Future conven tions. First eloction of amendments to the people, in such manner and at such times 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. SECTION 2. At the general election, to be held in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-six, and in each twentieth year 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. ARTICLE XIV. The first election of senators and members of assembly, legislature. 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. First elec The senators and members of assembly who may be in office on the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, shall hold their offices until and including the thirty-first day of December following, and no longer. SECTION 2. The first election of governor and lieutenant-governor, tion of gov- under this constitution, shall be held on the Tuesday suc ernor and lieutenant governor. State offi cers to remain in office. First election of judges. ceeding the first Monday of November, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight; and the governor and lieutenantgovernor 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. SECTION 3. The secretary of state, comptroller, treasurer, attorneygeneral, 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. SECTION 4. The first election of judges and clerk of the court of appeals, justices of the supreme court, and county 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. SECTION 5. jurisdic On the first Monday of July, one thousand eight hundred Transfer of and forty-seven, jurisdiction of all suits and proceedings then tion. 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 regulations as shall be provided by law. The courts of oyer and terminer hereby established shall, in their respective counties, have jurisdiction on and after the day last mentioned of all indictments and proceedings then pending in the present courts of oyer and terminer, and also of all indictments and proceedings then pending in the present courts of general sessions of the peace, except in the city of New York, and except in cases of which the courts of sessions, hereby established may lawfully take cognizance; and of such indictments and proceedings the courts of sessions, hereby established, shall have jurisdiction on and after the day last mentioned. 1 B., 643; 44 B., 433. SECTION 6. courts con The chancellor and the present supreme court shall, respec- Present tively, have power to hear and determine any of such suits tinued. and proceedings ready, on the first Monday of July, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, for hearing or decision, and shall, for their services therein, be entitled to their present rates of compensation until the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, or until all such suits and proceedings shall be sooner heard and determined. Masters in chancery may continue to exercise the functions of their offices in the court of chancery so long as the chancellor shall continue to exercise the functions of his office under the provisions of this constitution. And the supreme court hereby established shall also have power to hear and determine such of said suits and proceedings as may be prescribed by law. SECTION 7. In case any vacancy shall occur in the office of chancellor Vacancies or justice of the present supreme court previously to the first ing courts. in the exist I. — 9 Offices day of July, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, the governor may nominate and by and with the advice and consent of the senate appoint a proper person to fill such vacancy. Any judge of the court of appeals or justice of the supreme court, elected under this constitution, may receive and hold such appointment. SECTION 8. The offices of chancellor, justices of the existing supreme abolished. court, circuit judge, vice-chancellor, assistant vice-chancellor, judge of the existing county courts of each county, supreme court commissioner, master in chancery, examiner in chancery and surrogate (except as herein otherwise provided), are abolished from and after the first Monday of July, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven (1847). Judges eligible to office. Sheriff's, Officers fees. 3 B., 332. SECTION 9. The chancellor, the justices of the present supreme court, and the circuit judges are hereby declared to be severally eligible to any office at the first election under this constitution. SECTION 10. Sheriffs, clerks of counties (including the register and clerk of the city and county of New York) and justices of the peace, and coroners in office when this constitution shall take effect, shall hold their respective office until the expiration of the term for which they were respectively elected. SECTION 11. Judicial officers in office when this constitution shall take may receive effect, may continue to receive such fees and perquisites of office as are now authorized by law, until the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, notwithstanding the provisions of the twentieth section of the sixth article of this constitution. Local courts to continue. Constitu tion goes SECTION 12. All local courts established in any city or village, including the superior court, common pleas, sessions and surrogate's courts of the city and county of New York, shall remain until otherwise directed by the legislature with their present powers and jurisdictions; and the judges of such courts and any clerks thereof in office on the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, shall continue in office until the expiration of their terms of office, or until the legislature shall otherwise direct. SECTION 13. This constitution shall be in force from and including the into effect. first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and forty seven, except as herein otherwise provided. Done in convention at the capitol in the city of Albany, the ninth day of October, in the year one thousand eight hundred and forty-six, and of the independence of the United States of America the seventy-first. In witness whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names. JOHN TRACY. President, and delegate from the county of Chenango. JAMES F. STARBUCK, AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION. [The following amendment was proposed by the legislature in 1853, agreed to by the legislature in 1854, and approved and ratified by the people at an election held on the 14th day of February, 1854.] Substitute for section three of article seven, the following: After paying the said expenses of collection, superintendence and repairs of the canals, and the sums appropriated by the first and second sections of this article, there shall be appropriated and set apart in each fiscal year, out of the surplus revenues of the canals, as a sinking fund, a sum sufficient to pay the interest as it falls due, and extinguish the principal within eighteen years, of any loan made under this section; and if the said sinking fund shall not be sufficient to redeem any part of the principal at the stipulated times of payment, or to pay any part of the interest of such loans as stipulated, the means to satisfy any such deficiency shall be procured on the credit of the said sinking fund. After complying with the foregoing provisions, there shall be paid annually out of said revenues, into the treasury of the state, two hundred thousand dollars, to defray the necessary expenses of government. The remainder shall, in each fiscal year, be applied to meet appropriations for the enlargement and completion of the canals mentioned in this section, until the said canals shall be completed. In each fiscal year thereafter the remainder shall be disposed of in such manner as the legislature may direct; but shall at no time be anticipated or pledged for more than one year in advance. The legislature shall, annually, during the next four years, appropriate to the enlargement of the Erie, the Oswego, the Cayuga and Seneca canals and to the completion of the Black River and Genesee Valley canals, and for the enlargement of the locks of the Champlain canal, whenever from dilapidation or decay it shall be necessary to rebuild them, a sum not exceeding two millions two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The remainder of the revenues of the canals, for the current fiscal year in which such appropriation is made, shall be applied to meet such appropriation; and if the same shall be deemed insufficient, the legislature shall, at the same session, provide for the deficiency by loan. The legislature shall also borrow one million and five hundred thousand dollars, to refund to the holders of the canal revenue certificates issued under the provisions of chapter four hundred and eighty-five of the Laws of the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, the amount received into the treasury thereon; but no interest to accrue after July first, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, shall be paid on such certificates. The provisions of section twelve of this article, requiring every law for borrowing money to be submitted to the people, shall not apply to the loans authorized by this section. No part of the revenues of the canals, or of the funds borrowed under this section, shall be paid or applied upon or in consequence of any alleged contract made under chapter four hundred and eighty-five of the Laws of the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, except to pay for work done or materials furnished prior to the first day of June, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two. The rates of toll on persons and property transported on the canals, shall not be reduced below those for the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, except by the canal board with the concurrence of the legislature. All contracts for work or materials on any canal shall be made with the person who shall offer to do or provide the same at the lowest price, with adequate security for their performance. AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION. [The following amendment was proposed by the legislature in 1863, was agreed to by the legislature in 1864, was adopted and ratified by the people at an election held in March, 1864.] Section one of article two is hereby amended by adding at the end thereof the following words: Provided that in time of war no elector in the actual military service of the United States in the army or navy thereof shall be deprived of his vote by reason of his absence from the state; and the legislature shall have power to provide the manner in which, and the time and place at which, such absent electors may vote, and for the canvass and returns of their votes in the election districts in which they respectively reside or otherwise. |