office of Governor, the Lieutenant-Governor shall be impeached, displaced, resign, die, or become incapable of performing the duties of his office, or be absent from the State, the President of the Senate shall act as Governor until the vacancy be filled or the disability shall cease; and if the President of the Senate for any of the above causes shall become incapable of performing the duties pertaining to the office of Governor, the Speaker of the Assembly shall act as Governor until the vacancy be filled, or the disability shall cease. Lieutenant-Gov- SECTION VIII The Lieutenant-Governor shall receive for his services an annual salary of $5,000, and shall ernor's salary. not receive or be entitled to any other compensation, fee or perquisite for any duty or service he may be required to perform by the Constitution or by law. Governor pre- SECTION IX. Every bill which shall have passed the Senate and Assembly shall, before it becomes s sented with law, be presented to the Governor; if he approve, he shall sign it; but if not, he shall return it with his Legislative objections to the House in which it shall have originated, which shall enter the objections at large on the bills. journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such reconsideration, two-thirds of the members elected to that House shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered; and if approved by two-thirds of the members elected to that House, it shall become a law notwithstanding the objections of the Governor. In all such cases, the votes in both Houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the members voting shall be entered on the journal of each House, respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the Governor within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Legislature sha'l, by their adjournment, prevent its return, in which case it shall not become a law without the approval of the Governor. No bill shall become a law after the final adjournment of the Legislature, unless approved by the Governor within thirty days after such adjournment. If any bill presented to the Governor contain several items of appropriation of money, he may object to one or inore of such items while approving of the other portion of the bill. In such case, he shall append to the bill, at the time of signing it, a statement of the items to which he objects; and the appropriation so objected to shall not take effect. If the Legislature be in session, he shall transmit to the House in which the bill originated a copy of such statement, and the items objected to shall be separately reconsidered. If on reconsideration one or more of such items be approved by two-thirds of the members elected to each House, the same shall be part of the law, notwithstanding the objections of the Governor. All the provisions of this section, in relation to bills not approved by the Governor, shall apply in cases in which he shall withhold his approval from any item or items contained in a bill appropriating money.

Other State officers.

The Judiciary."

The publication
of statutes.

Justices of the
Peace.
Courts of Spec-
ial Sessions.

The State credit.

Power to incur debt.

Debt to repel Invasion.

ARTICLE V.

[NOTE. Article V of the Constitution provides for the election by the people or appointment by the Governor, of other State officers, and prescribes their duties: to wit, the Secretary of State, Comptroller, Treasurer, Attorney-General, State Engineer and Surveyor, Superintendent of Public Works, Superintendent of State Prisons, Commissioners of the Land Office, Commissioners of Canal Fund and Canal Board.]

ARTICLE VI.

Article VI of the Constitution provides for the Judiciary of the State."

The Supreme Court is continued with general jurisdiction in law and equity, subject to such appellate jurisdiction of the Court of Appeals as now is or may be prescribed by law not inconsistent with this article. The existing judicial districts of the State are continued until changed as hereinafter provided. The Supreme Court shall consist of the justices now in office, and of the judges transferred thereto by the fifth section of this article, all of whom shall continue to be Justices of the Supreme Court during their respective terms, and of 12 additional justices who shall reside in and be chosen by the electors of, the several existing judicial districts, three in the first district, three in the second, and one in each of the other districts; and of their successors. The successors of said justices shall be chosen by the electors of their respective judicial districts.

The Legislature is required to divide the State into four judicial districts, the boundaries which are determined by Section II of this Article. For each of these divisions an appellate division of the Supreme Court is provided, the justices to be designated by the Governor.

The official terms of the Justices of the Supreme Court are fixed at 14 years.

The Court of Appeals is provided for in Section VII of this article. The terms of the chief judge and associate judges are fixed at 14 years, and they shall be chosen by the people. The Governor may, with the consent of the Senate, designate Justices of the Supreme Court to fill vacancies until the people elect their successors. SECTION IX of this Article provides for the jurisdiction of the Court of Appeals and Section XII for its compensation. In Section XIII the Assembly is given the power of impeachment and the Senate is required to try the judicial officers thus impeached.

In subsequent sections of this article, County Courts, Surrogate Courts, Justices of the Peace and minor Judicial officers are provided.

:

SECTION XXI. The Legislature shall provide for the speedy publication of all statutes, and shall regulate the reporting of the decisions of the courts; but all laws and judicial decisions shall be free for publication by any person.

SECTION XXII. Justices of the Peace and other local judicial officers provided for in Sections XVII and XVIII, in office when this article takes effect, shall hold their offices until the expiration of their respective

terms.

SECTION XXIII. Courts of Special Sessions shall have such jurisdiction of offences of the grade of misdemeanors as may be prescribed by law.

ARTICLE VIL

SECTION I. The credit of the State shall not in any manner be given or loaned to or in aid of any individual, association or corporation. SECTION II. The State may, to meet casual deficits or failures in revenues, or for expenses not provided for, contract debts; but such debts, directly or contingent, singly or in the aggregate, shall not at any time exceed $1,000,000; and the moneys, arising from the loans creating such debts shall be applied to the purpose for which they were obtained, or to repay the debt so contracted, and to no other purpose whatever.

SECTION III. In addition to the above limited power to contract debts, the State may contract debts to renel invasions, suppress insurrection, or defend the State in war; but the money arising from the contracting of such debts shall be applied to the purpose for which it was raised, or to repay such debts, and to no other purpose whatever.

Authority to SECTION IV. Except the debts specified in Sections II and III of this article, no debts shall be hereafter create debt contracted by or in behalf of this State, unless such debt shall be authorized by a law, for some single work or limited.

Sinking funds.

Claims barred by time.

The forest

serve.

pre

Canals must not be sold.

No canal tolls.

object, to be distinctly specified therein; and such law shall impose and provide for the collection of a direct annual tax to pay, and sufficient to pay, the interest on such debt as it falls due, and also to pay and discharge the principal of such debt within 50 years from the time of the contracting thereof. No such law shall take effect until it shall, at a general election have been submitted to the people, and have received a majority of all the votes cast for and against it at such election. Ou the final passage of such bill in either House of the Legislature the question shall be taken by ayes and noes, to be duly entered on the journals thereof, and shall be: Shall this bill pass, and ought the same to receive the sanction of the people!" The Legislature may at any time, after the approval of such law by the people, if no debt shall have been contracted in pursuance thereof, repeal the same; and may at any time, by law, forbid the contracting of any further debt or liability under such law; but the tax imposed by such act, in proportion to the debt and liability which may have been contracted in pursuance of such law, shall remain in force and be irrepealable, and be annually collected, until the proceeds thereof shall have made the provision herein before specified to pay and discharge the interest and principal of such debt and liability. The money arising from any loan or stock creating such debt or liability shall be applied to the work or object specified in the act authorizing such debt or lia bility, or for the payment of such debt or liability, and for no other purpose whatever. No such law shall be submitted to be voted on, within three months after its passage or at any general election when any other law, or any bill shall be submitted to be voted for or against. The Legislature may provide for the issue of bonds of the State to run for a period not exceeding 50 years in lieu of bouds heretofore authorized but not issued, and shall impose and provide for the collection of a direct annual tax for the payment of the same as hereinbefore required. When any sinking fund created under this section shall equal in amount the debt for which it was created, no further direct tax shall be levied on account of said sinking fund and the Legislature shall reduce the tax to an amount equal to the accruing interest on such debt.

SECTION V. The sinking funds provided for the payment of interest and the extinguishment of the principal of the debts of the State shall be separately kept and safely invested, and neither of them shall be appropriated or used in any manner other than for the specific purpose for which it shall have been provided.

SECTION VI. Neither the Legislature, canal board, nor any person or persons acting in behalf of the State, shall audit, allow or pay any claim which, as between citizens of the State, would be barred by lapse of time. This provision shall not be construed to repeal any statute fixing the time within which claims shall be presented or allowed, nor shall it extend to any claim duly presented within the time allowed by law, and prosecuted with due diligence from the time of such presentment. But if the claimant shall be under legal disability, the claim may be presented within two years after such disability is removed.

SECTION VII. The lands of the State, now owned or hereafter acquired, constituting the forest preserve as now fixed by law, shall be forever kept as wild forest lands. They shall not be leased, sold or exchanged, or be taken by any corporation, public or private, nor shall the timber thereon be sold, removed or destroyed. SECTION VIII. The Legislature shall not sell, lease or otherwise dispose of the Erie Canal, the Oswego Canal, the Champlain Canal, the Cayuga and Seneca Canal, or the Black River Canal; but they shall remain the property of the State and under its management forever. The prohibition of lease, sale or other disposition herein contained, shall not apply to the canal known as the Main and Hamburg Street Canal, situated in the City of Buffalo, and which extends easterly from the westerly line of Main Street to the westerly line of Hamburg Street. All funds that may be derived from any lease, sale or other disposition of any canal shall be applied to the improvement, superintendence or repair of the remaining portions of the canals.

SECTION IX. No tolls shall hereafter be imposed on persons or property transported on the canals, but all boats navigating the canals, and the owners and masters thereof, shall be subject to such laws and regulations as have been or may hereafter be enacted concerning the navigation of the canals. The Legislature shall annually, by equitable taxes, make provision for the expenses of the superintendence and repairs of the canals. All contracts for work or materials on the canals shall be made with the persons who shall offer to do or provide the same at the lowest price, with adequate security for their performance. No extra compensation shall be made to any contractor: but, if, from any unforseen cause, the terms of any contract shall prove to be unjust and oppressive the Canal Board may, upon the application of the contractor, cancel such contract. The improve SECTION X. The canals may be improved in such manner as the Legislature shall provide by law. A debt ment of the may be authorized for that purpose in the mode prescribed by Section IV of this article, or the cost of such canals. improvement may be defrayed by the appropriation of funds from the State treasury, or by equitable annual

ways.

tax.

SECTION XI. The Legislature may appropriate out of any funds in the treasury, moneys to pay the accru ing interest and principal of any debt heretofore or hereafter created, or any part thereof, and may set apart in each fiscal year, moneys in the State treasury as a sinking fund to pay the interest as it falls due and to pay and discharge the principal of any debt heretofore or hereafter created under Section IV of Article VII of the Con stitution until the same shall be wholly paid, and the principal and Income of such sinking fund shall be ap plied to the purpose for which said sinking fund is created and to no other purpose whatever; and, in the event such moneys so set apart in any fiscal year be sufficient to provide such sinking fund, a direct annual tax for such year need not be imposed and collected, as required by the provisions of said Section IV of Article VII, or of any law enacted in pursuance thereof.

The improve- SECTION XII. A debt or debts of the State may be authorized by law for the improvement of highways. ment of high- Such highways shall be determined under general laws, which shall also provide for the equitable apportion ment thereof among the counties. The aggregate of the debts authorized by this section shall not at any one time exceed the sum of $50,000,000. The payment of the annual interest on such debt and the creation of a sinking fund of at least two per cent. per annum to discharge the principal at maturity shall be provided by general laws whose force and effect shall not be diminished during the existence of any debt created there under. The Legislature may by general laws require the county or town or both to pay to the sinking fund the proportionate part of the cost of any such highway within the boundaries of such county or town and the proportionate part of the interest thereon, but no county shall at any time for any highway be required to pay more than thirty-five hundredths of the cost of such highway and no town more than fifteen hundredths. None of the provisions of the fourth section of this article shall apply to debts for the improvement of highways hereby authorized,

Formation of

ARTICLE VIII.

SECTION I. Corporations may be formed under general laws; but shall not be created by special act, er corporations. cept for municipal purposes, and in cases where, in the judgment of the Legislature, the objects of the corpora tion cannot be attained under general laws. All general laws and special acts passed pursuant to this section may be altered from time to time or repealed.

Dues from cor- SECTION II. Dues from corporations shall be secured by such individual liability of the corporators and porations. other means as may be prescribed by law. A definition of SECTION III. The term corporation as used in this section shall be construed to include all associations corporations. and joint-stock companies having any of the powers or privileges of corporations not possessed by individuals or partnerships. And all corporations shall have the right to sue and shall be subject to be sued in all courts In like cases as natural persons.

The charters of SECTION IV. The Legislatures shall, by general law, conform all charters of savings banks, or institutions savings banks. for savings, to a uniformity of power, rights, and liabilities, and all charters hereafter granted for such corporations shall be made to conform to such general law, and to such amendments as may be made thereto. And no such corporation shall have any capital stock, nor shall the trustees thereof, or any of them, have any interest whatever, direct or indirect, in the profits of such corporation, and no director or trustee of any such bank or Institution shall be interested in any loan or use of any money or property of such bank or institution for savings. The Legislature shall have no power to pass any act granting any special charter for banking purposes; but corporations or associations may be formed for such purposes under general laws.

Specie pay. SECTION V. The Legislature shall have no power to pass any law sanctioning in any manner, directly or ments. Indirectly, the suspension of specie payments, by any person, association or corporation, issuing bank notes of any description.

The registry of bills.

Stock-holders' lability.

SECTION VI. The Legislature shall provide by law for the registry of all bills or notes, issued or put in circulation as money, and shall require ample security for the redemption of the same in specie.

SECTION VII. The stockholders of every corporation and joint-stock association for banking purposes, shall be individually responsible to the amount of their respective share or shares of stock in any such cor. poration or association, for all its debts and liabilities of every kind.

Preferred cred- SECTION VIII. In case of the insolvency of any bank or banking association, the billholders thereof shall itors of banks, be entitled to preference in payment, over all other creditors of such bank or association.

The credit of the
State.

SECTION IX. Neither the credit nor the money of the State shall be given or loaned to or in aid of any association, corporation or private undertaking. This section shall not, however, prevent the Legislature from making such provision for the education and support of the blind, the deaf and dumb, and juvenile delinquents, as to it may seem proper. Nor shall it apply to any fund or property now held, or which may hereafter be held, by the State for educational purposes.

Credit of Coun- SECTION X. No county, city, town or village shall hereafter give any money or property, or loan its ties, cities, money or credit to or in aid of any individual, association or corporation, or become directly or indirectly the towns not to owner of stock in, or bonds of, any association or corporation; nor shall any such county, city, town or village be given. be allowed to incur any indebtedness except for county, city, town or village purposes. This section shall not prevent such county, city, town or village from making such provision for the aid or support of its poor as may be authorized by law. No county, or city shall be allowed to become indebted for any purpose or in any manner to an amount which, including existing indebtedness, shall exceed ten per centum of the assessed valuation of the real estate of such county or city subject to taxation, as it appeared by the assessment rolls of said county or city on the last assessment for State or county taxes prior to the incurring of such indebtedness; and all indebtedness in excess of such limitations, except such as now may exist, shall be absolutely void, except as herein otherwise provided. No county or city whose present indebtedness exceeds ten per centom of the assessed valuation of its real estate subject to taxation, shall be allowed to become indebted in any further amount until such indebtedness shall be reduced within such limit. This section shall not be construed to prevent the issuing of certificates of indebtedness or revenue bonds issued in anticipation of the collection of taxes for amounts actually contained, or to be contained in the taxes for the year when such certificates or revenue bonds are issued and payable out of such taxes. Nor shall this section be construed to prevent the Issue of bonds to provide for the supply of water; but the term of the bonds issued to provide the supply of water shall not exceed 20 years, and a sinking fund shall be created on the issuing of the said bonds for their redemption, by raising annually a sum which will produce an amount equal to the sum of the principal and Interest of said bonds at their maturity. All certificates of indebtedness or revenue bonds issued in anticipa tion of the collection of taxes, which are not retired within five years after their date of issue, and bonds issued to provide for the supply of water, and any debt hereafter incurred by any portion or part of a city, if there shall be any such debt, shall be included in ascertaining the power of the city to become otherwise indebted except that debts incurred by the City of New York after January 1, 1904, and debts incurred by any city of the second class after January 1, 1908, to provide for the supply of water shall not be so included. Whenever the boundaries of any city are the same as those of a county, or when any city shall include within its boundaries more than one county, the power of any county wholly included within such city to become indebted shall cease, but the debt of the county, heretofore existing, shall not, for the purposes of this section, be reckoned as a part of the city debt. The amount hereafter to be raised by tax for county or city purposes, in any county containing a city of over 100,000 inhabitants, or any such city of this State, in addition to providing for the principal and interest of existing debt, shall not in the aggregate exceed in any one year two per centum of the assessed valuation of the real and personal estate of such county or city, to be ascertained as prescribed in this section in respect to county or city debt. [Amendment voted on in 1901.]

The State board of charities.

SECTION XI. The Legislature shall provide for a State board of charities, which shall visit and inspect all institutions, whether State, county, municipal, incorporated or not incorporated, which are charitable, eleemosynary, correctional or reformatory character, excepting only such institutions as are hereby made subject to the visitation of either of the commissions hereinafter mentioned, but including all reformatories except those in which adult males convicted of felony shall be confined; a State commission of lunacy shall visit and inspect all institutions, either public or private, used for the care and treatment of the insane (not Including institutions for epileptics or idiots); a State commission of prisons which shall visit and inspect all institutions used for the detention of sane adults charged with or convicted of crime or detained as witnesses or debtors. Governor ap SECTION XII. The members of the said board and of the said commissions shall be appointed by the points boards. Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate; and any member may be removed from office by the Governor for cause, an opportunity having been given him to be heard in his defence.

Existing laws continued.

Provision for

the support of the helpless.

SECTION XIII. Existing laws relating to institutions referred to in the foregoing sections and to their supervision and Inspection, in so far as such laws are not inconsistent with the provisions of the Constitution, shall remain in force until amended or repealed by the Legislature. The visitation and inspection herein provided for shall not be exclusive of other visitation and inspection now authorized by law.

SECTION XIV. Nothing in this Constitution contained shall prevent the Legislature from making such provision and support of the blind, the deaf and dumb, and juvenile delinquents, as to it may seem proper; or prevent any county, city, town or village from providing for the care, support, maintenance and secular education of inmates of orphan asylums, homes for dependent children or correctional institutions, whether under public or private control. Payments by counties, cities, towns and villages to charitable, eleemosynary, correctional and reformatory institutions, wholly or partly under private control, for care, support and maintenance, may be authorized, but shall not be required by the Legislature. No such payments shall be made for any inmate of such institutions who is not received and retained therein pursuant to rules established by the State board of charities. Such rules shall be subject to the control of the Legislature by general laws. Commissioners SECTION XV. Commissioners of the State board of charities and commissioners of the State commission remain in of- in lunacy, now holding office, shall be continued in office for the term for which they were appointed, respectfice. ively, unless the Legislature shall otherwise provide. The Legislature may confer upon the commissions and upon the board mentioned in the foregoing sections any additional powers that are not inconsistent with other provisions of the Constitution.

The common schools.

The Regents of

ARTICLE IX.

SECTION I. The Legislature shall provide for the maintenance and support of a system of free common schools, wherein all the children of this State may be educated.

SECTION II. The corporation created in the year 1784, under the name of The Regents of the University the University of the State of New York, is hereby continued under the name of the University of the State of New York. It shall be governed and its corporate powers, which may be increased, modified or diminished by the Legisla ture, shall be exercised by not less than nine regents.

-Capital of the SECTION III. The capital of the common school fund, the capital of the literature fund, and the capital of common school the United States deposit fund, shall be respectively preserved inviolate. The revenue of the said common fund. school fund shall be applied to the support of the common schools; the revenue of the literature fund shall be applied to the support of academies; and the sum of $25,000 of the revenues of the United States deposit fund shall each year be appropriated to and made part of the capital of the said common school fund.

Denominational schools.

SECTION IV. Neither the State nor any subdivision thereof, shall use its property or credit or any public money, or authorize or permit either to be used, directly or indirectly, in aid or maintenance, other than for examination or inspection, of any school or institution of learning wholly or in part under the control or direction of any religious denomination, or in which any denominational tenet or doctrine is taught.

ARTICLE X.

Governor may SECTION 1. Sheriffs, clerks of countles, district-attorneys and registers in counties having registers, shall remove certain be chosen by the electors of the respective counties, once in every three years and as often as vacancies shall officers. happen, except in the counties of New York and Kings, and in counties whose boundaries are the same as those of a city, where such officers shall be chosen by the electors once in every two or four years, as the Legislature shall direct. Sheriffs shall hold no other office and be ineligible for the next term after the termination of their offices. They may be required by law to renew their security, from time to time; and in default of giving such new security, their offices shall be deemed vacant. But the county shall never be made responsible for the acts of the sheriff. The Governor may remove any officer, in this section mentioned, within the term for which he shall have been elected; giving to such officer a copy of the charges against him, and an opportunity of being heard in his defence. Appointment SECTION II. All county officers whose election or appointment is not provided for by this Constitution, shall and election of be elected by the electors of the respective counties or appointed by the boards of supervisors, or other county county of- authorities, as the Legislature shall direct. All city, town and village officers, whose election or appointment ficers.

The duration of a term.

is not provided for by this Constitution, shall be elected by the electors of such cities, towns and villages, or of some division thereof, or appointed by such authorities thereof, as the Legislature shall designate for that purpose. All other 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.

SECTION III. When the duration of any office is not provided 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 The time of elec- appointment.

tion. Vacancies in offices.

The political

year.

Laws for Removal of of ficers.

Laws regarding

vacancies.

The compensa

SECTION IV. The time of electing all officers named in this article shall be prescribed by law. SECTION V. The Legislature shall provide for filling vacancies in office, and in case of elective officers, no person appointed to fill a vacancy shall hold his office by virtue of such appointment longer than the commencement of the palitical year next succeeding the first annual election after the happening of the vacancy. SECTION VI. The political year and legislative term shall begin on the first day of January; and the Legislature shall, every year, assemble on the first Wednesday in January.

SECTION VII. Provision shall be made by law for the removal for misconduct or malversation in office of all officers, except judicial, whose powers and duties are not local or legislative and who shall be elected at general elections, and also for supplying vacancies created by such removal.

SECTION VIII. The Legislature may declare the cases in which any office shall be deemed vacant when no provision is made for that purpose in this Constitution.

SECTION IX. No officer whose salary is fixed by the Constitution shall receive any additional compensation of officers tion. Each of the other State officers named in the Constitution shall, during his continuance in office, receive a compensation, to be fixed by law, which shall not be increased or diminished during the term for which he shall have been elected or appointed; nor shall he receive to his use any fees or perquisites of office as other compensation.

The State militia

Enlistment of soldiers. Militia to be organized.

Governor to ap

ARTICLE XI.

SECTION I. All able-bodied male citizens between the ages of 18 and 45 years, who are residents of the State, shall constitute the militia, subject, however, to such exemptions as are now, or may be hereafter created by the laws of the United States, or by the Legislature of this State.

SECTION II. The Legislature may provide for the enlistment into the active force of such other persons as may make application to be so enlisted. SECTION III. The militia shall be organized and divided into such land and naval, and active and reserve forces as the Legislature may deem proper, provided, however, that there shall be inaintained at all times a force of not less than ten thousand enlisted men, fully uniformed, armed, equipped, disciplined, and ready for active service. And it shall be the duty of the Legislature at each session to make sufficient appropriation for the maintenance thereof.

SECTION IV. The Governor shall appoint the chiefs of the several staff departments, his aides-de-camp point officers. and military secretary, all of whom shall hold office during his pleasure, their commissions to expire with the term for which the Governor shall have been elected; he shall also nominate, and with the consent of the Senate appoint, all major-generals.

Laws concerning officers.

SECTION V. All other commissioned and non-commissioned officers shall be chosen or appointed in such manner as the Legislature may deem most conducive to the improvement of the militia, provided, however, that no law shall be passed changing the existing mode of election and appointment unless two-thirds of the members present in each House shall concur therein.

Governor to SECTION VI. The commissioned officers shall be commissioned by the Governor as commander-in-chief. commission No commissioned officer shall be removed from office during the term for which he shall have been appointed officers. or elected, unless by the Senate on the recommendation of the Governor, stating the grounds on which such removal is recommended, or by the sentence of a court-martial, or upon the findings of an examining board organized pursuant to law, or for absence without leave for a period of six months or more.

ARTICLE XII.

The organiza- SECTION I. It shall be the duty of the Legislature to provide for the organization of cities and incorpotion of cities rated villages, and to restrict their power of taxation, assessment, borrowing money, contracting debts, and and villages. loaning their credit, so as to prevent abuses in assessments and in contracting debt by such municipal corporations; and the Legislature may regulate and fix the wages or salaries, the hours of work or labor, and make provision for the protection, welfare and safety of persons employed by the State or by any county, city, town, village or other civil division of the State, or by any contractor or sub-contractor performing work, labor or services for the State, or for any county, city, town, village or other civil division thereof.

Classification of cities.

SECTION II. All cities are classified according to the latest State enumeration, as from time to time made as follows: The first class includes all cities having a population of 175.000 or more; the second class, all cities having a population of 50,000 and less than 175,000; the third class, all other cities. Laws relating to the property, affairs of government of cities, and the several departments thereof, are divided into general and special city laws; general city laws are those which relate to all the cities of one or more classes; special city laws are those which relate to a single city, or to less than all the cities of a class. Special city laws shall not be passed except in conformity with the provisions of this section. After any bill for a special city law, relat ing to a city, has been passed by both branches of the Legislature, the House in which it originated shall immediately transmit a certified copy thereof to the Mayor of such city, and within 15 days thereafter the Mayor shall return such bill to the House from which it was sent, or if the session of the Legislature at which such bill was passed has terminated, to the Governor, with the Mayor's certificate thereon, stating whether the city has or has not accepted the same. In every city of the first class, the Mayor, and in every other city, the Mayor and the legislative body thereof concurrently, shall act for such city as to such bill; but the Legislature may provide for the concurrence of the Legislative body in cities of the first class. The Legislature shall provide for a public notice and opportunity for a public hearing concerning any such bill in every city to which it relates, before action thereon. Such a bill, if it relates to more than one city, shall be transmitted to the Mayor of each city to which it relates, and shall not be deemed accepted unless accepted as herein provided, by every such city. Whenever any such bill is accepted as herein provided, it shall be subject as are other bills, to the action of the Governor. Whenever, during the session at which it was passed, any such bill is returned without the acceptance of the city or cities to which it relates, or within such 15 days is not returned, it may nevertheless again be passed by both branches of the Legislature, and it shall then be subject as are other bills, to the action of the Governor. In every special city law which has been accepted by the city or cities to which,