History of the State of California Part 20

[Ill.u.s.tration: CROSSING THE ISTHMUS.]

SEC. 20. No Senator or member of a.s.sembly 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, pa.s.s 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 t.i.tle; and no law shall be revised, or amended, by reference to its t.i.tle; 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 a.s.sembly, shall, at the first session of the Legislature, holden after the enumeration 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 a.s.sembly 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 a.s.sembly shall never be less than thirty, nor more than eighty.

SEC. 30. When a congressional, senatorial, or a.s.sembly 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 a.s.sembly district.

SEC. 31. Corporations may be formed under general laws, but shall not be created by special act, except for munic.i.p.al purposes. All general laws and special acts pa.s.sed 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 a.s.sociations 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 pa.s.s any act granting any charter for banking purposes; but a.s.sociations may be formed under general laws, for the deposit of gold and silver; but no such a.s.sociation 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, a.s.sociation, 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 a.s.sociation, 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, a.s.sessment, borrowing money, contracting debts, and loaning their credit, so as to prevent abuses in a.s.sessments, and in contracting debts, by such munic.i.p.al 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 a.s.sembly, 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 a.s.sembly, 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 const.i.tution 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 a.s.sembled, 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, 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 forces 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 Const.i.tution; 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 Legislature 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 a.s.signed 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 Const.i.tution, 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 munic.i.p.al and other inferior courts as may be deemed necessary.

SEC. 2. The Supreme Court shall consist of a Chief Justice, and two a.s.sociate Justices, any two of whom shall const.i.tute 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 a.s.sociate Justices of the Supreme Court, by joint vote of both houses, and so cla.s.sify 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 munic.i.p.al 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.