Area of counties.

Division of counties.

Same.

Election of officers.

Township organization.

ARTICLE [X.]-COUNTIES.

SECTION 1. No new county shall be formed or established by the legislature which will reduce the county or counties, or either of them, to a less area than four hundred square miles, nor shall any county be formed of a less area.

SEC. 2. No county shall be divided, or have any part stricken therefrom without first submitting the question to a vote of the people of the county, nor unless a majority of all the legal voters of the county voting on the question shall vote for the same.

SEC. 3. There shall be no territory stricken from any organized county unless a majority of the voters living in such territory shall petition for such division, and no territory shall be added to any organized county without the consent of the majority of the voters of the county to which it is proposed to be added; but the portion so stricken off and added to another county, or formed in whole or in part into a new county, shall be holden for and obliged to pay its proportion of the indebtedness of the counties from which it has been taken,

SEC. 4. The legislature shall provide by law for the election of such county and township officers as may be necessary.

SEC. 5. The legislature shall provide by general law for township organization, under which any county may organize whenever a majority of the legal voters of such county, voting at any general election, shall so determine; and in any county that shall have adopted a township organization, the question of continuing the same may be submitted to a vote of the electors of such county at a general election in the manner that shall be provided by law. (6 Neb., 482.)

ARTICLE [XI.]—RAILROAD CORPORATIONS.

be established.

SECTION 1. Every railroad corporation organized Public office to or doing business in this state, under the laws or authority thereof, or of any other state, or of the United States, shall have and maintain a public office or place in this state for the transaction of its business, where transfers of stock shall be made, and in which shall be kept, for public inspection, books in which shall be recorded the amount of capital stock subscribed, and by whom, the names of the owners of its stock, and the amounts owned by them respectively, the amount of stock paid in and by whom, the transfers of said stock, the amount of its assets and liabilities, and the names and places of residence of its officers. The directors of every railroad corporation, or other parties having control of its road, shall annually make a report, under oath, to the auditor of public accounts, or some officer to be designated by law, of the amount received from passengers and freight, and such other matters relating to railroads as may be prescribed by law. And the legislature shall pass laws enforcing by suitable penalties the provisions of this section.

railroad liable

cution.

SEC. 2. The rolling stock and all other movable Property of property belonging to any railroad company or corpora- to sale on exetion in this state shall be liable to execution and sale in the same manner as the personal property of individuals, and the legislature shall pass no law exempting any such property from execution and sale.

of stock, etc.,

SEC. 3. No railroad corporation or telegraph com- Consolidation pany shall consolidate its stock, property, franchises, or prohibited. earnings, in whole or in part, with any other railroad corporation or telegraph company owning a parallel or

Rates of charges.

Issuance of stocks and

bonds.

Eminent domain.

Abuses to be regulated by law.

competing line; and in no case shall any consolidation take place except upon public notice of at least sixty days to all stockholders in such manner as may be provided by law.

SEC. 4. Railways heretofore constructed, or that may hereafter be constructed in this state, are hereby declared public highways, and shall be free to all persons for the transportation of their persons and property thereon, under such regulations as may be prescribed by law. And the legislature may from time to time pass laws establishing reasonable maximum rates of charges for the transportation of passengers and freight on the different railroads in this state. The liability of railroad corporations as common carriers shall never be limited.

SEC. 5. No railroad corporation shall issue any stock or bonds, except for money, labor, or property actually received and applied to the purposes for which such corporation was created, and all stock, dividends, and other fictitious increase of the capital stock or indebtedness of any such corporation shall be void. The capital stock of railroad corporations shall not be increased for any purpose, except after public notice for sixty days, in such manner as may be provided by law. SEC. 6. The exercise of the power and the right of eminent domain shall never be so construed or abridged as to prevent the taking, by the legislature, of the property and franchises of incorporated companies already organized or hereafter to be organized, and subjecting them to the public necessity, the same as of individuals.

Sec. 7. The legislature shall pass laws to correct abuses, and prevent unjust discrimination and extortion in all charges of express, telegraph, and railroad companies in this state, and enforce such laws by adequate penalties to the extent, if necessary for that purpose, of forfeiture of their property and franchises.

ganized in

SEC. 8. No railroad corporation, organized under Railroads or the laws of any other state, or of the United States, and other states. doing business in this state, shall be entitled to exercise the right of eminent domain, or have power to acquire the right of way, or real estate for depot or other uses, until it shall have become a body corporate pursuant to and in accordance with the laws of this state.

ARTICLE [XII.]-MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS.

prohibited.

SECTION 1. No city, county, town, precinct, munici- Subscriptions pality, or other subdivision of the state, shall ever become a subscriber to the capital stock, or owner of such stock, or any portion or interest therein, of any railroad or private corporation, or association.

ARTICLE [XIII.—MISCELLANEOUS CORPORATIONS.

to be by gene

SECTION 1. No corporation shall be created by Incorporations special law, nor its charter extended, changed, or amend- ral law. ed, except those for charitable, educational, penal, or reformatory purposes, which are to be and remain under the patronage and control of the state, but the legislature shall provide by general laws for the organization of all corporations hereafter to be created. All general laws passed pursuant to this section may be altered from time to time, or repealed. (5 Neb. 126, 427; 8 Neb. 179, 518.) SEC. 2. No such general law shall be passed by the Right to conlegislature granting the right to construct and operate a railroads. street railroad within any city, town, or incorporated village, without first requiring the consent of a majority of the electors thereof.

SEC. 3. All corporations may sue and be sued in like cases as natural persons.

struct street

SEC. 4. In all cases of claims against corporations Liability of and joint stock associations, the exact amount justly due stock.

subscribers to

Liability of stockholders in banks.

shall be first ascertained, and after the corporate property shall have been exhausted, the original subscribers thereof shall be individually liable to the extent of their unpaid subscription, and the liability for the unpaid subscription shall follow the stock. (8 Neb., 118.)

SEC. 5. The legislature shall provide by law that in all elections for directors or managers of incorporated companies, every stockholder shall [have] the right to vote in person or proxy for the number of shares of stock owned by him, for as many persons as there are directors or managers to be elected, or to cumulate said shares and give one candidate as many votes as the number of directors multiplied by the number of his shares of stock shall equal, or to distribute them upon the same principle among as many candidates as he shall think fit; and such directors or managers shall not be elected in any other

manner.

SEC. 6. All existing charters or grants of special or exclusive privileges under which organization shall not have taken place, or which shall not be in operation within sixty days from the time this constitution takes effect, shall thereafter have no validity or effect what

ever.

SEC. 7. Every stockholder in a banking corporation or institution shall be individually responsible and liable to its creditors, over and above the amount of stock by him held, to an amount equal to his respective stock or shares so held, for all its liabilities accruing while he remains such stockholder; and all banking corporations shall publish quarterly statements, under oath, of their assets and liabilities.