Sec. 2. That all recognizances, obligations and all other instruments entered into or executed before the admission of the State, to the Territory of Colorado, or to any county, school district, or other municipality therein, or any officer thereof, and all fines, taxes, penalties and forfeitures due or owing to the Territory of Colorado, or any such county, school district or municipality, or officer, and all writs, prosecutions, actions and causes of action, except as herein otherwise provided, shall continue and remain unaffected by the change of the form of government. All indictments which shall have been found, or may hereafter be found, and all informations which shall have been filed, or may hereafter be filed, for any crime or offense committed before this Constitution takes effect, may be proceeded upon as if no change had taken place, except as otherwise provided in this Constitution. Sec. 3. That all property, real and personal, and all moneys, credits, claims and choses in action, belonging to the Territory of Colorado, at the adoption of this Constitution, shall be vested in and become the property of the State of Colorado. Sec. 4. The General Assembly shall pass all necessary laws to carry into effect the provisions of this Constitution. Sec. 5. Whenever any two of the judges of the Supreme Court of the State, elected or appointed under the provisions of this Constitution, shall have qualified in their office, the causes theretofore pending in the Supreme Court of the Territory, and the papers, records and proceedings of said court, and the seal and other property pertaining thereto, shall pass into the jurisdiction and possession of the Supreme Court of the State; and, until so superseded, the Supreme Court of the Territory, and the judges thereof, shall continue with like powers and jurisdiction as if this Constitution had not been adopted. Whenever the judge of the District Court of any district, elected or appointed under the provisions of this Constitution, shall have qualified in his office, the several causes theretofore pending in the District Court of the Territory, within any county in such district, and the records, papers and proceedings of said District Court, and the seal and other property pertaining thereto, shall pass into the jurisdiction and possession of the district court of the State for such county, and until the district courts of the territory shall be superseded in manner aforesaid, the said district courts and the judges thereof shall continue with the same jurisdiction and powers to be exercised in the same judicial districts respectively as heretofore constituted under the laws of the territory. Sec. 6. The terms of office of the several judges of the Supreme and district courts and the District Attorneys of the several judicial districts first elected under this Constitution, shall commence from the day of filing their respective oaths of office in the office of the Secretary of State. Sec. 7. Until otherwise provided by law, the seals now in use in the Supreme and District Courts of this territory are hereby declared to be the seals of the Supreme and District Courts respectively of this State. Sec. 8. Whenever this Constitution shall go into effect, the books, records, papers and proceedings of the Probate Court in each county, and all causes and matters of administration pending therein, shall pass into the jurisdiction and possession of the county court of the same county, and the said county court shall proceed to final decree or judgment, order or other determination, in the said several matters and causes as the said Probate Court might have done if this Constitution had not been adopted. And until the election of of the county judges provided for in this Constitution, the probate judges shall act as judges of the county courts within their respective counties, and the seal of the Probate Court in each county shall be the seal of the county court therein until the said court shall have procured a proper seal. Sec. 9. The terms "Probate Court" or "Probate Judge," whenever occurring in the statutes of Colorado Territory, shall, after the adoption of this Constitution, be held to apply to the county court or county judge; and all laws specially applicable to the probate court in any county, shall be construed to apply to and be in force as to the county court in the same county, until repealed. Sec. 10. All county and precinct officers who may be in office at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall hold their respective offices for the full time for which they may have been elected, and until such time as their successors may be elected and qualified, in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution, and the official bond of all such officers shall continue in full force and effect as though this Constitution had not been adopted. Sec. 11. All county offices that may become vacant during the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six, by the expiration of the term of the persons elected to said offices, shall be filled at the general election on the first Tuesday in October, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventysix, and except County Commissioners, the persons so elected shall hold their respective offices for the term of one year. Sec. 12. The provisions of this Constitution shall be in force from the day on which the President of the United States shall issue his proclamation declaring the State of Colorado admitted into the Union; and the Governor, Secretary, Treasurer, Auditor and Superintendent of Public Instruction of the Territory of Colorado shall continue to discharge the duties of their respective offices after the admission of the State into the Union, until the qualification of the officers elected or appointed under the State government; and said officers for the time they may serve, shall receive the same compensation as the State officers shall by law be paid for like services. Sec. 13. In case of a contest of election between candidates, at the first general election under this Constitution, for Judges of the Supreme, District or County Courts, or District Attorneys, the evidence shall be taken in the manner prescribed by Territorial law; and the testimony so taken shall be certified to the Secretary of State, and said officer, together with the Governor and Attorney-General, shall review the testimony and determine who is entitled to the certificate of election. Sec. 14. The votes at the first general election under this Constitution for the several offices provided for in this Constitution who are to be elected at the first election, shall be canvassed in the manner prescribed by the territorial law for canvassing votes for like officers. The votes cast for the Judges of the Supreme and District Courts and District Attorneys shall be canvassed by the county canvassing board in the manner prescribed by the territorial law for canvassing the votes for members of the General Assembly; and the County Clerk shall transmit the abstract of votes to the Secretary of the territory, acting as Secretary of State, under the same regulations as are prescribed by law for sending the abstracts of votes for terri torial officers; and the aforesaid acting Secretary of State, Auditor, Treasurer, or any two of them, in the presence of the Governor, shall proceed to canvass the votes, under the regu‐ lations of sections thirty-five and thirty-six of chapter twentyeight of the Revised Statutes of Colorado Territory. Sec. 15. Senators and members of the House of Representatives shall be chosen by the qualified electors of the several senatorial and representative districts as established in this Constitution, until such districts shall be changed by law, and thereafter by the qualified electors of the several districts as the same shall be established by law. Sec. 16. The votes cast for Representatives in Congress at the first election held under this Constitution, shall be canvassed and the result determined in the manner provided by the laws of the territory for the canvass of votes for Delegate in Congress. Sec. 17. The provision of this Constitution that no bill, except the general appropriation bill, introduced in either house after the first twenty-five days of the session shall become a law, shall not apply to the first session of the General Assembly; but no bill, introduced in either house at the first session of the General Assembly after the first fifty days thereof, shall become a law. Sec. 18. A copy of the abstracts of the votes cast at the first general election held under this Constitution, shall, by the County Clerks of the several counties, be returned to the Secretary of the Territory immediately after the canvass of said votes in the several counties; and the Secretary, Auditor, and Treasurer of the Territory, or any two of them, shall, on the twenty-fifth day after the election, meet at the seat of government and proceed to canvass the votes cast for members of the General Assembly, and determine the result thereof. Sec. 19. The General Assembly shall, at their first session, immediately after the organization of the two houses, and after the canvass of the votes for the officers of the Executive Department, and before proceeding to other business, provide, by act or joint resolution, for the appointment by said General Assembly, of electors in the electoral college; and such joint resolution, or the bill for such enactment, may be passed without being printed or referred to any committee, or read on more than one day in either house, and shall take effect immediately after the concurrence of the two houses therein, and the approval of the Governor thereto shall not be necessary. Sec. 20. The General Assembly shall provide that after the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six, the electors of the electoral college shall be chosen by direct vote of the people. Sec. 21. The General Assembly shall have power, at their first session, to provide for the payment of the expenses of this convention if any there be then remaining unpaid. Sec. 22. All recognizances, bail bonds, official bonds, and other obligations or undertakings which have been, or at any time before the admission of the State, shall be made or entered into and expressed to be payable to the people of the Territory of Colorado, shall continue in full force, notwithstanding the change in the form of government; and any breach thereof, whenever occurring, may, after the admission of the State, be prosecuted in the name of the people of the State. Done in convention, at the City of Denver, Colorado, this fourteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundredth. In Witness Whereof, We have hereunto subscribed our names. J. C. WILSON, President. H. P. H. BROMWELL, CASIMIRA BARELA, GEORGE BOYLES, BYRON L. CARR, W. M. CLARK, A. D. COOPER, WM. R. KENNEDY, WM. L. LEE, ALVIN MARSH, WM. H. MEYER, S. J. PLUMB, GEO. E. PEASE, ROBERT A. QUILLIAN, LEWIS C. ROCKWELL, H. R. CROSBY, ROBERT DOUGLAS, |