And no other oath, declaration, or test, shall be required as a qualification for any office of public trust.

ARTICLE SEVENTH. Sec. I. No member of this state shall be disfranchised, or deprived of any of the rights or privileges secured to any citizen thereof, unless by the law of the land or the judgment of his peers.

Sec. II. The trial by jury, in all eases in which it Trial by jury. has been heretofore used, shall remain inviolate for ever: and no new court shall be instituted, but such as shall proceed according to the course of the common law ; except such courts of equity as the legislature is herein authorized to establish.

Sec. III. The free exercise and enjoyment of reli. Religious liberty. gious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall for ever be allowed in this state to all mankind; but the liberty of conscience hereby secured shall not be so construed as to excuse any acts of licentiousness, or justify practices inconsistent with the peace or safety of this state.

Sec. IV. And whereas the ministers of the gospel Clergymen. are, by their profession, dedicated to the service of God, and the cure of souls, and ought not to be diverted from the great duties of their functions : therefore, no minister of the gospel, or priest of any denomination whatsoever, shall, at any time hereafter, under any pretence or description whatever, be eligible to, or capable of holding any civil or military office or place within this state.

Sec. V. The militia of the state shall, at all times Militia. hereafter, be armed and disciplined, and in readiness for service; but all such inhabitants of this state, of any religious denomination whatever, as frorn scruples of conscience may be averse to bearing arms, shall be excused therefrom, by paying to the state an equivalent in money : and the legislature shall provide by law for the collection of such equivalent, to be

Writ of habeas corpus.

Grand jury.

estimated according to the expense in time and money of an ordinary able-bodied militia man.

SEC. VI. The privileges of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when, in case of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require its suspension.

Sec. VII. No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime [except in cases of impeachment, and in cases of the militia when in actual service; and the land and naval forces in time of war, or which this state may keep, with the consent of congress, in time of peace, and in case of petit larceny, under the regulation of the legislature), unless on presentment or indictment, of a grand jury; and in every trial on impeachment or indictment, the party accused shall be allowed counsel as in civil actions. No person shall be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall he be compelled, in any criminal case, to be a witness against himself; nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law: nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Sec. VIII. Every citizen may freely speak, write, and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right; and no law shall be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech, or of the press. In all prosecutions, or indictments for libels, the truth may be given in evidence to the jury; and if it shall appear to the jury,

; that the matter charged as libellous is true, and was published with good motives, and for justifiable ends, the party shall be acquitted ; and the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the fact.

Sec. IX. 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, or creating,

Two-third bills.

fund

continuing, altering, or renewing any body politic or corporate.

Sec. X. The proceeds of all lands belonging to common school this state, except such parts thereof as may be reserved or appropriated to public use, or ceded to the United States, which shall hereafter be sold or disposed of, together with the fund denominated the common school fund, shall be and remain a perpetual fund, the interest of which shall be inviolably appropriated and applied to the support of common schools throughout this state. Rates of toll, not less than Rates of toll. those agreed to by the canal commissioners, and set forth in their report to the legislature on the twelfth of March, one thousand eight hundred and twentyone, shall be imposed upon, and collected from, all parts of the navigable communication between the great western and northern lakes and the Atlantic ocean, which now are, or hereafter shall be, made and completed; and the said tolls, together with the duties on the manufacture of all salt, as established by the act of the fifteenth of April, one thousand eight hundred and seventeen : and the duties on goods sold at auction, excepting therefrom the sum of thirty-three thousand five hundred dollars, otherwise appropriated by the said act; and the amount of the revenue, established by the act of the legislature of the thirtieth of March, one thousånd eight hundred and twenty, in lieu of the tax upon steamboat passengers ; shall be and remain in violably appropriated and applied to the completion of such navigable communications, and to the payment of the interest, and reimbursement of the capital, of the money already borrowed, or which hereafter shall be borrowed, to make and complete the same.

And neither the rates of toll on the said Canal tolls. navigable communications, nor the duties on the manufacture of salt aforesaid, nor the duty on goods sold at auction, as established by the act of the fif. teenth of April, one thousand eight hundred and

Lotteries.

Sale of lands.

seventeen ; nor the amount of the revenue, established by the act of March the thirtieth, one thousand eight hundred and twenty, in lieu of the tax upon steamboat passengers ; shall be reduced or diverted, at any time, before the full and complete payment of the principal and interest of the money borrowed, or

to be borrowed, as aforesaid. And the legislature Salt springs.

shall never sell or dispose of the salt springs belonging to this state, nor the land contiguous thereto, which

may

be

necessary or convenient for their use, nor the said navigable communications, or any part or section thereof, but the same shall be and remain the property of this state.

Sec. XI. No lottery shall hereafter be authorized in this state ; and the legislature shall pass laws to prevent the sale of all lottery tickets within this state, except in lotteries already provided for by law.

Sec. XII. No purchase or contract for the sale of lands in this state, made since the fourteenth day of October, one thousand seven hundred and seventyfive, or which may hereafter be made, of or with the Indians in this state, shall be valid, unless made under

the authority, and with the consent of the legislature. Old colony laws.

Sec. XIII. Such parts of the common law, and of the acts of the legislature of the colony of New York, as together did form the law of the said colony on the nineteenth day of April, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, and the resolutions of the congress of the said colony, and of the convention of the state of New York, in force on the twentieth day of April, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-seven, which have not since expired, or been repealed, or altered, and such acts of the legislature of this state as are now in force, shall be and continue the law of this state, subject to such alterations as the legislature shall make concerning the same.

But all such parts of the common law, and such of the said acts, or

since 1775.

parts thereof, as are repugnant to the constitution, are hereby abrogated.

Sec. XIV. All grants of land within this state, Grants of land made by the king of Great Britain, or persons acting under his authority, after the fourteenth day of October, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, shall be null and void ; but nothing contained in this constitution shall affect any grants of land within this Prior grants. state, made by the authority of the said king or his predecessors, or shall annul any charters to bodies politic and corporate, by him or them made before that day; or shall affect any such grants or charters since made by this state, or by persons acting under its authority; or shall impair the obligations of any debts contracted by the state, or individuals, or bodies corporate, or any other rights of property, or any suits, actions, rights of action, or other proceedings, in courts of justice.

ARTICLE EIGHTH. Sec. I. Any amendment or amendments to this con- Amendments. stitution 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 the 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 previous to 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 twothirds 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