male citizen of Mexico, who shall have elected to become a citizen of
the United States, under the treaty of peace exchanged and ratified at
Queretaro, on the 30th day of May, 1848, of the age of twenty-one years,
who shall have been a resident of the State six months next preceding
the election, and the county or district in which he claims his vote
thirty days, shall be entitled to vote at all elections which are now or
hereafter may be authorized by law: Provided, that nothing herein
contained shall be construed to prevent the Legislature, by a two-thirds
concurrent vote, from admitting to the right of suffrage, Indians or the
descendants of Indians, in such special cases as such a proportion of
the legislative body may deem just and proper.
SEC. 2. Electors shall, on all cases except treason, felony, or breach
of the peace, be privileged from arrest on the days of the election,
during their attendance at such election, going to and returning
therefrom.
SEC. 3. No elector shall be obliged to perform militia duty on the day
of election, except in time of war or public danger.
SEC. 4. For the purpose of voting, no person shall be deemed to have
gained or lost a residence by reason of his presence or absence while
employed in the service of the United States; 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 of any seminary of learning; nor
while kept at any almshouse, or other asylum, at public expense; nor
while confined in any public prison.
SEC. 5. No idiot or insane person, or person convicted of any infamous
crime, shall be entitled to the privileges of an elector.
SEC. 6. All elections by the people shall be by ballot.
ARTICLE III.
DISTRIBUTION OF POWERS.
The powers of the government of the State of California shall be divided
into three separate departments: the Legislature, the Executive, and
Judicial; and no person charged with the exercise of powers properly
belonging to one of these departments, shall exercise any functions
appertaining to either of the others; except in the cases hereinafter
expressly directed or permitted.
ARTICLE IV.
LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT.
SEC. 1. The legislative power of this State shall be vested in a Senate
and Assembly, which shall be designated the Legislature of the State of
California, and the enacting clause of every law shall be as follows:
“The people of the State of California, represented in Senate and
Assembly, do enact as follows.”
SEC. 2. The sessions of the Legislature shall be annual, and shall
commence on the first Monday of January, next ensuing the election of
its members; unless the Governor of the State shall, in the interim,
convene the Legislature by proclamation.
SEC. 3. The members of the Assembly shall be chosen annually, by the
qualified electors of their respective districts, on the Tuesday next
after the first Monday in November, unless otherwise ordered by the
Legislature, and their term of office shall be one year.
SEC. 4. Senators and members of Assembly shall be duly qualified
electors in the respective counties and districts which they represent.
SEC. 5. Senators shall be chosen for the term of two years, at the same
time and places as members of Assembly; and no person shall be a member
of the Senate or Assembly, who has not been a citizen and inhabitant of
the State one year, and of the county or district for which he shall be
chosen, six months next before his election.
SEC. 6. The number of Senators shall not be less than one-third, nor
more than one-half of that of the members of Assembly; and at the first
session of the Legislature after this Constitution takes effect, the
Senators shall be divided by lot as equally as may be, into two classes;
the seats of the Senators of the first class shall be vacated at the
expiration of the first year, so that one-half shall be chosen annually.
SEC. 7. When the number of Senators is increased, they shall be
apportioned by lot, so as to keep the two classes as nearly equal in
number as possible.
SEC. 8. Each house shall choose its own officers, and judge of the
qualifications, elections, and returns of its own members.
SEC. 9. A majority of each house shall constitute a quorum to do
business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may
compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner, and under such
penalties as each house may provide.
SEC. 10. Each house shall determine the rules of its own proceedings,
and may with the concurrence of two-thirds of all the members elected,
expel a member.
SEC. 11. Each house shall keep a journal of its own proceedings, and
publish the same; and the yeas and nays of the members of either house,
on any question, shall, at the desire of any three members present, be
entered on the journal.
SEC. 12. Members of the Legislature shall, in all cases except treason,
felony, and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest, and they
shall not be subject to any civil process during the session of the
Legislature, nor for fifteen days next before the commencement and after
the termination of each session.
SEC. 13. When vacancies occur in either house, the Governor, or the
person exercising the functions of the Governor, shall issue writs of
election to fill such vacancies.
SEC. 14. The doors of each house shall be open, except on such occasions
as in the opinion of the house may require secrecy.
SEC. 15. Neither house shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn
for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which they
may be sitting.
SEC. 16. Any bill may originate in either house of the Legislature, and
all bills passed by one house may be amended in the other.
SEC. 17. Every bill which may have passed the Legislature, shall, before
it becomes a law, be presented to the Governor. If he approve it, he
shall sign it; but if not, he shall return it, with his objections, to
the house in which it originated, which shall enter the same upon the
journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration,
it again pass both houses, by yeas and nays, by a majority of two-thirds
of the members of each house present, it shall become a law,
notwithstanding the Governor’s objections. If any bill shall not be
returned within ten days after it shall have been presented to him,
(Sunday excepted,) the same shall be a law, in like manner as if he had
signed it, unless the Legislature, by adjournment, prevent such return.
SEC. 18. The Assembly shall have the sole power of impeachment; and all
impeachments shall be tried by the Senate. When sitting for that
purpose, the Senators shall be upon oath or affirmation; and no person
shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the members
present.
SEC. 19. The Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State,
Comptroller, Treasurer, Attorney General, Surveyor General, Justices of
the Supreme Court and Judges of the District Courts, shall be liable to
impeachment for any misdemeanor in office; but judgment in such cases
shall extend only to removal from office, and disqualification to hold
any office of honor, trust, or profit, under the State; but the party
convicted, or acquitted, shall nevertheless be liable to indictment,
trial and punishment, according to law. All other civil officers shall
be tried for misdemeanors in office, in such manner as the Legislature
may provide.
SEC. 20. No Senator or member of Assembly shall, during the term for
which he shall have been elected, be appointed to any civil office of
profit, under this State, which shall have been created, or the
emoluments of which shall have been increased, during such term, except
such office as may be filled by elections by the people.
SEC. 21. No person holding any lucrative office under the United States,
or any other power, shall be eligible to any civil office of profit,
under this State; provided, that officers in the militia, to which there
is attached no annual salary, or local officers and postmasters whose
compensation does not exceed five hundred dollars per annum, shall not
be deemed lucrative.
SEC. 22. No person who shall be convicted of the embezzlement or
defalcation of the public funds of this State, shall ever be eligible to
any office of honor, trust, or profit, under the State; and the
Legislature shall, as soon as practicable, pass a law providing for the
punishment of such embezzlement, or defalcation, as a felony.
SEC. 23. No money shall be drawn from the Treasury but in consequence of
appropriations made by law. An accurate statement of the receipts and
expenditures of the public moneys shall be attached to, and published
with, the laws, at every regular session of the Legislature.
SEC. 24. The members of the Legislature shall receive for their
services, a compensation to be fixed by law, and paid out of the public
treasury; but no increase of the compensation shall take effect during
the term for which the members of either house shall have been elected.
SEC. 25. Every law enacted by the Legislature, shall embrace but one
object, and that shall be expressed in the title: and no law shall be
revised, or amended, by reference to its title; but in such case, the
act revised, or section amended, shall be re-enacted and published at
length.
SEC. 26. No divorce shall be granted by the Legislature.
SEC. 27. No lottery shall be authorized by this State, nor shall the
sale of lottery tickets be allowed.
SEC. 28. The enumeration of the inhabitants of this State shall be
taken, under the direction of the Legislature, in the year one thousand
eight hundred and fifty-two, and one thousand eight hundred and
fifty-five, and at the end of every ten years thereafter; and these
enumerations, together with the census that may be taken, under the
direction of the Congress of the United States, in the year one thousand
eight hundred and fifty, and every subsequent ten years, shall serve as
the basis of representation in both houses of the Legislature.
SEC. 29. The number of Senators and members of Assembly, shall, at the
first session of the Legislature, holden after the enumerations herein
provided for are made, be fixed by the Legislature, and apportioned
among the several counties and districts to be established by law,
according to the number of white inhabitants. The number of members of
Assembly shall not be less than twenty-four, nor more than thirty-six,
until the number of inhabitants within this State shall amount to one
hundred thousand; and after that period, at such ratio that the whole
number of members of Assembly shall never be less than thirty, nor more
than eighty.
SEC. 30. When a congressional, senatorial, or assembly district, shall
be composed of two or more counties, it shall not be separated by any
county belonging to another district; and no county shall be divided, in
forming a congressional, senatorial, or assembly district.
SEC. 31. Corporations may be formed under general laws, but shall not be
created by special act, except for municipal purposes. All general laws
and special acts passed pursuant to this section may be altered from
time to time, or repealed.
SEC. 32. Dues from corporations shall be secured by such individual
liability of the corporators, and other means, as may be prescribed by
law.
SEC. 33. The term corporations, as used in this article, shall be
construed to include all associations 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.
SEC. 34. The Legislature shall have no power to pass any act granting
any charter for banking purposes; but associations may be formed under
general laws, for the deposit of gold and silver; but no such
association shall make, issue, or put in circulation, any bill, check,
tickets, certificate, promissory note, or other paper, or the paper of
any bank, to circulate as money.
SEC. 35. The Legislature of this State shall prohibit, by law, any
person or persons, association, company, or corporation, from exercising
the privileges of banking, or creating paper to circulate as money.
SEC. 36. Each stockholder of a corporation, or joint-stock association,
shall be individually and personally liable for his proportion of all
its debts and liabilities.
SEC. 37. It shall be the duty of the Legislature to provide for the
organization of cities and incorporated villages, and to restrict their
power of taxation, assessment, borrowing money, contracting debts, and
loaning their credit, so as to prevent abuses in assessments, and in
contracting debts by such municipal corporations.
SEC. 38. In all elections by the Legislature, the members thereof shall
vote _viva voce_, and the votes shall be entered on the journal.
ARTICLE V.
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT.
SEC. 1. The supreme executive power of this State shall be vested in a
chief magistrate, who shall be styled the Governor of the State of
California.
SEC. 2. The Governor shall be elected by the qualified electors, at the
time and places of voting for members of Assembly, and shall hold his
office two years from the time of his installation, and until his
successor shall be qualified.
SEC. 3. No person shall be eligible to the office of Governor, (except
at the first election,) who has not been a citizen of the United States
and a resident of this State two years next preceding the election, and
attained the age of twenty-five years at the time of said election.
SEC. 4. The returns of every election for Governor shall be sealed up
and transmitted to the seat of government, directed to the Speaker of
the Assembly, who shall, during the first week of the session, open and
publish them in presence of both houses of the legislature. The person
having the highest number of votes shall be Governor; but in case any
two or more have an equal and the highest number of votes, the
Legislature shall, by joint-vote of both houses, choose one of said
persons, so having an equal and the highest number of votes, for
Governor.
SEC. 5. The Governor shall be commander-in-chief of the militia, the
army, and navy, of this State.
SEC. 6. He shall transact all executive business with the officers of
government, civil and military, and may require information in writing
from the officers of the executive department, upon any subject relating
to the duties of the respective offices.
SEC. 7. He shall see that the laws are faithfully executed.
SEC. 8. When any office shall, from any cause become vacant, and no mode
is provided by the constitution and laws for filling such vacancy, the
Governor shall have power to fill such vacancy by granting a commission,
which shall expire at the end of the next session of the Legislature, or
at the next election by the people.
SEC. 9. He may, on extraordinary occasions, convene the Legislature by
proclamation, and shall state to both houses, when assembled, the
purpose for which they shall have been convened.
SEC. 10. He shall communicate by message to the Legislature, at every
session, the condition of the State, and recommend such matters as he
shall deem expedient.
SEC. 11. In case of a disagreement between the two houses, with respect
to the time of adjournment, the Governor shall have power to adjourn the
Legislature to such time as he may think proper; Provided it be not
beyond the time fixed for the meeting of the next Legislature.
SEC. 12. No person shall, while holding any office under the United
States, or this State, exercise the office of Governor, except as
hereinafter expressly provided.
SEC. 13. The Governor shall have the power to grant reprieves and
pardons, after conviction, 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 the 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, direct the
execution of the sentence, or grant a further reprieve. He shall
communicate to the Legislature, at the beginning of every session, every
case of reprieve, 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 the pardon or reprieve.
SEC. 14. There shall be a seal of this State, which shall be kept by the
Governor, and used by him officially, and it shall be called “The great
seal of the State of California.”
SEC. 15. All grants and commissions shall be in the name and by the
authority of the people of the State of California, sealed with the
great seal of the State, signed by the Governor, and countersigned by
the Secretary of State.
SEC. 16. A Lieutenant Governor shall be elected at the same time and
place, and in the same manner as the Governor; and his term of office,
and his qualifications of eligibility, shall also be the same. He shall
be President of the Senate, but shall only have 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.
SEC. 17. In case of the impeachment of the Governor, or his removal from
office, death, inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said
office, resignation or absence from the State, the powers and duties of
the office shall devolve upon the Lieutenant Governor for the residue of
the term, or until the disability shall cease. But when the Governor
shall, with the consent of the Legislature, be out of the State in time
of war, at the head of any military force thereof, he shall continue
commander-in-chief of all the military force of the State.
SEC. 18. A Secretary of State, a Comptroller, a Treasurer, an Attorney
General and Surveyor General, shall be chosen in the manner provided in
this Constitution; and the term of office, and eligibility of each,
shall be the same as are prescribed for the Governor and Lieutenant
Governor.
SEC. 19. The Secretary of State shall be appointed by the Governor, by
and with the advice and consent of the Senate. He shall keep a fair
record of the official acts of the Legislative and Executive Departments
of the government; and shall, when required, lay the same, and all
matters relative thereto, before either branch of the Legislature: and
shall perform such other duties as shall be assigned him by law.
SEC. 20. The Comptroller, Treasurer, Attorney General and Surveyor
General, shall be chosen by joint vote of the two houses of the
Legislature, at their first session under this Constitution, and
thereafter shall be elected at the same time and places, and in the same
manner, as the Governor and Lieutenant Governor.
SEC. 21. The Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State,
Comptroller, Treasurer, Attorney General, and Surveyor General, shall
each at stated times during their continuance in office, receive for
their services a compensation, which shall not be increased or
diminished during the term for which they shall have been elected; but
neither of these officers shall receive for his own use any fees for the
performance of his official duties.
ARTICLE VI.
JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT.
SEC. 1. The judicial power of this State shall be vested in a Supreme
Court, in District Courts, in County Courts, and in Justices of the
Peace. The Legislature may also establish such municipal and other
inferior courts as may be deemed necessary.
SEC. 2. The Supreme Court shall consist of a Chief Justice, and two
Associate Justices, any two of whom shall constitute a quorum.
SEC. 3. The Justices of the Supreme Court shall be elected at the
general election, by the qualified electors of the State, and shall hold
their office for the term of six years from the first day of January
next after their election; provided that the Legislature shall, at its
first meeting, elect a Chief Justice and two Associate Justices of the
Supreme Court, by joint vote of both houses, and so classify them that
one shall go out of office every two years. After the first election,
the senior Justice in commission shall be the Chief Justice.
SEC. 4. The Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction in all cases
when the matter in dispute exceeds two hundred dollars, when the
legality of any tax, toll, or impost or municipal fine is in question:
and in all criminal cases amounting to felony, or questions of law
alone. And the said court, and each of the Justices thereof, as well as
all district and county judges, shall have power to issue writs of
habeas corpus, at the instance of any person held in actual custody.
They shall also have power to issue all other writs and process
necessary to the exercise of the appellate jurisdiction, and shall be
conservators of the peace throughout the State.
SEC. 5. The State shall be divided by the first Legislature into a
convenient number of districts, subject to such alteration from time to
time as the public good may require; for each of which a district judge
shall be appointed by the joint vote of the legislature, at its first
meeting, who shall hold his office for two years from the first day of
January next after his election; after which, said judges shall be
elected by the qualified electors of their respective districts, at the
general election, and shall hold their office for the term of six years.
SEC. 6. The District Courts shall have original jurisdiction, in law and
equity, in all civil cases where the amount in dispute exceeds two
hundred dollars, exclusive of interest. In all criminal cases not
otherwise provided for, and in all issues of fact joined in the probate
courts, their jurisdiction shall be unlimited.
SEC. 7. The legislature shall provide for the election, by the people,
of a Clerk of the Supreme Court, and County Clerks, District Attorneys,
Sheriffs, Coroners, and other necessary officers; and shall fix by law
their duties and compensation. County Clerks shall be, _ex-officio_,
Clerks of the District Courts in and for their respective counties.
SEC. 8. There shall be elected in each of the organized counties of this
State, one County Judge who shall hold his office for four years. He
shall hold the County Court, and perform the duties of Surrogate, or
Probate Judge. The County Judge, with two Justices of the Peace, to be
designated according to law, shall hold courts of sessions, with such
criminal jurisdiction as the Legislature shall prescribe, and he shall
perform such other duties as shall be required by law.
SEC. 9. The County Courts shall have such jurisdiction, in cases arising
in Justices Courts, and in special cases, as the Legislature may
prescribe, but shall have no original civil jurisdiction, except in such
special cases.
SEC. 10. The times and places of holding the terms of the Supreme Court,
and the general and special terms of the District Courts within the
several districts, shall be provided for by law.
SEC. 11. No judicial officer, except a Justice of the Peace, shall
receive, to his own use, any fees, or perquisites of office.
SEC. 12. The Legislature shall provide for the speedy publication of all
statute laws, and of such judicial decisions as it may deem expedient;
and all laws and judicial decisions shall be free for publication by any
person.
SEC. 13. Tribunals for conciliation may be established, with such powers
and duties as may be prescribed by law; but such tribunals shall have no
power to render judgment to be obligatory on the parties, except they
voluntarily submit their matters in difference, and agree to abide the
judgment, or assent thereto in the presence of such tribunal, in such
cases as shall be prescribed by law.