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ments.

SECTION 1. Any amendment or amendments to this AmendConstitution may be proposed in the Senate or Assembly; and if the same shall be agreed to by a majority of the members elected to each of the two houses, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be entered on their Journals, with the yeas and nays taken thereon, and referred to the Legislature then next to be chosen, and shall be published for three months next preceding the time of making such choice. And if, in the Legislature next chosen as aforesaid, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be agreed to by a majority of all the members elected to each house, then it shall be the duty of the Legislature to 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.

tional

tion.

SEC. 2. And if at any time two thirds of the Senate Constituand Assembly shall think it necessary to revise and Convenchange this entire Constitution, they shall recommend to the electors at the next election for members of the Legislature to vote for or against a 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. The Constitution that may have been agreed upon and adopted by such Convention shall be submitted to the people, at a special election to be provided for by law, for their ratification or rejection. Each voter shall express his opinion by depositing in the ballot box a ticket, whereon shall be written or printed the words "For the New Constitution," or "Against the New Constitution." The returns of such election shall, in such manner as the Convention

shall direct, be certified to the Executive of the State, who shall call to his assistance the Controller, Treasurer, and Secretary of State, and compare the votes so certified to him. If, by such examination, it be ascertained that a majority of the whole number of votes cast at such election be in favor of such new Constitution, the Executive of this State shall, by his proclamation, declare such new Constitution to be the Constitution of the State of California.

ARTICLE XI.

Seat of Government.

MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS.

SECTION 1. Seat of Government.

2. Duelling disqualifies for office.

3. The oath of office.

4. Legislature to provide a system of uniform county and

town governments.

5. Boards of County Supervisors.

6. All officers not otherwise provided for elected by the people or appointed as Legislature directs.

7. Duration not declared by Constitution to be fixed by law. 8. Fiscal year.

9. Provision for support of county and other inferior officers. 10. Credit of the State not to be given or loaned.

11. Suits against the State.

12. Marriage contracts to be valid.

13. Taxation shall be equal and uniform.

14. Separate property of wife defined and provided for.

15. Homesteads of heads of families to be provided for.

16. Perpetuities not to be allowed.

17. Giving or taking a bribe disqualifies for office.

18. Rights of suffiage to be protected, and improper persons excluded therefrom: from the jury and from the ballot box.

19. Residence not affected by absence on the business of the

State or Federal Government.

20. Plurality vote makes a choice.

21. Publication of laws, decrees, etc., in English.

SECTION 1. The first session of the Legislature shall be held at the Pueblo de San José, 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.

NOTE.-The Act of February 4th, 1851, removing the Capital to Vallejo, declared valid.-People vs. Bigler, 5 Cal., p. 23.

SEC. 2. Any citizen of this State who shall, after the Duelling. 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 a 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 suf frage under this Constitution.

office.

SEC. 3. Members of the Legislature and all officers, Oath of executive and judicial, except such inferior officers as 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.

NOTE.-Attorneys.-Test oaths not obnoxious to this section.-Cohen vs. Wright, 22 Cal., p. 293. The terms "office" and "public trust," as used in this section, have relation only to such duties and responsibilities as are of a public nature.-Ex Parte Yale, 24 Cal., p. 241.

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

NOTE. The clause that "the Legislature shall provide a system of county governments, which shall be as nearly as practicable uniform," etc., is directory, and the authority to determine what measure of uniformity is practicable is with the Legislature.-People vs. Lake Co., 33 Cal., p. 487. The Legislature may create a Board of Commissioners to ascertain and settle

County govern

and town

ments.

County Supervisors.

and report the amount due from one county to another upon any claim, and may compel the Supervisors of the county indebted to levy a tax to pay the amount reported due.-People vs. Alameda Co., 26 Cal., p. 641.

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.

NOTE.-The Legislature may confer upon the Board of Supervisors of one county the power to lay out, open, and maintain a road in another county.-People vs. Lake County, 33 Cal., p. 487. In Christy vs. Board of Supervisors of Sacramento County, 39 Cal., p. 3, it was held by Justice Crockett that:

"When the Constitution declares an office to be elective, it cannot, of course, be filled in any other mode than that provided by the instrument itself. We have repeatedly recognized this proposition as applied to Assessors and Collectors of taxes.-People vs. Hastings, 29 Cal., p. 449; People vs. Kelsey, 34 id., p. 470. But where an office has been filled in the method prescribed by the Constitution, no reason is perceived why the Legislature may not extend the term of the incumbent; provided the whole term, when extended, does not exceed the time limited by the Constitution-Section 7, Article XI, of which, provides that 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.' An officer duly elected by the people, and holding his office for a term extended by the Legislature within the constitutional limitation of time, cannot, in any just sense, be held to hold, not as an elected officer, but as an appointee of the Legislature. It cannot be denied that he was elected to the office, and that he would not be the incumbent of it, except for his election. The people have exercised their constitutional right in selecting him for the office, and instead of thwarting the popular will by appointing some one else, the Legislature has rather ratified it by extending his term. The duration of the terms of office, except as limited by the Constitution, is a matter of purely legislative discretion. It may be diminished or extended at the will of the Legislature, within those limits, and his power in no degree trenches on the con

stitutional right of the people to select the person who
is to fill an elective office. The people select the incum-
bent of the office, but the Legislature has the power to
define the duration of the term, provided it is not fixed
by the Constitution, and is within the constitutional
limitation of four years. If we had any doubt on this
point, we should be very reluctant to arrive at a differ-
ent conclusion, in view of the serious complications
which might arise, growing out of past legislation on
this subject. The Legislature has so often exercised,
unquestioned, the power to prolong the terms of the
incumbents of elective officers, that it might result in
the most embarrassing perplexities, if all these acts, at
this late day, were pronounced to be void. They have
repeatedly extended terms of Supervisors, Tax Collec-
tors, Assessors, and all county officers.-Stats. 1858, p.
261; 1862, p. 129; 1863, p. 171; 1859, p. 236; 1861, p.
260; 1859, p. 337; 1863, pp. 406, 387, 24, 506; 1857, p.
281; 1863-4, p. 507; 1867-8, pp. 121, 457. Nothing but
an imperious sense of duty, founded on the plainest
principles of constitutional construction, would justify
us in holding all these acts to be void after this lapse of
time. If we had even a grave doubt on the subject,
considerations of public policy would impel us to uphold
these enactments, if practicable."

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.

NOTE.-The Legislature may alter or abridge the term of office of legislative creation.-People vs. Haskell, 5 Cal., p. 357. The place of pilot in the port of San Francisco is an office.-Palmer vs. Woodbury, 14 Cal., p. 43.

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of office.

SEC. 7. When the duration of any office is not provided Duration 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.

NOTE.-The power to remove from office is an incident to the power to appoint, and the only way in which the power of removal can be limited is by first fixing the duration of office.-People vs. Hill, 7 Cal., p. 97.

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