appropriated and annually applied to the specific objects of the original gift, grant, or appropriation.

SEC. 3. All lands, the titles to which shall fail from a defect of heirs, shall escheat to the State; and the interest on the clear proceeds from the sales thereof shall be appropriated exclusively to the support of primary schools.

SEC. 4. The legislature shall, within five years from the adoption of this constitution, provide for and establish a system of primary schools, whereby a school shall be kept, without charge for tuition, at least three months in each year, in every schooldistrict in the State, and all instruction in said schools shall be conducted in the English language.

SEC. 5. A school shall be maintained in each school-district at least three months in each year. Any school-district neglecting to maintain such school shall be deprived, for the ensuing year, of its proportion of the income of the primary-school fund, and of all funds arising from taxes for the support of schools.

SEC. 6. There shall be elected in each judicial circuit, at the time of the election of the judge of such circuit, a regent of the university, whose term of office shall be the same as that of such judge. The regents thus elected shall constitute the board of regents of the University of Michigan.*

SEC. 7. The regents of the university, and their successors in office, shall continue to constitute the body-corporate known by the name and title of "The regents of the University of Michigan."

SEC. 8. The regents of the university shall, at their first annual meeting, or as soon thereafter as may be, elect a president of the university, who shall be ex-officio a member of their board, with the privilege of speaking, but not of voting. He shall preside at the meetings of the regents, and be the principal executive officer of the university. The board of regents shall have the general supervision of the university, and the direction and control of all expenditures from the university interest-fund. SEC. 9. There shall be elected at the general election in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, three members of a State board of education, one for two years, one for four years, and one for six years; and at each succeeding biennial election there shall be elected one member of such board, who shall hold his office for six years. The superintendent of public instruction shall be ex-officio a member and secretary of such board. The board shall have the general supervision of the State Normal School, and their duties shall be prescribed by law.

SEC. 10. Institutions for the benefit of those inhabitants who are deaf, dumb, blind, or insane shall always be fostered and supported.

SEC. 11. The legislature shall encourage the promotion of intellectual, scientific, and agricultural improvement; and shall, as soon as practicable, provide for the establishment of an agricultural school. The legislature may appropriate the twentytwo sections of salt-spring lands now unappropriated, or the money arising from the sale of the same, where such lands have been already sold, and any land which may hereafter be granted or appropriated for such purpose, for the support and maintenance of such school, and may make the same a branch of the university for instruction in agriculture and the natural sciences connected therewith, and place the same under the supervision of the regents of the university.

SEC. 12. The legislature shall also provide for the establishment of at least one librarian in each township; and all fines assessed and collected in the several counties and townships for any breach of the penal laws shall be exclusively applied to the support of such libraries.

ARTICLE XIV.

FINANCE AND TAXATION.

SECTION 1. All specific State taxes, except those received from the mining companies of the upper peninsula, shall be applied in paying the interest upon the primaryschool, university, and other educational funds, and the interest and principal of the State debt, in the order herein recited, until the extinguishment of the State debt,

* Amended; see page 1017.

other than the amounts due to educational funds, when such specific taxes shall be added to and constitute a part of the primary-school interest-fund. The legislature shall provide for an annual tax, sufficient, with other resources, to pay the estimated expenses of the State government, the interest of the State debt, and such deficiency as may occur in the resources.

SEC. 2. The legislature shall provide by law a sinking-fund, of at least twenty thou sand dollars a year, to commence in eighteen hundred and fifty-two, with compound interest at the rate of 6 per cent. per annum, and an annual increase of at least 5 per cent., to be applied solely to the payment and extinguishment of the principal of the State debt, other than the amounts due to educational funds, and shall be continued until the extinguishment thereof. The unfunded debt shall not be funded or redeemed at a value exceeding that established by law in one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.

SEC. 3. The State may contact debts to meet deficits in revenue. Such debts shall not in the aggregate at any one time exceed fifty thousand dollars. The moneys so raised shall be applied to the purposes for which they were obtained, or to the payment of the debts so contracted.

SEC. 4. The State may contract debts to repel invasion, suppress insurrection, or defend the State in time of war. The money arising from the contracting of such debts shall be applied to the purposes for which it was raised, or to repay such debts. SEC. 5. No money shall be paid out of the treasury except in pursuance of appropriations made by law.

SEC. 6. The credit of the State shall not be granted to or in aid of any person, association, or corporation.

SEC. 7. No scrip, certificate, or other evidence of State indebtedness shall be issued except for the redemption of stock previously issued, or for such debts as are expressly authorized in this constitution.

SEC. 8. The State shall not subscribe to, or be interested in, the stock of any company, association, or corporation.

SEC. 9. The State shall not be a party to, or interested in, any work of internal improvement, nor engaged in carrying on any such work, except in the expenditure of grants to the State of land or other property.

SEC. 10. The State may continue to collect all specific taxes accruing to the treasury under existing laws. The legislature may provide for the collection of specific taxes from banking, railroad, plank-road, and other corporations hereafter created.

SEC. 11. The legislature shall provide a uniform rule of taxation, except on property paying specific taxes, and taxes shall be levied on such property as shall be prescribed by law.

SEC. 12. All assessments hereafter authorized shall be on property at its cash value. SEC. 13. The legislature shall provide for an equalization by a State board, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, and every fifth year thereafter, of assessments on all taxable property, except that paying specific taxes.

SEC. 14. Every law which imposes, continues, or revives a tax shall distinctly state the tax, and the object to which it is to be applied; and it shall not be sufficient to refer to any other law to fix such tax or object.

ARTICLE XV.

CORPORATIONS.

SECTION 1. Corporations may be formed under general laws, but shall not be created by special act, except for municipal purposes. All laws passed pursuant to this sec-tion may be altered, amended, or repealed.*

SEC. 2. No banking law, or law for banking purposes, or amendments thereof, shall have effect until the same shall, after its passage, be submitted to a vote of the electors of the State, at a general election, and be approved by a majority of the votes cast thereon at such election.†

SEC. 3. The officers and stockholders of every corporation or association for bank† Amended; see page 1017.

*Amended; see page 1017.

ing purposes, issuing bank-notes or paper-credits to circulate as money, shall be individually liable for all debts contracted during the time of their being officers or stockholders of such corporation or association.*

SEC. 4. The legislature shall provide by law for the registry of all bills or notes issued or put in circulation as money, and shall require security to the full amount of notes and bills so registered in State or United States stocks, bearing interest, which shall be deposited with the State treasurer, for the redemption of such bills or notes in specie.t

SEC. 5. In case of the insolvency of any bank or banking association, the billholders thereof shall be entitled to preference in payment over all other creditors of such bank or association.

SEC. 6. The legislature shall pass no law authorizing or sanctioning the suspension of specie payments by any person, association, or corporation.

SEC. 7. The stockholders of all corporations and joint-stock associations shall be individually liable for all labor performed for such corporation or association.

SEC. 8. The legislature shall pass no law altering or amending any act of incorporation heretofore granted without the assent of two-thirds of the members elected to each house; nor shall any such act be renewed or extended. This restriction shall not apply to municipal corpcrations.

SEC. 9. The property of no person shall be taken by any corporation for public use without compensation being first made or secured, in such manner as may be prescribed by law.

SEC. 10. No corporation, except for municipal purposes, or for the construction of railroads, plank-roads, and canals, shall be created for a longer time than thirty years. SEC. 11. The term "corporations," as used in the preceding sections of this article,. shall be construed to include all associations and joint-stock companies having any of the powers or privileges of corporations not possessed by individuals or partnerships. All corporations shall have the right to sue, and be subject to be sued, in all courts, in like cases as natural persons.

SEC. 12. No corporation shall hold any real estate hereafter acquired for a longer period than ten years, except such real estate as shall be actually occupied by such corporation in the exercise of its franchises.

SEC. 13. The legislature shall provide for the incorporation and organization of cities and villages, and shall restrict their powers of taxation, borrowing money, contracting debts, and loaning their credit.

SEC. 14. Judicial officers of cities and villages shall be elected, and all other officers shall be elected or appointed at such time and in such manner as the legislature may direct.

SEC. 15. Private property shall not be taken for public improvements in cities and villages without the consent of the owner, unless the compensation therefor shall first be determined by a jury of freeholders, and actually paid or secured in the manner provided by law.

SEC. 16. Previous notice of any application for an alteration of the charter of any corporation shall be given in such manner as may be prescribed by law.

ARTICLE XVI.

EXEMPTIONS.

SECTION 1. The personal property of every resident of this State, to consist of such property only as shall be designated by law, shall be exempted to the amount of not less than five hundred dollars from sale on execution, or other final process of any court, issued for the collection of any debt contracted after the adoption of this constitution.

SEC. 2. Every homestead of not exceeding forty acres of land, and the dwellinghouse thereon, and the appurtenances to be selected by the owner thereof, and not included in any town-plat, city, or village; or instead thereof, at the option of the

*

Amended; see page 1017.

Amended; see page 1017.

owner, any lot in any city, village, or recorded town-plat, or such parts of lots as shall be equal thereto, and the dwelling-house thereon and its appurtenances, owned and occupied by any resident of the State, not exceeding in value fifteen hundred dollars, shall be exempt from forced sale on execution, or any other final process from a court, for any debt contracted after the adoption of this constitution. Such exemption shall not extend to any mortgage thereon lawfully obtained; but such mortgage, or other alienation of such land, by the owner thereof, if a married man, shall not be valid without the signature of the wife to the same.

SEC. 3. The homestead of a family, after the death of the owner thereof, shall be exempt from the payment of his debts, contracted after the adoption of this constitution, in all cases, during the minority of his children.

SEC. 4. If the owner of a homestead die, leaving a widow, but no children, the same shall be exempt, and the rents and profits thereof shall accrue to her benefit during the time of her widowhood, unless she be the owner of a homestead in her own right.

SEC. 5. The real and personal estate of every female, acquired before marriage, and all property to which she may afterwards become entitled, by gift, grant, inheritance, or devise, shall be and remain the estate and property of such female, and shall not be liable for the debts, obligations, or engagements of her husband; and may be devised or bequeathed by her as if she were unmarried.

ARTICLE XVII.

MILITIA.

SECTION 1. The militia shall be composed of all able-bodied white male citizens between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years, except such as are exempted by the laws of the United States or of this State; but all such citizens of any religious denomination whatever, who, from scruples of conscience, may be averse to bearing arms, shall be excused therefrom, upon such conditions as shall be prescribed by law.* SEC. 2. The legislature shall provide by law for organizing, equipping, and disciplining the militia, in such manner as they shall deem expedient, not incompatible with the laws of the United States.

SEC. 3. Officers of the militia shall be elected or appointed, and be commissioned, in such manner as may be provided by law.

ARTICLE XVIII.

MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS.

SECTION 1. Members of the legislature, and all officers, executive and judicial, except such officers as may by law be 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] that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of this State, 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.

SEC. 2. When private property is taken for the use or benefit of the public, the necessity for using such property, and the just compensation to be made therefor, except when to be made by the State, shall be ascertained by a jury of twelve freeholders, residing in the vicinity of such property, or by not less than three commissioners, appointed by a court of record, as shall be prescribed by law.†

SEC. 3. No mechanical trade shall hereafter be taught to convicts in the State prison of this State, except the manufacture of those articles of which the chief supply for home consumption is imported from other States or countries.

SEC. 4. No navigable stream in this State shall be either bridged or dammed without authority from the board of supervisors of the proper county, under the provisions of law. No such law shall prejudice the right of individuals to the free navigation of *Amended; see page 1018. Amended; see page 1050.

such streams, or preclude the State from the further improvement of the navigation of such stream.

SEC. 5. An accurate statement of the receipts and expenditures of the public moneys shall be attached to and published with the laws at every regular session of the legislature.

SEC. 6. The laws, public records, and the written judicial and legislative proceedings of the State, shall be conducted, promulgated, and preserved in the English language.

SEC. 7. Every person has a right to bear arms for the defence of himself and the State.

SEC. 8. The military shall, in all cases and at all times, be in strict subordination to the civil power.

SEC. 9. No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner or occupant, nor in time of war, except in a manner prescribed by law.

SEC. 10. The people have the right peaceably to assemble together to consult for the common good, to instruct their representatives, and to petition the legislature for redress of grievances.

SEC. 11. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, unless for the punishment of crime, shall ever be tolerated in this State.

SEC. 12. No lease or grant hereafter of agricultural land for a longer period than twelve years, reserving any rent or service of any kind, shall be valid.

SEC. 13. Aliens who are, or who may hereafter become, bona-fide residents of this State shall enjoy the same rights in respect to the possession, enjoyment, and inheritance of property as native-born citizens.

SEC. 14. The property of no person shall be taken for public use without just compensation therefor. Private roads may be opened in the manner to be prescribed by law; but in every case the necessity of the road and the amount of all damages to be sustained by the opening thereof shall be first determined by a jury of freeholders, and such amount, together with the expenses of proceedings, shall be paid by the person or persons to be benefited.

SEC. 15. No general revision of the laws shall hereafter be made. When a reprint thereof becomes necessary, the legislature, in joint convention, shall appoint a suitable person to collect together such acts and parts of acts as are in force, and, without alteration, arrange them under appropriate heads and titles. The laws so arranged shall be submitted to two commissioners appointed by the governor for examination, and if certified by them to be a correct compilation of all general laws in force, shall be printed in such manner as shall be prescribed by law.

ARTICLE XIX.

UPPER PENINSULA.

SECTION 1. The counties of Mackinac, Chippewa, Delta, Marquette, Schoolcraft, Houghton, and Ontonagon, and the islands and territory thereunto attached, the islands of Lake Superior, Huron, and Michigan, and in Green Bay, and the straits of Mackinac and the river Sainte Marie shall constitute a separate judicial district, and be entitled to a district judge and district attorney.

SEC. 2. The district judge shall be elected by the electors of such district, and shall perform the same duties and possess the same powers as a circuit judge in his circuit, and shall hold his office for the same period.

SEC. 3. The district attorney shall be elected every two years by the electors of the district, and shall perform the duties of prosecuting attorney throughout the entire district, and may issue warrants for the arrest of offenders in cases of felony, to be proceeded with as shall be prescribed by law.

SEC. 4. Such judicial districts shall be entitled at all times to at least one senator, and, until entitled to more by its population, it shall have three members of the house of representatives, to be apportioned among the several counties by the legislature. SEC. 5. The legislature may provide for the payment of the district judge a salary