Pay of members. No member to receive appointments. Persons dis qualified SEC. IX. The members of the legislature shall receive for their services, a compensation to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the public treasury; but no increase of the compensation shall take effect, during the year in which it shall have been made. And no law shall be passed, increasing the compensation of the members of the legislature beyond the sum of three dollars a day. SEC. X. No member of the legislature shall receive any civil appointment from the governor and senate, or from the legislature, during the term for which he shall have been elected. SEC. XI. No person being a member of congress, or holding any from being judicial or military office under the United States, shall hold a seat in the legislature. And if any person shall, while a member of the legislature, be elected to congress, or appointed to any office, civil or military, under the government of the United States, his acceptance thereof shall vacate his seat. Bills to be presented to the go vernor. by him with how posed of. SEC. XII. Every bill which shall have passed the senate and • assembly, shall, before it become a law, be presented to the governor if he approve, he shall sign it; but if not, he shall If returned return it with his objections to that house in which it shall have objections, originated; who shall enter the objections at large on their journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such reconsideration, twothirds of the members present shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other house, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered; and if approved by two-thirds of the members present it shall become a law. But in all such cases, the votes of both houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for, and against, the bill, shall be entered on the journal of each house respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the governor within ten days (Sundays excepted) ten days. after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the legislature shall, by their adjournment, prevent its return; in which case it shall not be a law. SEC. XIII. All officers holding their offices during good behavior removed by may be removed by joint resolution of the two houses of the legistion. lature, if two-thirds of all the members elected to the assembly, and a majority of all the members elected to the senate, concur therein. SEC. XIV. The political year shall begin on the first day of January; and the legislature shall every year assemble on the first Tuesday of January, unless a different day shall be appointed by law. Effect, if not returned within Certain officers may be joint resolu Legislature, when to meet. Time of annual eleotion. New officers. Existing officers. SEC. XV. The next election for governor, lieutenant-governor, senators and members of assembly, shall commence on the first Monday of November, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-two; and all subsequent elections shall be held at such time, in the month of October or November, as the legislature shall, by law, provide. SEC. XVI. The governor, lieutenant-governor, senators and members of assembly, first elected under this constitution, shall enter on the duties of their respective offices, on the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-three; and the governor, lieutenant-governor, senators and members of assembly, now in office, shall continue to hold the same, until the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-three, and no longer. ARTICLE SECOND. tions of elec SEC. I. Every male citizen, of the age of twenty-one years, who shall Qualificahave been an inhabitant of this state one year preceding any election, tors. and for the last six months a resident of the town or county where he may offer his vote; and shall have, within the year next preceding the election, paid a tax to the state or county, assessed upon his real or personal property; or shall by law be exempted from taxation; or being armed and equipped according to law, shall have performed within that year military duty in the militia of this state; or who shall be exempted from performing militia duty in consequence of being a fireman in any city, town or village in this state: and also every male citizen, of the age of twenty-one years, who shall have been for three years next preceding such election an inhabitant of this state, and for the last year a resident in the town or county where he may offer his vote; and shall have been, within the last year, assessed to labor upon the public highways, and shall have performed the labor, or paid an equivalent therefor, according to law, shall be entitled to vote in the town or ward where he actually resides, and not elsewhere, for all officers that now are, or hereafter may be, elective by the people; but no man of color, unless he shall have Freehold been for three years a citizen of this state, and for one year next men of preceding any election shall be seized and possessed of a freehold estate of the value of two hundred and fifty dollars, over and above all debts and incumbrances charged thereon; and shall have been actually rated, and paid a tax thereon, shall be entitled to vote at any such election. And no person of color shall be subject to direct taxation unless he shall be seized and possessed of such real estate as aforesaid. SEC. II. Laws may be passed excluding from the right of suffrage, who may persons who have been, or may be, convicted of infamous crimes. SEC. III. Laws shall be made for ascertaining by proper proofs, Proofs of the citizens who shall be entitled to the right of suffrage hereby vote. established. required for color. be excluded! right to SEC. IV. All elections by the citizens, shall be by ballot, except for Elections to such town officers as may by law be directed to be otherwise chosen. ARTICLE THIRD. be by ballot.. SEC. I. The executive power shall be vested in a governor. He Executive shall hold his office for two years; and a lieutenant-governor shall power. be chosen at the same time, and for the same term. tions of the governor. SEC. II. No person, except a native citizen of the United States, Qualifica shall be eligible to the office of governor; nor shall any person be eligible to that office, who shall not be a freeholder, and shall not have attained the age of thirty years, and have been five years a resident within this state; unless he shall have been absent during that time, on public business of the United States, or of this state. SEC. III. The governor and lieutenant-governor shall be elected Elections of at the times and places of choosing members of the legislature.governor The persons respectively having the highest number of votes for tenantgovernor and lieutenant-governor, shall be elected; but in case two or more shall have an equal and the highest number of votes for governor, or for lieutenant-governor, the two houses of the legisla 1 Amended in 1826, and the parts in italics abolished. See amendment No. II. governor.. Duties and His com pensation. Pardoning power. When pow. ers of the governor devolve on the Heutenantgovernor. President of senate. To act as governor in certain cases. Manner of militia officers. or ture shall, by joint ballot, choose one of the said persons so having an equal and the highest number of votes, for governor, or lieutenant-governor. SEC. IV. The governor shall be general and commander-in-chief of all the militia, and admiral of the navy of the state. He shall have power to convene the legislature, (or the senate only,) on extraordinary occasions. He shall communicate by message to the legislature, at every session, the condition of the state; and recommend such matters to them as he shall judge expedient. He shall transact all necessary business with the officers of government, civil and military. He shall expedite all such measures as may be resolved upon by the legislature, and shall take care that the laws are faithfully executed. He shall, at stated times, receive for his services a compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the term for which he shall have been elected. SEC. V. The governor shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons after conviction, for all offenses, except treason and cases of impeachment. Upon convictions for treason he shall have 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, or direct the execution of the criminal, or grant a farther reprieve. SEC. VI. In case of the impeachment of the governor, or his removal from office, death, resignation or absence from the state, the powers and duties of the office shall devolve upon the lieutenantgovernor, for the residue of the term, or until the governor absent or impeached shall return, or be acquitted. But when the governor shall, with the consent of the legislature, be out of the state, in time of war, at the head of a military force thereof, he shall still continue commander-in-chief of all the military force of the state. SEC. VII. The lieutenant-governor shall be president of the senate, but shall have only a casting vote therein. If during a vacancy in the office of governor, the lieutenant-governor shall be impeached, displaced, resign, die or be absent from the state, the president of the senate shall act as governor, until the vacancy shall be filled, or the disability shall cease. ARTICLE FOURTH. SEC. I. Militia officers shall be chosen, or appointed as follows: choong captains, subalterns and non-commissioned officers, 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, 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 of their respective divisions, brigades, regiments or separate battalions. Officers to be appointed by the governor and senate. SEC. II. The governor shall nominate, and with the consent of the senate appoint, all major-generals, brigade inspectors and chiefs of the staff departments, except the adjutant-general and commissarygeneral. The adjutant-general shall be appointed by the governor and senate. SEC. III. The legislature shall, by law, direct the time and man- Election of ner of electing militia officers, and of certifying their elections to officers. the governor. militia how com SEC. IV. The commissioned officers of the militia shall be com- officers, missioned by the governor, and no commissioned officer shall be re-missioned. moved 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 commission, subject to removal as before provided. militia offi SEC. V. In case the mode of election and appointment of militia Election of officers, hereby directed, shall not be found conducive to the im- cers may be provement of the militia, the legislature may abolish the same and abolished. provide by law for their appointment and removal, if two-thirds of the members present in each house shall concur therein. cers, how SEC. VI. The secretary of state, comptroller, treasurer, attorney- State offgeneral, surveyor-general, and commissary-general, shall be appointed appointed. as follows: The senate and assembly shall each openly nominate one person for the said offices respectively: after which, they shall meet together, and if they shall agree in their nominations, the person so nominated shall be appointed to the office for which he shall be nominated. If they shall disagree, the appointment shall be made by the joint ballot of the senators and members of assembly. The treasurer shall be chosen annually. The secretary of state, Tenure of comptroller, attorney-general, surveyor-general, and commissarygeneral, shall hold their offices for three years, unless sooner removed by concurrent resolution of the senate and assembly. office. officers to ed by go Justices of SEC. VII. The governor shall nominate, by message, in writing, Judicial and with the consent of the senate, shall appoint, all judicial offi- be appointcers, except justices of the peace, who shall be appointed in manner vernor and following, that is to say: The board of supervisors in every county in senate. this state shall, at such times as the legislature may direct, meet to- peace, how gether: and they, or a majority of them so assembled, shall nominate appointed. so many persons as shall be equal to the number of justices of the peace to be appointed in the several towns in the respective counties. And the judges of the respective county courts, or a majority of them, shall also meet and nominate a like number of persons; and it shall be the duty of the said board of supervisors, and judges of county courts, to compare such nominations, at such time and place as the legislature may direct: And if on such comparison, the said boards of supervisors and judges of county courts shall agree in their nominations, in all or in part, they shall file a certificate of the nominations in which they shall agree, in the office of the clerk of the county; and the person or persons named in such certificates shall be justices of the peace: And in case of disagreement, in whole or in part, it shall be the further duty of the said boards of supervisors, and judges respectively, to transmit their said nominations, so far as they disagree in the same, to the governor, who shall select from the said nominations, and appoint so many justices of the peace as shall be requisite to fill the vacancies.' Every person appointed a justice of the peace, shall hold his office Term of 1 This section was amended in 1826, and the part in italic was rescinded. See amendment No. I. office; how removed. Sheriffs, clerks of and register N. Y. 11 Wend. for four years, unless removed by the county court, for causes particularly assigned by the judges of the said court. And no justice of the peace shall be removed, until he shall have notice of the charges made against him, and an opportunity of being heard in his defense. SEC. VIII. Sheriffs and clerks of counties, including the register counties, and clerk of the city and county of New York, shall be chosen by and clerk of the electors of the respective counties, once in every three years, and as often as vacancies shall happen. Sheriffs shall hold no other 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. 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: and the governor may remove any such sheriff, clerk or register, at any time within the three years for which he shall be elected, giving to such sheriff, clerk or register, a copy of the charge against him, and an opportunity of being heard in his defense, before any removal shall be made. How removed. Clerks of torneys. SEC. IX. The clerks of courts, except those clerks whose appointdistrict at- ment is provided for in the preceding section, shall be appointed by the courts of which they respectively are clerks; and district attorneys by the county courts. Clerks of courts and district attorneys shall hold their offices for three years, unless sooner removed by the courts appointing them. Mayors of cities. Coroners. Masters and examiners SEC. X. The mayors of all the cities in this state shall be appointed annually, by the common councils of the respective cities.1 SEC. XI. So many coroners as the legislature may direct, not exceeding four in each county, shall be elected in the same manner as sheriffs, and shall hold their offices for the same term, and be removable in like manner. SEC. XII. The governor shall nominate, and with the consent of in chancery. the senate appoint, masters and examiners in chancery: who shall hold their offices for three years, unless sooner removed by the Register, senate, on the recommendation of the governor. The registers and assistant registers shall be appointed by the chancellor, and hold their offices during his pleasure. &C. Clerk of oyer and N. Y. SEC. XIII. The clerk of the court of oyer and terminer, and terminer in general sessions of the peace, in and for the city and county of New York, shall be appointed by the court of general sessions of the peace in said city, and hold his office during the pleasure of the Clerks and said court: and such clerks and other officers of courts, whose appointment is not herein provided for, shall be appointed by the several courts, or by the governor, with the consent of the senate, as may be directed by law. other offi cers. Special and assistant clerks in SEC. XIV. The special justices, and the assistant justices, and justices and their clerks, in the city of New York, shall be appointed by the common council of the said city; and shall hold their offices for the same term, that the justices of the peace, in the other counties of this state, hold their offices, and shall be removable in like manner. N. Y. 1 Amended as to the city of New York. See amendment No. IV. |