Specie pay

ments.

Registry of

bills or notes

Individual responsibi

holders.

Section 5. The Legislature shall have no power to pass any law sanctioning in any manner, directly or indirectly, the suspension of specie payments, by any person, association or corporation issuing bank notes of any description.

Section 6. The Legislature shall provide by law for the registry of all bills or notes, issued or put in circulation as money, and shall require ample security for the redemption of the same in specie.

Section 7. The stockholders in every corporation and lity of stock- joint-stock association for banking purposes, issuing bank notes or any kind of paper credits to circulate as money, after the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and fifty, shall be individually responsible to the amount of their respective share or shares of stock in any such corporation or association, for all its debts and liabilities of every kind, contracted after the said first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and fifty.

Insolvency of banks,

Section 8. In case of the insolvency of any bank or bankpreference. ing association, the bill-holders thereof shall be entitled to preference in payment, over all other creditors of such bank or association.

Common school, literature and

Section 9. 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 debt by such municipal corporations.

ARTICLE IX.

Section 1. The capital of the common school fund; the capital of the literature fund, and the capital of the United U. S. depo- States deposite fund, shall be respectively preserved invio

site funds.

Sheriffs, clerks of

counties, re

late. The revenue of the said common school fund shall be applied to the support of common schools; the revenue of the said literature fund shall be applied to the support of academies, and the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars of the revenues of the United States deposite fund shall each year be appropriated to and made part of the capital of the said common school fund.

ARTICLE X.

Section 1. Sheriffs, clerks of counties, including the register and clerk of the city and county of New-York, corogister and ners, and district attorneys, shall be chosen by the electors Y. coroners of the respective counties, once in every three years and as often as vacancies shall happen. Sheriffs shall hold no other

clerk of N.

and district attorneys.

office, and be ineligible for the next three years after the termination of their offices. They may be required by law, to renew their security from time to time; and in default of giving such new security, their offices shall be deemed vacant. But the county shall never be made responsible for the acts of the sheriff.

may remove

The Governor may remove any officer, in this section men- Governor tioned, within the term for which he shall have been elected, giving to such officer a copy of the charges against him, and an opportunity of being heard in his defence.

chosen or

appointed.

Section 2. All county officers whose election or appoint- Officers,how ment is not provided for by this Constitution, shall be elected by the electors of the respective counties, or appointed by the boards of supervisors, or other county authorities, as the Legislature shall direct. All city, town and village officers whose election or appointment is not provided for by this Constitution, shall be elected by the electors of such cities, towns and villages, or of some division thereof, or appointed by such authorities thereof, as the Legislature shall designate for that purpose. All other 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.

Section 3. When the duration of any office is not provi- Duration of ded by this Constitution, it may be declared by law, and if office. not so declared, such office shall be held during the pleasure of the authority making the appointment.

Section 4. The time of electing all officers named in this Time of article shall be prescribed by law.

election.

in office,

Section 5. The Legislature shall provide for filling vacan- Vacancies cies in office, and in case of elective officers, no person ap- how filled. pointed to fill a vacancy shall hold his office by virtue of such appointment longer than the commencement of the political year next succeeding the first annual election after the happening of the vacancy.

year.

Section 6. The political year and legislative term, shall Political begin on the first day of January; and the Legislature shall every year assemble on the first Tuesday in January, unless a different day shall be appointed by law.

from office.

Section 7. Provision shall be made by law for the remo- Removal val for misconduct or malversation in office of all officers (except judicial) whose powers and duties are not local or legislative and who shall be elected at general elections, and also for supplying vacancies created by such removal.

fice deemed

Section 8. The Legislature may declare the cases in which When ofany office shall be deemed vacant, when no provision is vacant. made for that purpose in this Constitution.

Militia.

Manner of

choosing or appointing

cers.

ARTICLE XI.

Section 1. The militia of this State shall at all times hereafter be armed and disciplined, and in readiness for service; but all such inhabitants of this State of any religious denomination whatever, as from scruples of conscience may be averse to bearing arms, shall be excused therefrom, upon such conditions as shall be prescribed by law.

Section 2. Militia officers shall be chosen, or appointed, as follows:-captains, subalterns and non-commissioned officers militia offi- shall be chosen by the written votes of the members of their respective companies. Field officers of regiments and separate battalions, by the written votes of the commissioned officers of the respective regiments and separate battalions brigadier-generals and brigade inspectors, by the field officers of their respective brigades; major-generals, brigadier-generals and commanding officers of regiments or separate battalions, shall appoint the staff officers to their respective divisions, brigades, regiments or separate battalions.

Officers to 7

by governor

;

Section 3. The Governor shall nominate, and with the be appointed consent of the Senate, appoint all major-generals, and the and senate. commissary-general. The adjutant-general and other chiefs of staff departments, and the aids-de-camp of the commander-in-chief shall be appointed by the Governor, and their commissions shall expire with the time for which the GoverCommissary nor shall have been elected. The commissary-general shall hold his office for two years. He shall give security for the faithful execution of the duties of his office, in such manner and amount as shall be prescribed by law.

general.

Election of militia officers.

Officers,how

ed.

Section 4. The Legislature shall by law, direct the time and manner of electing militia officers, and of certifying their elections to the Governor.

Section 5. The commissioned officers of the militia shall commission- be commissioned by the Governor; and no commissioned officer shall be removed from office, unless by the Senate on the recommendation of the Governor, stating the grounds on which such removal is recommended, or by the decision of a court martial, pursuant to law. The present officers of the militia shall hold their commissions subject to removal, as before provided.

Election of militia offi

Section 6. In case the mode of election and appointment cers may be of militia officers hereby directed, shall not be found conduabolished., cive to the improvement of the militia, the Legislature may abolish the same, and provide by law for their appointment and removal, if two thirds of the members present in each house shall concur therein.

fice pre

Section 1, Members of the Legislature and all officers, Oath of ofexecutive and judicial, except such inferior officers as may scribed. 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 New-York; 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.

ARTICLE XIII.

Section 1. Any amendment or amendments to this Con- Amendstitution may be proposed in the Senate and Assembly; and ments. 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 ayes and nays taken thereon, and referred to the Legislature to be chosen at the next general election of Senators, and shall be published for three months previous to the time of making such choice, and if in the Legislature so 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.

ventions,

Section 2. At the general election to be held in the year Future coneighteen hundred and sixty-six, and in each twentieth year how called. thereafter, and also at such time as the Legislature may by law provide, the question, "Shall there be a Convention to revise the Constitution, and amend the same?" shall be decided by the electors qualified to vote for members of the Legislature; and in case a majority of the electors so qualified, voting at such election, shall decide in favor of a convention for such purpose, the Legislature at its next session, shall provide by law for the election of delegates to such convention.

Election.

Term of of

ARTICLE XIV.

Section 1. The first election of Senators and Members of Assembly, pursuant to the provisions of this Constitution, shall be held on the Tuesday succeeding the first Monday of November, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven.

The Senators and members of Assembly who may be in fors and office on the first day of January, one thousand eight hunmembers of dred and forty-seven, shall hold their offices until and including the thirty-first day of December following, and no longer.

assembly.

First elec

ernor and

governor

when

Section 2. The first election of Governor and Lieutenanttion of gov- Governor under this Constitution, shall be held on the Tues-, lieutenant- day succeeding the first Monday of November, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight; and the Governor and Lieutenant-Governcr in office when this Constitution shall take effect, shall hold their respective offices until and including the thirty-first day of December of that year.

State officers

and others to

fice till 31

Dec. 1847.

Section 3. The Secretary of State, Comptroller, Treasuremain in of rer, Attorney General, District Attorneys, Surveyor General, Canal Commissioners, and Inspectors of State Prisons in office when this Constitution shall take effect, shall hold their respective offices until and including the thirty-first day of December, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, and no longer.

First elec

cial officers:

Section 4. The first election of judges and clerk of the tion of judi: Court of Appeals, justices of the Supreme Court, and county when. judges, shall take place at such time between the first Tuesday of April and the second Tuesday of June, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, as may be prescribed by law. The said courts shall respectively enter upon their duties, on the first Monday of July next thereafter; but the term of office of said judges, clerk and justices as declared by this Constitution, shall be deemed to commence on the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.

Jurisdiction of suits.

Section 5. On the first Monday of July, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, jurisdiction of all suits and proceedings then pending in the present Supreme Court and Court of Chancery, and all suits and proceedings originally commenced and then pending in any Court of Common Pleas, (except in the city and county of New-York), shall become vested in the Supreme Court hereby established. Proceedings pending in Courts of Common Pleas and in suits originally commenced in justices courts, shall be transferred to the county courts provided for in this Constitution, in such manner and form and under such regulation as shall be provided by law. The courts of Oyer and Terminer hereby established, shall in their respective counties, have